Help with Alarm Panel Pro installation glitch - dead zones 7 & 8

Smart Home Integrations SmartThings
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Hello all, I have a snag with my new installation that I just can’t figure out, so thought I’d seek help here. My setup is pretty simple, an Alarm Panel Pro, 6 PIR motion detectors, a door and a panic button, with integration to SmartThings. I’ve replaced my old alarm at for this first stage of the project, I’m not connecting the keypad or siren.

The story so far:

  • I wired everything up to zones 1-8, linked to Konnected Cloud & SmartThings and everything worked like a dream, except…
  • The panic button and a PIR were connected to zones 7 & 8, and whilst the PIR was powered and its red light showing motion, no motion was detected in the SmartThings device - everything else was still fine
  • I then tried the PIR in two other zones, one <7 and one >8 - it worked fine
  • I then moved a working PIR into zone 7 and then 8, and it didn’t work

So, is there something special about zones 7 & 8 that explain why I can’t get them to work?

Hoping for some Community wisdom to help me out here.

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Zones 7 & 8 should work just like any other zone. The best thing to do to eliminate the sensor as the problem is to try to use a short jumper wire or metal paperclip to connect and disconnect the zone to ground directly. If you don’t see any activity when testing the zone directly like that, then there may be a hardware issue with those zones.

Could you snap a closeup photo of the components just behind the Zone 7 & 8 terminals on the back of the board? It’s possible that a manufacturing defect has shorted them closed.

1 Like
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Thanks @nate. I shorted the contacts as suggested and motion was detected. Most odd. I then reconnected PIRs to theses zones, and that worked fine too. Very odd.

I’ve no idea what’s changed, however everything is now working fine, so many thanks! Should I get a future issue on those zones, I’ll look at the board for a possible defect, but for now I’m assuming user error.