Does the DSC Impassa Support Partitions?

No, the DSC Impassa does not support partitions. The DSC Impassa is a single partition system that does not allow different partition access to be assigned to different system user codes. For users who want to use active partitioning, they will need to purchase a different alarm system.

A system that supports partitioning will essentially allow a user to section off different parts of the system when arming. By doing this, not every system zone is necessarily affected when a certain partition is armed or disarmed. For example, let's say there are two partitions on an alarm system. If a user arms only partition 1, then the zones associated with partition 2 will remain disarmed. The user will need to arm partition 2 separately if they want those zones to be armed.

For partitioned systems, different user codes can be assigned access to different partitions. A user code's settings will determine which partition or partitions it is able to arm and disarm. For example, if a user code is only given access to partition 1, then it will not be able to control partition 2. The access level for any given user code is typically set by the Master Code.

However, the DSC Impassa does not provide support for partitions. The entire system is either armed, or it is disarmed. Zones can be bypassed, in order to prevent an alarm on a zone. This is different from partitioning, though. On the DSC Impassa, there is no way to assign different partition access to different user codes. Instead, all of the 17 possible access codes will have access to the entire system. This is the same arming and disarming authority as the system's Master Code. Furthermore, when programming sensors with the DSC Impassa System no partition assignment is required.

If a user wants to use partitions, they will need a different alarm system. The feature is more common on commercial hardwire alarm panels. Some examples of panels that support a large number of different partitions include the Honeywell VISTA 128BPT and the Honeywell VISTA 250BPT.