Does the Qolsys IQ Panel 2 Plus Have an Option for Night Stay?

No, the Qolsys IQ Panel 2 Plus does not have an option for Night Stay, otherwise known as Arm Night. But there are Sensor Group settings available for motion sensors that have them set as active while the system is Armed Stay, instead of being bypassed. These are Sensor Groups 15 and 35.

Traditionally, motion sensor zones are considered Interior Zones. This means that they are active while a system is Armed Away, and automatically bypassed when the system is Armed Stay. In other words, a motion sensor set as an Interior Zone will only be able to trigger a system response when the system is Armed Away, and not when the system is Armed Stay. The reason for this is because setting the system to Armed Stay implies that there is at least one person inside the building. You want that person to be able to move around the building freely, so Interior motion sensors are bypassed so that the individual will not set them off. But when you set the system to Armed Away, you are telling the system that nobody should remain inside the building, and you want Interior motion sensors to respond to activity, as their activation indicates that someone is inside the building when they are not supposed to be there.

Arm Night is a special type of Arm Stay mode available for most Honeywell Alarm Systems, in which designated interior motion sensors are active, instead of being automatically bypassed. When you Arm Night, any motion sensor that is designated as "Arm Night" will be set as active, unless you go and manually bypass that zone prior to arming. Many users will designate motion sensors that normally aren't activated during the nighttime as Arm Night motion sensors. For instance, if you have a basement, and all your bedrooms are upstairs, then you might choose to set a motion sensor in the basement as Arm Night if no one normally goes in the basement at night while the system is armed. While many Honeywell Systems have the Arm Night feature available, this setting is not available on the Qolsys IQ Panel 2 Plus.

But there is a work around available for this panel that allows you to achieve similar results to a Night Stay arming option. If you program a motion sensor to Sensor Group 15 Stay Instant Motion or Sensor Group 35 Stay Delay Motion, then you can have that motion sensor set as active when the system is Armed Stay, instead of being automatically bypassed. This is as opposed to Sensor Group 17 Away Instant Motion and Sensor Group 20 Away Delay Motion, as those two Sensor Groups will only have a motion sensor active while Armed Away, and the motion sensor will be automatically bypassed when the system is Armed Stay.

For reference, Sensor Group 15 Stay Instant Motion will have the motion sensor trigger an immediate system alarm if it is activated while the system is Armed Away or Armed Stay, unless an Entry/Exit Zone is activated prior to the motion. Sensor Group 35 Stay Delay Motion will put the system into an Entry Delay countdown if the motion sensor is activated while the system is Armed Away or Armed Stay, and the user must disarm before the countdown expires, or else an alarm will occur. To put it a bit more simply, a user can set a motion sensor as Sensor Group 15 or Sensor Group 35 to have it act as an "Arm Night" motion sensor and be set as active when they Arm Stay or Arm Away. This is not exactly the same as the "Arm Night" feature, as these interior sensors will ALWAYS be armed when the system is in the Stay Mode unless they are manually bypassed, but it is a reasonable alternative.

For all motion sensors that the user wants to be automatically bypassed when they Arm Stay and only be active when they Arm Away, those can instead be set as Sensor Group 17 or Sensor Group 20, and those will act as traditional motion sensors. Each motion detector zone can have its Sensor Group set independently from all other system zones, so the user is able to customize this setup to their liking.