Looking for broad guidance on setting up OmniPro II that replaces my OnQ HMS-1050 that fried/died

[Scott]

I built my home in 2002 and unwisely went with OnQ HMS-1050 (clone of HAI OmniPro II) rather than HAI OmniPro II.
OnQ exited the business shortly after and I foolishly did not upgrade my board to OmniPro II right away...

I used PC Access and WebLink II to control my OnQ for years and then an electrical storm knocked it out. Dead board.
I scored an HAI OmniPro II (firmware 4.0B) and have been trying to drop-in replace the OnQ, but... well I am struggling.

Can I shortcut the programming by trying to restore by backed up PC Access settings from the old OnQ and get it mostly right, then fine tine from there?

I have been able to boot the new board and 3 of the 4 consoles come online, and the 4th intermittently (I think that is a fault/short in a connector at the console, as I have good Fox&Hound signal all the way from the main board to the console on all for connections).

I am dismayed at the completely empty of any programming new board though... I should have expected that.

What is the best way to get the security functions mostly working again?
Should I connect with PC Access first?
Is it worth trying to restore the old PCA file which had loads of programming already loaded (nearly 20 years of use)...
I am hoping to switch to Haiku once the system is online, as we are a mostly Macintosh household; though I do have a few PCs lying around for specific tasks like PC Access and WebLink II.

I am most concerned about getting the door and window alarms back online, and can work with thermostats and smoke/fire later...
The thermostats are holding their own programming though the clock drift without the central system is really annoying.

New board:
Leviton OmniPro II v4.0B English
I am hoping most of the OnQ expansion boards will just work with this.
The OnQ consoles seem to already.


The old system:
Main Board 10A01-7 Rev F13 (HAI OnQ 1.9 chip)
Hardware Expander 10A06-1 Rev A (adds 16 zones)
Serial Interface 10A17-1 REv A
Expansion Enclosure 17A01-2 Rev A (adds 16 more zones, and 8 other things)

I suspect I will have to replace a couple of window sensors as the old unit was showing trouble with those before it died.
I am hoping to change my X-10 lighting controls and alarm set LEDs with UPB or a mix of X10 and UPB.

 

[ano]

I'm pretty sure that the hardware isn't a problem. The programming is the same, but the problem you might have is downloading a QnQ backup into an Omni Pro II. There might be a way around it. Did you try to connect to the board with PC Access and download your QnQ backup? After you connect to your Omni Pro II, PC Access will identify your system as Omni Pro II. If the download doesn't work because it says you have an incorrect system, try changing your system to your QnQ system to see if that works. Its a shot.

 

[kwschumm]

Old post, but FWIW there is a NIB ONQ 1050 panel on eBay now.

 

[dwalt]

Be careful. The HMS 1100 was the OmniPro II. The HMS 1050 was one of the older family.

 

[Scott]

Well this is frustrating.
The old PC Access does not recognize the new OmniPro II board. Not surprising.
The new PC Access does not seem able to load the old PC Access saved files. That is disappointing, probably too many generations between the old and new versions.
At least I can still run the old PC Access and review old settings, then manually recreate all the programs and settings in the new PC Access.

At least it is fun to tinker... though progress is slow as I am not a professional.

 

[pete_c]

Welcome to the Cocoontech Forum Scott.

At least I can still run the old PC Access and review old settings, then manually recreate all the programs and settings in the new PC Access.

It would be a learning experience.

 

[Scott]

Hmm, so I was unable to get a serial connection to work from a modern Dell with Windows, but I was able to manually configure the IP address of the new OmniPro II via console (11A01-1) and then connect via the PC over ethernet! Happiness.... reading and writing to the controller from the PC is working now... but there is no programming at all and worse, the 16 zones on my Hardware Expansion board are not working... I must have missed some jumper or setup step for the Hardware Expander 10A06-1 Rev A.

I assumed it was ext1 (and therefore zones 17-32) but it says all of those zones are "NOT READY"

 

[Scott]

Woot, it was ext2 (zones 33-48) - status checks working and now I try to figure out programming.

 

[Scott]

Now, trying to figure out how to get my Expansion Enclosure 17A01-2 Rev A working... I am not seeing it on the Expansion drop downs... hmmm

 

[Scott]

Well - fiddlesticks, I can trigger an alarm, but the old programming : SAY [ Beep ] [ Pause ] ENTER CODE no longer seems an option, now I don't have a way to disarm the system by entering the code...

progress though.

 

[Scott]

Ah, had to write some basic programs:
WHEN Door NOT READY
ANDIF Main House NIGHT
THEN SAY Door INTRUSION ALERT

Yay - basic intrusion alerts are working.

Now, to repair/replace a main console: 33A00-1 (three others all work, but the one used most often is not lighting up at all)

 

[Scott]

My main board is working with a Hardware Expansion now, but still is not seeing a Expansion Enclosure 17A01-2
I suspect I have not connected the Expansion Enclosure board (which has it's own power and battery) to the main system properly.
Sorting though a half dozen PDFs of manuals and not finding the relevant chapter so far...

 

[dwalt]

Have you added it in settings?
OmniPro II install manual under "set up zones"
expansion enclosure manual attached
How have you connected the system grounds?