Best way to add garage control and motion sensors

[EagleMoon]

Started to post this in the other thread but decided it was too much of a hijack to ask it there so starting new question.

I have two garages with a total of three doors but I also want each garage to have a motion sensor. Plus I have two locations inside the house where I'd like motion sensors. All could be wired. I'm trying to figure out what is least expensive approach:

1. All Card-Access (pretty sure this is most expensive but simplest)

2. Control4 IO Extender with wired sensors

3. A basic non-monitored GE Concord security system (I don't know how the relays work in this scenario -- still need Card-Access?)

The other thing is I have 7 or 8 fire/smoke/CO detectors that would be nice to integrate into Control4 but not a big priority. But I definitely would like one or two moisture sensors added.

Might also want to add a driveway sensor and outdoor motion sensor or two one day. Haven't decided about the motion sensors -- elk and deer might make them impractical. On the other hand I might use that to trigger noise to keep them away from landscaping. :/

[ILoveC4]

I personally love Card Access motion detection products. They setup easy, they double as a light sensor, they're wireless and they're outdoor rated.

You can't go wrong.

MSRP on the motions with internal antenna is $129/each.

[henniae]

I went the route of having the garage door hooked up to my HC-300, but I only have one of my two garage doors monitored and controlled.

I did the GE Concord 4 for the alarm. I hardwired each of my doors, added a few motion sensors and a few moisture sensors by my sumps. Based on the number of doors I had the Condors 4 was cheaper.

[EagleMoon]

When the Concord4 refers to "zone", what does that mean, exactly -- is that really just a physical input on the system or is it a logical division? That is, can there be multiple sensors per zone that are individually recognized and reported via Control4? Or is it an input to the system where, even though I can string multiple sensors on it, they are not individually recognized and Control4 will only recognize the status of the overall zone, not specific sensors within it?

If the latter, then my application would require each garage door and each garage motion detector to be a separate zone, right?

[henniae]

A zone is a logical partition of the alarm system. You can add sensors to a zone and other sensors to a different zone and have the zones behave differently.

I did not see any reason to use additional zones in my system so all the sensors are in one zone.

[EagleMoon]

To be clear then, there are different physical inputs for each sensor that have nothing necessarily to do with "zone"? So, if I have an 8-zone system that doesn't mean I can only have 8 unique sensors? That seems wrong based on a photo I saw of the board -- it appeared to show eight physical terminals, each labeled "Zone x". I'm probably misunderstanding something about the photo.

But a hardwired sensor is simply a NC or NO contact, right? So theoretically you could wire several either in series or parallel, respectively, onto a single input of the control panel and it would work but you could never tell which specific sensor activated.

[tbear1]

All of my doors are on different zones so I can tell which door is open. There may be a way around this on newer systems. Something to consider if you are designing from scratch.

[henniae]

I had a brain fart. Stayed out way too late for my b-day last night.

A zone is an area you want to monitor with one or more sensors. I was thinking partition. You can have multiple partitions and put zones in the partitions.

You are correct that the Condord 4 board has 8 hard wired zones on it. You can wire one or more sensors to a zone. As you stated if you wire more than one sensor to a zone you would not know which sensor in that zone was tripped.

To monitor an individual door you would have a sinble sensor for that door in its' own zone. If you wanted to monitor motion in a room you could add one or more motion sensors to a zone depending on how large and what shape the room is.

You can add more zones in various ways. There is a snap card that adds 8 more zones that attaches directly to a port on the main board. There is a snap card that adds 4 zones and 2 relays. You can only add one snap card to the main board.

You can also add zones by adding Superbus modules. These wire to the Superbus and can located remotely.

You will also need the Superbus automation module to connect to the C4 system via a serial cable.

[henniae]

The Concord 4 also has wireless so you can use wireless sensors and a little keyfob.

[EagleMoon]

Both the NX-8 and Concord4 have programmable relay outputs and, I guess, accessory boards available for even more. Are those relay outputs available to Control4, i.e. can I use those to activate my garage doors based on a Control4 script?

[well_armed]

When i remodeled my home, it had an old hard wired system in most of the usual spots (IR sensors, door jams, etc.). I put wireless sensors on the garage doors and a new backyard door, as its just easier to integrate into the ADT system panel (which integrates with C4).

I use card access switches plugged into my garage door engines, which communicate to director for open and close commands from keypads, wireless touch screens, etc.

The ADT wireless sensors come in handy for programming, as I have a "Goodnight" button I push that selects a lighting scene, turns off all the media/fireplaces, and closes the garage doors "if" they are open. I believe my panel treats every sensor as its own zone, and has basically unlimited zones. In my C4 project I put all the security stuff into its own "room" for simplicity.