IQ Panel 4

The IQ Panel 5 has succeeded the IQ Panel 4, so quote the 5 for a new install. An IQ Panel 4 is still a good panel to keep, and it has no announced end of life. The Qolsys Panel integration pairs Home Assistant with the panel as an IQ Remote, the same way a secondary touchscreen joins. Pairing needs the installer code and Home Assistant on the same subnet as the panel, since the panel is found over mDNS. After that the connection is local push: arming and alarm changes, door and motion zones, tamper, battery, and power-loss sensors arrive within moments, with nothing passing through Alarm.com.

Home Assistant gets one alarm control panel per partition, with arm home, away, and night, plus actions for panic alarms, quick exit, and silent disarming. The panel also exposes its scenes, a TTS speaker for announcements, and the Z-Wave locks, lights, thermostats, and garage doors paired to it. Leave those Z-Wave devices on the panel when the client wants them in the Alarm.com app too, and move them to Home Assistant’s own Z-Wave network when they don’t.

The panel stays the security system of record. Central station monitoring, the siren, and the battery backup keep working if Home Assistant is down, which is the right split for an insured, monitored alarm. Order the variant whose legacy receiver matches the sensors already in the walls (319.5 MHz for GE and Interlogix, 345 MHz for Honeywell and 2GIG, 433 MHz for DSC), since the daughtercard can’t be swapped later.

A panel installed by another dealer is usually locked. That dealer, or a new one after a takeover, has to unlock it through the Alarm.com Partner Portal and hand over an installer code before Home Assistant can pair.