Adding Sounders/Strobes

If my current 2 Sounders are at 1 mA total and that is the max amp for my Omnipro II board, what are the options to adding one, if not two 0.05 mA sounders or strobes?
 
Sounder capacity is 1 Amp, which is 1000 mA.  If you want more sounders than you have capacity, there are a few solutions, but most likely one is to add an auxilary power supply and back up battey, then use a relay output to control a sounder attached to it with the relay connected to an output. (Leviton sells relays for this purpose.)  I beleive these relays can control another amp for each contact and you can add programming to trigger the relay. One negative of this is that sounders are not supervised somewhat like the main sirens.
 
Another option is just keep shopping around for sounders that use less current. They do exist.
 
Outputs without a relays can drive 100mA, so you may be able to find a sounder that can connect directly to an output, but you need to watch your total panel current, even if you don't exceed the rating of any one terminal. An auxilary power supply is best.
 
So lets say I get a Elk-912 and a AL624 power supply that I see on the net, can I hook more than one sounder to this configuration? 
 
I'm assuming that with using this type of power supply the amps do not count against my omnipro II board total.
 
Having a Sounder connected to an Outlet will it be considered the same as one normally connected to the board in terms of functioning together?   
 
In PC Access I would add it in the Outlet menu as a "Interior Sounder".  Correct?
 
I saw a RB5 relay on the net which looks like you can connect two sirens to it.  First is this correct?  And if so, can I use one power supply or do I need another power supply like an AL624?
 
For the internal and external sounders, I would recommend to stick to under 0.5A for each. You can go higher, but this isn't really recommended.
 
Each Output, 1 through 8 can supply 0.1A or 100mA. The relays Leviton sell use under this but so do many other relays. So any 12V relay consuming under 100ma will work, but the advantage of the Leviton relays is they will surpress the coil spike with a diode. In any case, once the relay in connected, its ratings bepends on its terminals. You can buy relays with high power terminals, and ones that can control line voltage, but this would not provide a battery backup.
 
A relay is just a switch, and some have many sets of contacts. If the sirens are all the same voltage, they can be wired together from the same relay as long as their total current doesn't exceed the relay ratings. So you can do lots, but start first by figuring what you need.
 
I think inside sirens are best, because if you are robbed, this is what they will hear. Outside sirens just annoy the neighbors.
 
So when I see a Relay Module 12VDC 120Ma DPDT that means that it is over the 1A that a Outlet can handle.  Correct?
 
A relay will have two ratings. The first is how much the coil consumes in power. The OMNI can only supply 100mA at 12 volts so any current over that exceeds these ratings. This rating is not always easy to find, unfortunately.
 
https://solarbotics.com/download.php?file=587
 
This is a random data sheet I found.  If you look at the "Coil Ratings" you will see that the 12V relays draws 33.3mA That's good. this means that this relay would work.  33.3mA is under the 100mA capacity.
 
Now over to the siren. Here you need to look at the "Contact Ratings." This relay has several contacts, but the 12V relay is generally rated for 8 Amps.  It says 8 A at 250 VAC,
8 A at 30 VDC. This means if you switch something at 120V, it can handle 8 amps, or if you switch something at 12V dc, it can still handle 8 amps.  That is more than any siren you will find.
 
If you don't care to do all the calculations, Leviton sells a 4-relay and 8-relay bank for the OMNI. The 8 relay bank is 19A00-1, and the 4 relay bank is 10A07-1.  They are a bit over priced, but the 4 relay version is about $50 on Amazon.  Those contacts can control 5Amps, which isn't bad, and you know the coil is within ratings because these relays are designed for the OMNI. They also have the protection diode built-in, which is good to have, and they even have an LED to show which relay is on.
 
In using a RB5 relay module and a AL624 power supply with a battery backup will a 12v 8AH battery work like a UB1280 or do I need another AH?
 
I see where the Honeywell’s Piezo Dynamic Wave2PD is 120 mA and the WAVE2 is 500mA.  If I understand what your telling me correctly, on the OP II and in using an Output I could theoretically put 2 WAVE2, which would be max capacity or 3 WAVE2PD on a single Outlet terminal using a RB5 relay module and a AL624 power supply.  Correct?
 
The Omni has an internal and an external sounder terminal, that each will support 500mA or less without problems. If you need more than that, connect a relay to one of the 8 output terminals (which support 100mA max.) and use that relay to power what you want as long as it is under the capacity of the relay terminals. Then write a rule that turns the output on when your alarm is sounding. But your best off to just use sirens that draw 500mA or less, and hook them to the indoor or outdoor siren connections.
 
Is there any requirement to put a 1000-ohm end-of-line resister on a Exterior sounder?
 
And if needed would you put it connecting the Horn Ground (GND) screw with the Exterior (EXT) screw?
 
DeputyDawg said:
Is there any requirement to put a 1000-ohm end-of-line resister on a Exterior sounder?
No. The Omni can "supervise" both the inside and outside sounder. I'm not exactly sure how it works, but it seems to do it fine without any added resistors. I have it turned on, and it has never complained of a missing sounder.
 
Back
Top