Most people who buy a home security system will sooner or later come across a scenario where they want to bypass one of their sensors. To clarify, bypassing in this regard would mean setting up your security system so that you can open specific doors or windows while the system is armed, without fearing that the alarm will go off.
Let’s walk you through how to bypass specific sensors on some of the most common panels in today’s homes.
Qolsys Panels (IQ2, IQ4, IQHub):
By default, sensors that are active or tampered while arming a Qolsys panel will automatically be bypassed to ensure the system does not immediately trigger an alarm as soon as it is armed. If you wish to manually bypass a sensor on a Qolsys panel, follow the steps below,
- From the home page, tap the green Disarmed icon to bring up the arming menu.
- Select the arrow on the right-hand side of the arming menu.
- Locate the Bypass section in the top right-hand corner of the menu and select the box that says All. By default, the Bypass section will be set to Active, which will show all sensors currently active or tampered and therefore will be bypassed if the system were armed at that moment.
- Select which sensors to bypass by choosing the circle next to the sensor. Sensors with a checkmark in the circle have been bypassed.
- Arm the system. By default, the panel will announce which sensors have been bypassed.
2GIG Edge
- Go to the main screen. From there, click the settings icon (the gear) in the lower-right corner of the screen, then enter your Master User Code (default: 1111, but usually changed).
- Tap the Bypass Sensors option in the System Settings.
- Find the sensor you want to bypass in the Bypass Sensors Menu and click on its toggle switch (green means bypassed).
DSC Neo:
Instead of calling them sensors, DSC refers to equipment that is set up as zones instead. Here’s how you can manually bypass zones on your DSC keypad:
- Confirm your system is disarmed
- Press * 1 to get you into the zone bypass screen
- Use the arrows keys to locate the zone you want to bypass
- Press * to bypass the zone. A “B” should show up at the bottom of the screen for the zone indicating that it will now be bypassed
- Press # to return to the main menu. You can now arm your system.
