Several secondary panels?

I grow weary of running wires to my panel, it's 75 feet horizontally and 15 feet down from the attic.

Thinking about adding two more secondary panels each with an M1XIN & M1OVR, one in the crawlspace, one in the attic. It's passively vented, need to check temps but I doubt it's over threshold.

Anyone ever do multiple secondaries? I'd have 3 total secondary, M1 on main floor.

I have three in my home.
 
It's one of the benefits of the ELK data bus.
 
I have a separate power supply/battery for each panel.

I don't see a problem with expansion units in multiple locations.  That's what the data bus is meant for.  But I'd be careful about the ambient temperature in a spot like the attic.  Elk specifies a range of 32 to 120 degrees F for the M1, and presumably that applies to the expansion boards as well.  Depending on your local climate and attic ventilation, the temperature can easily exceed 120 degrees.  A second floor closet might be a better choice.

Dampness and high ambient would be of concern.
 
The secondary consideration would be what to do if the next generation of whatever panel you choose to install doesn't support the topology you installed the system with. This is very common and I've run across it with old multiplex systems and the worst is say, a panel like Bosch/Radionics or Napco where the expansion is either via keypad zones or other methods (2 wire or what have you). What exists today or seems commonplace or will not change, typically does.

DELInstallations said:

The secondary consideration would be what to do if the next generation of whatever panel you choose to install doesn't support the topology you installed the system with. This is very common and I've run across it with old multiplex systems and the worst is say, a panel like Bosch/Radionics or Napco where the expansion is either via keypad zones or other methods (2 wire or what have you). What exists today or seems commonplace or will not change, typically does.

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Actually that is an excellent point and would be my primary. Ugh. As always Del, thx, great insight, great tips and as always, i'll end up doing a little more work to avoid the problem you point out.
 
Damnit. My 2" conduit that was totally empty is now as full as I feel comfortable making it, i'm going to have to install a 2nd conduit. 

There's ways around it, and typically a "bus" design should be commonplace, but the overall topology may not be. Distributed 485 may or may not be the next thing out there. You may be able to get away with it if you have enough conductors between the panel and expansion. I'd hope that Elk offers a retro board down the line if they change/modify like their retro DBH.
 
I've run across the basic issue with the older Optex/Morse units (pretty cool system for it's day) but the biggest item is hanging your hat on whether or not the expansion and keypad data remain the same cable. I think that would be the largest change moving forward. I think the next big thing would probably (and hopefully) be adding support for 3rd party addressable smoke detectors and devices (Firelite would be awesome) but the largest push is into wireless everything, which unfortunately isn't a fix-all for every install.

I think I have a compromise solution, but I have a question: If I have two secondary panels, I can run a single 4wire directly from each location to the M1G but remove the jumper from JP3 on the mainboard so the ends are in each panel, right?
 
i have a location 5 feet vertically up from the main board in an enclosed area that never seems to get hotter than 85 (I put a temp sensor there). I can put a panel there, easily run a wire down. If the bus topology changes in the future it'll be simple to add wiring as needed, but this way all my new runs don't have to go down a single conduit.

I'd pull at least 6 conductors to each, but you'd split the bus as you described.
 
I can't speak as to the original install/intent but personally, I wasn't a fan of the location of your M1 as it sat buried in a cabinet and it appeared blocked by a lot of other items. People tend to forget, even though it's low voltage, all the same clearances that an electric or breaker box would require, still apply.

DELInstallations said:

I'd pull at least 6 conductors to each, but you'd split the bus as you described.
 
I can't speak as to the original install/intent but personally, I wasn't a fan of the location of your M1 as it sat buried in a cabinet and it appeared blocked by a lot of other items. People tend to forget, even though it's low voltage, all the same clearances that an electric or breaker box would require, still apply.

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Thanks. I'll just run two 4 wire as I have a ton of those. 
 
The intent of that location was to hide it. Nothing is within 12 inches of it, we put food/etc so nobody can see it. (Huge side windows look into that room directly at that locaiton). We live in a city with a higher than average amount of crime, with a very badly laid out footprint, so there is no better internal location that can satisfy those codes. The old owners put an alarm system in a closet with clothes basically touching it, so this is at least a step up from that.

I pull Cat5 for most all of my bus wiring. I usually have a lot more of that than I do 4-conductor, plus I utilize the DBH.

drvnbysound said:

I pull Cat5 for most all of my bus wiring. I usually have a lot more of that than I do 4-conductor, plus I utilize the DBH.

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Man, I just remembered I have an unused DBH. I really have too many "ooops" orders. CAT5 plus using that it is...

Of course I'm outspoken on the value of a DBH. Of course, they're usable, but if you need to drop power into the peripherals, less than ideal. I'd think if you're going the route of 2 branches already, their usage is already more effort than what is really needed.
 
I'm not a fan of having to not use all the terminals on the RJ45 (input/output) or split the power off separately, which is a huge deal with the M1, especially if you don't use 212S' (which ends up being a liability on larger systems).