M1G and Cellular Monitoring

I'm in the process of getting my M1G all hooked up, and am starting to research how to have it monitored.  Looks like most people tend to go with Uplink radios.  So is the 4500EZ the best option if I have nothing else right now?  After some searching, it seems they hid the serial interface on an internal connector, unlike the 2500, is this still the case?  I assume I need the M1XSP to interface with the 4500EZ?  Most of the threads I searched were from 2011 with one back in 2013, so just wondering if this is still the best solution.

Depends on if there are other communications methods in the mix or not and what they may be.
 
If you have "digital" phones or some variation of them you need to determine how they actually perform with no active ISP connection to determine if the 4500EZ is applicable or not. There's other ways that are more economical and perform better.

DELInstallations said:

Depends on if there are other communications methods in the mix or not and what they may be.
 
If you have "digital" phones or some variation of them you need to determine how they actually perform with no active ISP connection to determine if the 4500EZ is applicable or not. There's other ways that are more economical and perform better.

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What other product(s) would you recommend for cellular?

Yeah, I don't have a POTS line anymore. I have cable internet, and use an Ooma for VoIP phone service for the house, but I was under the impression that may not be as reliable as a cellular approach. Plus, that would mean UPSing the cable modem, router, Ooma, and a switch. It might eventually be nice to do that, because I do have the Ethernet module installed, which would let me in even if power was out, for a while.

Same setup here and i use the 4500ez via serial to the Elk. No pots or Voip service in the House.. 4500ez works great and is setup with Alarm Relay.

Did you make or buy the cable to go from DB9 to 4500ez?

DELInstallations said:

Depends on if there are other communications methods in the mix or not and what they may be.
 
If you have "digital" phones or some variation of them you need to determine how they actually perform with no active ISP connection to determine if the 4500EZ is applicable or not. There's other ways that are more economical and perform better.

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Del I am slowly figuring out my own ELK install and had similar questions. Could you please elaborate on the "other ways that are more economical and perform better."
 
Thank you

If you have VOIP or digital voice, most of the times, the ATA puts out voltage whether or not there is a viable connection, which would keep a dialer capture based unit used in backup format (in series with) the VOIP based service. The unit will never switch over to cellular as long as the ATA has power, irregardless of viable connection to be able to facilitate a call. If you have any of these services, you should NOT connect to them if you have a cell backup that uses voltage to determine when to cut over service.
 
A large "blue" alarm company was sued successfully in a series of major system failures that lead ultimately to murder. Google will turn up all the shortcomings and articles of that case, but it was settled for the highest dollar amount for an alarm case EVER (industry thinks probably in the 9 digit range).
 
I've started using the Uplink 4530EX in cellular primary applications. The unit is small, 4G and requires very little cabling (4 conductors + appropriate power conductors) and works well. Seamless to the CS or ported via IP. Also a lot cheaper than the necessary supply, XSP and adapter cabling needed to get a 4500EZ on the M1 for a similar application. (example, at dealer cost, no discounts, almost double)
 
In the specific case of a POTS based system backup, the 4500 would be the choice for an integrated system. The big plus of Uplink is they offer GSM and CDMA and they are seamless to any CS. Other providers, the CS needs to be a dealer or sub-dealer to get the signals ported to them...like Connect 24, Alarmnet, and Telular for a start. The big thing is you need to know what service the CS supports (if not using Uplink or they are generally clueless) or who has coverage in your area. The specific unit you choose from there is the second biggest consideration.

Del thanks for the response.
 
Could you explain  little further the difference between using the 4530ex vs 4500?  I have been reading about the 4500 and that I would need the M1XSP and serial cable as well as a separate power supply/battery.  How does using the 4530EX differ?
 
I was thinking of doing either cellular only or ip and cellular (either way I will have the M1XEP for local access.) would the 4530ex be best for this?
 
Thanks!

cheezit73 said:

How does using the 4530EX differ?

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The 4530EX uses Dial Capture to collect the information about the alarm condition from the alarm panel. It connects to the M1's phone line interface and collects the DTMF tones that the M1 would normally send over a POTS line, converts these to cellular data, and transmits it over the cellular link to the central station.  Overall, it's a less expensive solution since you don't need the serial interface (M1XSP) that you would need to connect a serial link to the 4500EZ.

Very interesting, thanks so much for this discussion! I think I'm leaning more towards the 4530EX now. So am I understanding correctly that there should be no difference in data reported to the CS with either Uplink device?

I was anticipating using Alarm Relay or Next Alarm, as those seem to be the ones mentioned here the most for monitoring.

Speaking of backup, I was just planning on running the Uplink off the Aux power from the panel? Any reason not to do this? If it's battery power operation time, what about just buying a parallel battery cable kit, and adding a second standard battery to the existing one (think I read that the panel can manage up to 18AH worth of batteries). This would eliminate the need for a second battery manager. I would have nothing else running off the Aux outputs.

I think someone like DEL can answer your question better than I can about whether there is any difference in the data that is reported between the 4500EZ and 4530EX.
 
Be careful about connecting the cellular communicator (whichever model you choose) to the AUX power supply.  When transmitting, they draw 500 to 600 mA of power, and make it easy to overload the M1's power supply.  You need to look at how much power all your devices draw in alarm mode, including sirens, strobes, keypads, zone expanders, PIRs, etc and make sure you don't exceed the maximum.  And you should really allow some headroom and not go over 80% of max.  Elk has a current draw spreadsheet on their web site in the Owner's area that makes this calculation easy.
 
If you are under the maximum, you can go with a larger capacity battery (or add another battery in parallel) to provide more run time. But if you are close/over the max, you'll need a separate power supply with its own battery. 
 
Edit:
If you do go with 2 batteries in parallel, they really should be a matched pair that were purchased at the same time.  If you already have one battery in use, adding a second, newer battery in parallel with the old one can cause problems since they won't charge equally.

DEL, I'm a bit confused, and maybe it's just recently you have changed your mind, but in posts from 2013 and some in the middle of 2014, you highly recommended the 4500EZ over the 4530EX.  I'm curious why this has changed.  It seems like your gripe with the 4530 was that it's trouble output could be a number of different things, and feeding this back into the M1, while giving you feedback that something is going on with the Uplink, it's like the idiot light on a car.  This versus the feedback I guess you would get via the serial interface with the 4500.
 
Just curious why you changed your mind?  I see that running the 4500 would probably cost me more, because I need the M1XSP, but if it's truly the better solution, I don't mind the extra cost.

geogecko said:

DEL, I'm a bit confused, and maybe it's just recently you have changed your mind, but in posts from 2013 and some in the middle of 2014, you highly recommended the 4500EZ over the 4530EX.  I'm curious why this has changed.  It seems like your gripe with the 4530 was that it's trouble output could be a number of different things, and feeding this back into the M1, while giving you feedback that something is going on with the Uplink, it's like the idiot light on a car.  This versus the feedback I guess you would get via the serial interface with the 4500.
 
Just curious why you changed your mind?  I see that running the 4500 would probably cost me more, because I need the M1XSP, but if it's truly the better solution, I don't mind the extra cost.

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geogecko thanks for starting this thread! Del I also saw the posts geogecko is referring to and was going to ask the same question.  It seems even with the 4530ex you still need something like the ELK P983 for power battery backup and charging, so inline with gecko's question cost wise the difference is a little more for the 4500 plus the  M1XSP?

@ Geo, the data is seamless to the CS. Basically the 4530EX has a whole host of signals it's able to send, but really it's everything in the CID world and the panel can send. The 4530 is a different beast compared to the 4530EX. Vastly redesigned
 
@ Cheese, the 4530EX is not as power hungry as many other units out there. The P983 is a suitable unit but not necessary. The unit has a 600 mA max/200 continuous draw. The P983 is a huge enclosure that is not needed. The Uplink is about the size of a pack of cigarettes in depth, barely larger than a single gang blank cover. The 2500's were 2X as wide and deeper. Where a 983 would be needed is remote mounting with a XSP, not to mention the cabling from the XSP to the 4500 and if you have a remote PS and battery.
 
The old 4530's were huge and had space for an integral battery and connection for a transformer. Just like the old Telguard TG units.
 
Usually power isn't a huge issue on the M1's I end up putting in, there's some sort of aux power supply with enough headroom and when you really look at any power supply that's worthwhile and has 0V drop when running on battery the price difference between a 3,4, or 6 amp unit is trivial. The price of a cheapie 1A unit to get a radio to work is one thing, but unfortunately, the M1 is very power limited for what it can really do.
 
To put it into perspective, I work most often with access control panels that have at least a 5-6A power supply to run them with at least the same or multiples to run the locking hardware and peripherals. 10A or even higher (crash bars) is not uncommon.