How Many Sensors Does a Lyric Gateway Support?

The Lyric Gateway supports up to 64 wireless security sensors and 76 Z-Wave devices.

The Lyric Gateway is the latest all in one wireless system from Honeywell. The unit has a built in WIFI communicator and Z-Wave controller. The top of the unit can be easily opened to reveal two expansion bays where an AT&T or Verizon cellular communicator can be installed. Also, there is an Ethernet jack on the back of the unit. The system can send all of its communications over a single communication path - Ethernet, Cellular or WIFI or a combination of Cellular plus Ethernet or Cellular plus WIFI. If the system is using two paths of communication, it will operate in what is known as a Dual Path mode. With this feature enabled, if the primary path (WIFI or Ethernet) fails, the system will automatically switch to the available Cellular path.

The Gateway supports two types of wireless sensors - the SiX Series and the 5800 Series. The 5800 Series have been available for many years, and are currently Honeywell’s largest line of wireless sensors. These sensors have an operating range of approximately 200 feet from the main system, and can be fully supervised. Most 5800 Series sensors are not bi-directional except for those devices that use a House ID to receive status information from the alarm panel. The Gateway currently doesn’t support the House ID feature - Honeywell has said they will be adding this in a future firmware update, though there is no timeline for when this may take place. The SiX sensors have an operating range of up to 300 feet and are fully bi-directional devices, which means they constantly provide the Gateway with up to the minute battery and wireless signal strength information. The Lyric Gateway doesn’t have a traditional local programming interface, so all zone and system programming must be done by an alarm dealer, after the system has been registered with an AlarmNet account. This is a unique requirement on the Lyric Gateway, as, up to now, all Honeywell panels have been locally programmable.

Within the supported 76 Z-Wave devices, the Gateway can incorporate up to 6 Z-Wave thermostats, up to 4 Lyric thermostats, up to 6 Z-Wave door locks, up to 4 Z-Wave garage door openers and up to 60 Z-Wave lights, valves and/or appliance modules programmed into the system simultaneously.

All of the Gateway’s 64 security zones can be used with any compatible security device. The system also supports up to 8 wireless keyfobs. As each button on the fob takes its own zone, the system has dedicated zones (131 - 162) used only for keyfob buttons. If a user needs to add additional keyfobs, zones can then be used from among the 64 security zones.