If you set a controller as remote (in your case, #2), you should not be operating zones on that controller — instead, you should be operating those zones on the master controller. Basically, a remote controller should only passively listen to the master controller and you should not open zones on that remote controller directly.
The turning off is due to the master controller sending periodic signals to refresh the remote zones, to make sure they are in sync with what the master controller thinks their statuses are. If you don’t want that behavior, you can go to the master controller (#1 in your case), Settings -> Advanced -> and uncheck “Special Station Auto-Refresh”, so that the master controller will not send refreshing commands. However, I recommend you not do so because if you do that, the master controller and remote controller can be out of sync and it can be confusing.