FBII XL-31 Alarm

Other Devices & Integrations Door Locks & Sensors
1

I have an existing alarm system in the house (FBII-XL31). I’ve been reading about Vera integration with alarm systems. Since the XL-31 is an older alarm system, I presume there’s no digital interface boards that could be used to hook into Vera.

Given the sensors are already wired in, is there any way to find out if they would be compatible with an alarm system that CAN interface with Vera?

Thanks
-Ted

2

The sensors should be reusable, however if they are fitted with end of line resistors then you would most likely need to remove them (and configure the new alarm to not need them) or swap them out for the ones of the correct value that the manufacturer recommends.

If you are lucky then the installer of your current alarm may have taken a short cut (bad practice) and fitted them at the panel itself.

3

[quote=“strangely, post:2, topic:168669”]The sensors should be reusable, however if they are fitted with end of line resistors then you would most likely need to remove them (and configure the new alarm to not need them) or swap them out for the ones of the correct value that the manufacturer recommends.

If you are lucky then the installer of your current alarm may have taken a short cut (bad practice) and fitted them at the panel itself.[/quote]

Thanks – there’s no resistors at the terminal block. I never looked to see how a sensor works, but presumably it’s based of a magnetic inductive kick that needs to dump current into something… I get it. I’m debating whether to scrap the existing system, or perhaps install some “looser” form of integration such as just taking the trigger relay and interfacing into some sort of digital I/O board that connects to Vera.

4

They’re normally just really basic reed switches!

If you have a multi-meter then disconnect one of the sensors runs from the alarm end and measure the resistance to see if it has End Of Line resistors or not.

I wont go into too much detail but some alarm panels use these resistors to help detect a short or some form of tampering.

If you have this wiring already then its a really cheap way to add sensors to vera when coupled with an alarm that’s compatible, and you should re-use it.

5

[quote=“strangely, post:4, topic:168669”]They’re normally just really basic reed switches!

If you have a multi-meter then disconnect one of the sensors runs from the alarm end and measure the resistance to see if it has End Of Line resistors or not.

I wont go into too much detail but some alarm panels use these resistors to help detect a short or some form of tampering.

If you have this wiring already then its a really cheap way to add sensors to vera when coupled with an alarm that’s compatible, and you should re-use it.[/quote]

Just checked… pretty much a dead short for the sensor (3ohms, probably due to the wire). The wiring diagram says it expects to see 2.2K for the sensors.

6

Ok that’s good then as it means the panel was probably configured not to use them; if you buy a new panel then you can either fit them at the panel end (not really the best of practices), or configure the new panel to not use them.

7

I realize that this post was from a long time ago but it seems to me that it didn’t get resolved and I have the same issue. I have an FBI X31 panel with various sensors (reed switches and passive infrared motion detectors). I am interested in interfacing the existing system to either a Vera or a Vera Light. It appears that the VL doesn’t have any sensor inputs, it is all by Wi-fi or Zwave. The Vera does have a serial port but I don’t see how the FBI panel would interface to that either. The FBI panel has trigger outputs but that doesn’t seem to solve the problem. Would be interested if this problem was ever resolved and if so, how.

Thanks