Wiring Hardwired Devices in Series

Today is part of the FAQs section of the blog.  We frequently get asked how to wire hardwired devices in series.  Its not that complicated, but it does take the right knowledge to wire this correctly.  So, first things first, why would you want to wire hardwired devices in series?

Wiring hardwired devices in series allows you to place multiple hardwired sensors on the same zone.  So, if you have a room with five windows, you can place hardwired sensors on all of those windows and connect them to the same zone.  Since the number of zones you have is limited, this is helpful.  And since all of the windows are in the same room, you don't need your system to tell you anything more specific than that there is an event in the living room.

Here's how you do it.  You'll want to refer to the drawing up top while reading this.  At the top of the drawing are the two zone terminals on the control panel itself.  Your wire will run from these to all of the devices, so you want to be sure that you have enough wire to run through all of the devices.  When the wire reaches the first device, you should cut both wires.  After having stripped back the wire 1/4 of an inch to expose the copper, you'll use a splice to connect both ends of the high side wire (yellow in drawing) to both wires running from the sensor itself.  Then, splice the low side wire (green in drawing) back to itself.  Go to the next device and do the same.  You'll continue doing this until you reach the last device in the series.  When you get there, you'll splice the high wire (yellow) to the silver wire (black in drawing) coming from the device and then splice the low wire (green) to the copper wire (orange in drawing) coming from the device using an end of line resistor (red in drawing).

Once you have done this, you have successfully wired your hardwired devices in series.  All of these devices will now act as one zone on your hardwired home security system.