How many zones are available on the DSC PC1616, DSC PC1832, and DSC PC1864?

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People tend to be confused about what the difference between the PC1616, PC1832, and PC1864 is. While there are quite a few small differences here and there that can influence which panel to pick, the main difference that most people will need to know between the three alarm panels in the PowerSeries line is the different zone limits.

The Power 1616 has 6 hardwired zone terminals on the panel out of the box. It can expand up to 16 hardwired zones by adding one PC5108 zone expander and using keypad zones for zones 7 and 8. With a wireless receiver added to the security system, it can be expanded up to 32 zones total between hardwired and wireless. Zones 17-32 can only be used for wireless zones, while zones 1-16 can be hardwired or wireless. Keep in mind that zone 7 and zone 8 can only be added by using keypad zones. This also means that you will need 2 keypads with available hardwired keypad zones to reach the full potential of the PC1616.

The Power 1832 has 8 hardwired zones on the control board initially. It can then be expanded to a total of 32 zones. The 32 total zones can be pretty much any combination of hardwired and wireless zones. As with the 1616 you will need to use PC5108 modules to add 8 additional hardwired zones per module. You can add up to a total of 3 zone expansion modules on the 1832 to reach 32 available hardwired zones. A wireless receiver such as the RF5132 will allow you to add up to 32 wireless zones as well. We recommend starting your wireless zones after all available hardwired terminals. For example if you have 12 hardwired zones you would have the 8 zones on the panel plus 1 zone expander for a total of 16 available hardwired zones. We recommend then starting your wireless zones on zone 17 so that you have expansion room in case you ever add more hardwired zones.

Like the PC1832, the Power 1864 also has 8 hardwired zones on the main panel. Unlike the 1832, the PC1864; as its name suggests, can have up to 64 zones. These can also be any combination of hardwired or wireless. You can have 64 hardwired, 64 wireless, or some combination in between. The PC1864 can use up to 7 of the PC5108 expansion boards to reach a grand total of 64 hardwired zones. With the 1864 you will need to use a  higher capacity wireless receiver or transceiver such as the one built into the RFK5564 keypad or the TR5164 wireless transceiver to get to higher than zone 32 with your wireless zones. With the RFK5564 it can do up to 64 wireless zones. With the TR5164 you will only be able to do up to 60 wireless zones, but those other 4 zones are traded out for the ability to add up to 4 wireless keypads. Again, the combined total of hardwired and wireless zones cannot exceed 64.