Multiple hardwire expanders on Omni Pro II

[PaulD]

How do I adapt multiple hardwire expanders (10A00-1) to an Omni Pro II? I already have one mounted on the Omni Pro II controller board along with a very short 20 pin flatwire cable from J3 on the Omni board to J2 on the expander board. How would I mount additional hardwire expander boards? If I mount it on top of the first expander board, there is no access to zone connections on the first board because it is under the second board. Also, I cannot find any HAI guidance on how to hook up the 20 pin flatwire cable for the second board. The first expander board has an open 20 pin connector (J1) that I suspect would be the connection point to connect the second board but I cannot find any info to confirm that. Even if that is the right electrical connection, it still leaves me with the problem of accessing the zone connectors on the first board. To deal with that, I would need to mount the second board nearby in another enclosure since my cabinets are already full. I can deal with that issue as long as I can find a longer 20 pin flatwire connector that would not hinder performance. I guess that leads me to 2 questions:
1) Would I connect multiple hardwire expander boards in daisy chaining fashion by connecting J1 on the last board in the chain to J2 on the new board? If not, how is it done?
2) Can I use any 20 pin flatwire cable with the right connector to the new board? If so, is there any limitation on length of the cable? I would need a 4' cable to make it work.

 

[AnthonyZ]

The idea is to stack 'em. You have the ribbon cable correct. Be sure to set the addresses, though. Jumper pins on upper, left hand corner. Once the zones are terminated on the first board, why would you need to access them? I personally have a zone expander and an RS232 board stacked on my OPII.

 

[fcwilt]

Sorry to jump in here with a question that is only kind of related. From what I have read in the HAI docs you are limited to 2 of the zone expander boards, stacked on to the main board. But in the PC Access setup there are places to specify 4 modules and the expander boards appear to have 4 addressing options.

So is the limit 2 or 4 - can someone clarify please?

 

[PaulD]

The idea is to stack 'em. You have the ribbon cable correct. Be sure to set the addresses, though. Jumper pins on upper, left hand corner. Once the zones are terminated on the first board, why would you need to access them? I personally have a zone expander and an RS232 board stacked on my OPII.

Thanks for confirming the electrical connection setup. I find it strange that info is not readily found somewhere. If it is in plain sight somewhere, I could not find it. Also, I am fiddeling with my stuff all the time and I hate to inhibit access to anything. Several times I said "I am done with that item" and then later come back and rearrange zones when I add more stuff. I find it easier to keep track of everything if I have similar items (PIR's, security sensors, temperature/humidity, etc) grouped together in zones thus I occassionally move items around on zones to keep myself happy.

Ref Fred's question on number of expanders....I don't know. I do not expect to go beyond 2 hardwire expanders so I have not dug into that issue. The Omni can accomodate a bunch more of the Expansion Enclosures which are also easier to hook up via a single wire but they also cost a bunch more than the hardwire expanders if you only want additional input zones.

 

[HAI_fjh]

Although the OmniPro II can have 4 expansion modules at most 2 can be zone expanders, at most 1 can be a serail expander, at most 1 can be an ALC interface.

If yon need more zones than can be provided by the main board and 2 zone expanders, then you have the option of adding up to 8 expansion enclosures for a total of 176 zones.

 

[fcwilt]

Thanks for the explanation. That explains the four slots in PC Access and the four address selections on the expander board.

If possible can you explain why, if four expansion modules are possible, the limit of two for the zone expanders? As a retired engineer I am just curious.

Thanks again.

 

[cornutt]

If possible can you explain why, if four expansion modules are possible, the limit of two for the zone expanders? As a retired engineer I am just curious.

My guess is it has to do with the number of zones that the controller is capable of supplying power for.