Is there any Z-Wave device that can control two separate (no voltage) dry contact loops? I want to be able to control my alarm system from my VeraEdge and it exposes a loop that arms/disarms the alarm and another loop that arms/disarms the away mode. The alarm can be armed in home mode, which only turns on the external sensors (e.g. for night time) and it can also be armed in away mode which also arms internal motion sensors. Each loop is separate and doesn’t need (or tolerate) any voltage on the loop, which is why a typical fibaro/qubino relay wouldn’t work, since they pass on the voltage. I’m look for a single Z-Wave device that can control both - just like a fibaro/qubino relay can control two separate switches with voltage. Ideally it would run on low voltage so I could put it inside my alarm box and use the existing power supply there, but I’ll make it work if one exists for regular voltage.
I imagine such a device must exist but I can’t find it. Help?
There is no existing fibaro contact - I need to buy a device and if I’m buying a device, I prefer to buy one. As I mentioned, I can’t wire the alarm loops up to a traditional relay since they send current on the line.
I’m pretty sure that the Fibaro FGS-221 does not. If it did then I would have fried my garage door opener with the one I attached to it. I’ve got it powered by 240 VAC and the relay contacts connected across the 12 VDC potential difference on the GDO’s open/close button. There is no electrical connection between the power to the device and the contacts in the relay. Yes, when the relay is closed, current flows through its two contacts, but that’s what relays do; that current is solely from the thing being controlled, not the Fibaro controller.
Less than ideal is that the Fibaro shares a common connection between one side of both relays, so they are not truly independent of each other if you don’t have a common ground.
I’m pretty sure that the Fibaro FGS-221 does not. If it did then I would have fried my garage door opener with the one I attached to it. I’ve got it powered by 240 VAC and the relay contacts connected across the 12 VDC potential difference on the GDO’s open/close button. There is no electrical connection between the power to the device and the contacts in the relay. Yes, when the relay is closed, current flows through its two contacts, but that’s what relays do; that current is solely from the thing being controlled, not the Fibaro controller.
Less than ideal is that the Fibaro shares a common connection between one side of both relays, so they are not truly independent of each other if you don’t have a common ground.[/quote]
Thanks - alas because they share a wire I could only use it for 1 loop.
The qubino is only for 1 loop. Hoping to find something for 2 loops.
Are you sure that the two loops in your alarm panel do not have a common +ve or common negative which would allow you to use a standard dual output relay. Have you got the schemes for the alarm panel?
One installation guide I have seen for these alarms seems to show that alarm on/off is done by switching a signal to earth to turn the alarm off whilst other inputs are done in the same way ie. common earth side. Unfortunately, the installation guide I saw does not show a home/away input so cannot confirm.
If this method for switching is common for all inputs then a dual relay with one side common could still be used.
I suggest you call/mail the manufacturer to ask them to confim the situation for your specific model and to confirm which is the ground pin for each input.
Overall, I believe it is worth taking the time to find out as you could end up just needing the one z-wave device as you wanted.
Looks good, even has encryption capability, but didn’t notice from its description that it would have dry contact outputs?
There were a single relay model (ZWBCL1) that had a dry contact output. Forgot to mention that I need an EU model, if it exists, maybe I’ll get two of those…
The Black Cat ZWBCL2 is dual dry contact.
It is multi use and will work well from any AC/DC voltage from 24V, [font=verdana]Inspect the wiring diagram for further details. It’s particularly useful for Irrigation systems.[/font]
[quote=“zedrally, post:17, topic:190712”]The ZWBCL2 is dual dry contact.
It is multi use and will work well from any AC/DC voltage from 24V, [font=verdana]Inspect the wiring diagram for further details. It’s particularly useful for Irrigation systems.[/font]
In the EU look for the Philio version PAN06.[/quote]
Is this PAN06 identical with ZWBCL2, having e.g. encryption capability?
Update: it seems that there’s a newer model PAN06-1B which is identical with ZWBCL2
From my history “dry contact” was a set of contacts that would switch a circuit having no more that 20 mv and a current < 100 ma. This typically required gold contact materials. If you has a dry contact relay and used it with 5V and 250 ma, the realy would no loner be a dry contact as the gold would have been burned off.