DSC - How to set up a keypad zone

The keypad zone is a feature that has been available on most DSC keypads for many years. Its most common use is providing a zone connection close to a door, so that the door sensor can be connected directly to Z and B on the keypad, rather than running another wire to a Z and COM on the control panel. It also allows the installer to expand the system by adding a single hardwired zone, in addition to those on the main board. With two keypads, you could have two additional zones, and so on.

In order to use a keypad zone, the keypad must be assigned to its own slot (address). If you have only one keypad, then it is already assigned by default; 5500 keypads are assigned to slot 8, while all others are assigned to slot 1. This assignment takes place as soon as you power up; it is automatic. If you have more than one keypad of the same type (two or more 5500's or two or more non-5500's) then you will need to manually assign them to different slots. To avoid confusion, we will assume that you are using only one partition on your system (you can't have zero partitions). To assign a keypad to slot 1, go to THAT keypad and enter:

*8
Installer's Code
000
0
11
##

Be careful to enter those digits precisely, or you may end up with a keypad that appears to be unresponsive (see “Why Is My Keypad Dead??” ). To assign a keypad to slot 2, enter 12 instead of 11 (13 for slot 3, 14 for slot 4, etc.). If you have more than one 5500, one of them should be assigned to slot 8.

Once your keypad is assigned to a slot, you can set up the keypad zone. In section 020, the first two digits will be the zone number for the keypad in slot 1; the next two digits will be the zone on keypad 2, etc. So to assign zone 7 to keypad 1, you would enter:

*8
Installer's Code
020
07 (zone 7 on keypad 1)
##

To assign zone 7 to keypad 3, you would enter:

*8
Installer's Code
020
00 (no zone on keypad 1)
00 (no zone on keypad 2)
07 (zone 7 on keypad 3)
##

You will still need to define your keypad zone, just as you would for any other zone. You will also need to make sure that the zone is enabled (assigned to Partition 1) in the “Partition Assignment” section (202 for zones 1-8, 203 for 9-16, 204 for 17-24, etc.). Depending upon which system you have, zones higher than 6, higher than 8, or higher than 16 may be disabled by default.

One final note: if you choose for your keypad zone one of the zones that is built into your main board, that zone will not be usable on the main board. In other words, if you decide that you want the keypad zone to be zone 1, then you cannot use zone 1 on the main board.