HAI Hardwire Expander and Expansion Board

[bigperm776]

I am new to HA and am about to have a good size job with HA. I am about to attend HAI factory training but in the mean time wanted to learn products. Wanted to know what is the difference between the Hardwire Expander and the Expansion Board from HAI. Thanks!

 

[locknalarm]

I am new to HA and am about to have a good size job with HA. I am about to attend HAI factory training but in the mean time wanted to learn products. Wanted to know what is the difference between the Hardwire Expander and the Expansion Board from HAI. Thanks!

The Hardwire expander attached to the Omni Pro main board via supplied ribbon cable (serial connections), on thr pro 2 only 2 expansion boards can be used
After the 2 expansion boards you must use the expansion enclosure which can be out in the field

Make sure you dont try and use more than 2 expansion boards after 48 zones you need expansion enclosure they wire in parralel to main board

The expansion Enclosure also has 16 outputs and I believe you can use to power touch screens as well but check. I used a touch screen power hub/video encoder

I though i was saving a few buck and used 4 expansopn boards (80 zone system) and i got longer ribbon cables to mount boards neatly in leviton enclosure, when i went to program system i realized you can only have 2!!!!

 

[PaulD]

I had the same point of confusion when I started with my Omni Pro II setup. I am now using both boards in my arrangement. The Hardwire Expander board provides 16 INPUT's ...no outputs. The Expansion Enclosure has 16 INPUTS but also has 16 OUTPUTS that can be used to trigger relays, etc. The term "Enclosure" had me confused for awhile but I think that term was applied because the Expansion Enclosure can be mounted in a seperate can at some distance from the main board. This allows you to locate the enclosure board closer to a group of inputs and outputs with only a single set of wires back to the main OmniPro board. Useful if you want to include an out building in your setup without running a ton of wire.

 

[HAI_fjh]

Let me see if I can help.

The Hardwire Expander AKA Zone Expander connects to the OmniPro II via the 20 pin expansion buss connector using a short ribbon cable. It is usually physically mounted piggyback on the main board in the same enclosure. You can have up 4 expansion boards, but only 2 can be Zone Expanders. The others can be serial, ALC, etc. As the name implies each Zone Expander provides only 16 zones and no outputs. If you only need more zones and all of your wiring terminates at the main board this is a good choice.

The Expansion Enclosure connects to the OmniPro II via the console buss via a 4 wire cable. It may be located at some distance from the main controller and typically has it's own power supply and own enclosure. You may have a max of 8 Expansion Enclosures. Each Expansion Enclosure provides 16 zone inputs and 16 outputs. If you need additional zones and outputs, or you have several zone terminated at a remote location this is a good choice.

When I talk about zones terminating in a remote location I am referring to a scenario like a two story house where you bring all of your upstairs zones to an Expansion Enclosure located upstairs then run a single 4 wire cable from the Expansion Enclosure to the main board. Same sort of thing for out buildings as mentioned above.

So using an OmniPro II, you can have:
16 Zones on the main board
32 zones (2 x 16) on Hardwire (Zone) Expanders
128 zones (8 x 16) on Expansion Enclosures
Which gives you 176 zones.

 

[js19707]

apologies if this seems like a thread hijack but this seems like a reasonable place to ask a quick question i've been wondering about:

i currently have an OPII with a single (hardwire) zone expander screwed in 'on top' of it. if i wanted to add a second zone expander, can i 'stack' it on top of the existing zone expander, or do installers typically get a separate back plate and attach the expander to it?

space in my can is becoming kind of tight but i'm not sure how much harder stacking a second zone expander on top of the first would make accessing the first board's screw terminals.. how do people typically do this?

 

[HAI_fjh]

Yes you would mount the second one on top of the first one. Typically you would make all of your connections to the first zone expander, then mount the second one. Generally unless you have some sort of wiring problem you don't need to keep messing with the terminals. If you do need to get to the screw terminals it isn't difficult to temporarily remove the second/top one.

There is another option if you are mounting in a structured wiring can. You can get a 12" extension cable and mount the second hardwire expander above the main board.

Really though I wouldn't worry about it. Just connect and test everything on the first expander and then mount the second one. This is by far the most common (and recommended) practice.

 

[ysualum]

Looks like I'll need to add an expansion enclosure to my board as I've filled up both expanders. Reading the documentation, it states I'll need to have resistors installed on these. Is that correct? If that is the case, will I need to put resistors on the rest of the board (OPII + 2 expander boards)? The settings allow you to have all with resistor or all without.

Thanks

 

[zpollock]

The expansion enclosures always require resistors, but they are not impacted by the "Zone Resistors Yes/No" option in the setup. It's possible to have a main board without resistors, and the expansion enclosure with them.

 

[ysualum]

Thanks. Now I have to learn how to solder. I'm guessing wire nuts are a no go.

The expansion enclosures always require resistors, but they are not impacted by the "Zone Resistors Yes/No" option in the setup. It's possible to have a main board without resistors, and the expansion enclosure with them.

 

[ASIHome]

You also have the option of crimp on connectors. They are usally referred to as "B" connectors, "yellow jackets", "jellies" or "chicklets".

 

[zpollock]

Thanks. Now I have to learn how to solder. I'm guessing wire nuts are a no go.

Any excuse to learn to solder is a good one, since it's a great skill to have, but as ASI points out there are some other methods that work fine at the panel. If the connection were going to be in a wall, then soldering would be a must in my opinion.

 

[signal15]

Thanks. Now I have to learn how to solder. I'm guessing wire nuts are a no go.

Any excuse to learn to solder is a good one, since it's a great skill to have, but as ASI points out there are some other methods that work fine at the panel. If the connection were going to be in a wall, then soldering would be a must in my opinion.

Make sure you buy a good temperature controlled soldering station. Many of the irons out there get WAY too hot, and you can damage components and lift traces. It's even better if you can find out with an actually temperature setting in degrees, instead of some silly 1-10 scale.

 

[SierraTech]

Let me see if I can help.

The Hardwire Expander AKA Zone Expander connects to the OmniPro II via the 20 pin expansion buss connector using a short ribbon cable. It is usually physically mounted piggyback on the main board in the same enclosure. You can have up 4 expansion boards, but only 2 can be Zone Expanders. The others can be serial, ALC, etc. As the name implies each Zone Expander provides only 16 zones and no outputs. If you only need more zones and all of your wiring terminates at the main board this is a good choice.

The Expansion Enclosure connects to the OmniPro II via the console buss via a 4 wire cable. It may be located at some distance from the main controller and typically has it's own power supply and own enclosure. You may have a max of 8 Expansion Enclosures. Each Expansion Enclosure provides 16 zone inputs and 16 outputs. If you need additional zones and outputs, or you have several zone terminated at a remote location this is a good choice.

When I talk about zones terminating in a remote location I am referring to a scenario like a two story house where you bring all of your upstairs zones to an Expansion Enclosure located upstairs then run a single 4 wire cable from the Expansion Enclosure to the main board. Same sort of thing for out buildings as mentioned above.

So using an OmniPro II, you can have:
16 Zones on the main board
32 zones (2 x 16) on Hardwire (Zone) Expanders
128 zones (8 x 16) on Expansion Enclosures
Which gives you 176 zones.

Curios,
 
I assume both Hardwire (Zone) Expanders get "Address 1" Jumper, since both are Hardwire (Zone) Expanders.

The Address appears to be more of an ID than an actual address. Seems wrong to me, unless the stacking action expands zones from 17-32 by physical address mapping?
 
-Bob

 

[Desert_AIP]

The hardwire expanders need different addresses.
That was never well documented.

 

[SierraTech]

The hardwire expanders need different addresses.
That was never well documented.

Yes,
 
This was my thoughts!
 
In the old manual on Page 49, it states:
 
Module 1 Type
 
The module Type defines the function of each expansion module on the controller. Module 1 is the module with the ADDR jumper set to 1. Set the module type from list below.
 
Hardwire Expander Module Type = 1
ALC Module Type = 2
Omni-Link Type = 3
Pro-Link = 4
 
 
I have my Expander set to Address 1 (wrote in the manual) and my ALC Address set to 2.
 
I will set the second Zone Expander to Address 3, and configure in PC Access.
 
Thanks for chiming in and clarifying. I was apprehensive setting two modules to the same address if it was a true bus. The manual does not detail this very well as you noted!
 
This is why I posted here first, because it seemed to me I would have run into address contention, if both set to "1". They combined Module Type and Address in the same sentence.
 
-Bob