Moving, Starting over with M1 + wireless ?

davefred99 · Apr 25, 2016

A few years back I installed a full M1 system with Insteon & Issy. I had it all working well with most of the bugs worked out but a year and a half ago we move to a temporary rental property till we were sure were we would be staying. I removed all my old gear and now am purchasing a New home and want to re-install my original system with some new considerations.
The Property is a Manufactured Home in the Country with 3 acres of land. this home does not have attic access so the wiring will be much different. It does have crawl space below but I am retired and prefer not to do a lot of crawling on my belly if possible. So I am thinking of adding some wireless sensors into the mix. My biggest decision is what type to use. I know Elk now has there own 2way wireless stuff now but it also seems a lot more expensive than others like GE or Honeywell. I am on a tight budget and am having a hard time justifying the Elk wireless products and looking for some feed back from others who have installed and are using wireless with ELK-M1.

I also want to say I am a long time forum member but have not been active for the past 2 years. I am now a retired Low Voltage contractor and will be doing all of this as a DIY,er as I did the first time in my original installation. Cocoon Tech has always been a wealth of information and helped me a lot.

Thanks in Advance, Dave

ano · Apr 25, 2016

Dave-dnlsat said:
A few years back I installed a full M1 system with Insteon & Issy. I had it all working well with most of the bugs worked out but a year and a half ago we move to a temporary rental property till we were sure were we would be staying. I removed all my old gear and now am purchasing a New home and want to re-install my original system with some new considerations.
The Property is a Manufactured Home in the Country with 3 acres of land. this home does not have attic access so the wiring will be much different. It does have crawl space below but I am retired and prefer not to do a lot of crawling on my belly if possible. So I am thinking of adding some wireless sensors into the mix. My biggest decision is what type to use. I know Elk now has there own 2way wireless stuff now but it also seems a lot more expensive than others like GE or Honeywell. I am on a tight budget and am having a hard time justifying the Elk wireless products and looking for some feed back from others who have installed and are using wireless with ELK-M1.

I also want to say I am a long time forum member but have not been active for the past 2 years. I am now a retired Low Voltage contractor and will be doing all of this as a DIY,er as I did the first time in my original installation. Cocoon Tech has always been a wealth of information and helped me a lot.

Thanks in Advance, Dave

Welcome back. I would go with the GE wireless sensors. They are cheap and very reliable. I'm not convinced that two-way is needed. Not only does it add complexity, its debatable how much functionality it adds. The GE sensors perform a test transmission every 55 minutes, so if they are not communicating, you will know it. I have close to 32 wireless zones, and they are very reliable. Only thing. I'm not sure of manufactured home construction, but watch out for very large metal between the transmitter and the receiver. If you do have a problem, yet another good point of the GE sensors is there is a wireless repeater. (The GE stuff has changed hands several times, so I think it goes by Interlogix now, but sometimes ITT and sometimes GE.)

Del91574 · Apr 25, 2016

I would go the exact opposite, and I've installed the (now) GE sensors all the way back to the ITI days, before the private labelled Radionics (now Bosch) then Caddx (interlogix/networx) and finally GE. The differences when GE killed off the long life sensors (10 or 15 year warranty from my memory) were the main selling point for me to install them.....put them in and pretty much never have a service call for a battery. The GE devices have a worse tamper switch design (tons of failures on them sticking over the years).

The price difference between GE and Honeywell is generally trivial at best. The only real difference is the distribution model. The performance is the same. Honeywell has a far superior repeater and frankly, better variety and quality of sensors (GE PIR's are absolute garbage and the shatterbox units aren't much better). This is coming from someone who's installed and serviced literally hundreds or GE and thousands of Honeywell devices, not just a single maker.

Since Elk stopped supporting the NX548E via firmware upgrades (it'll still work though) the price point of the receiver is moot between the two.

davefred99 · Apr 25, 2016

ano,
Interesting you suggest GE wireless. I was leaning towards Honeywell but I think they are pretty much equal but I would still like to here some pros and cons on both. I am most interested in price and availability plus battery life and range. No matter I am pretty convinced that that wireless is going to be my best bet its just a matter of choosing the best type for my use.

davefred99 · Apr 25, 2016

DELInstallations said:
I would go the exact opposite, and I've installed the (now) GE sensors all the way back to the ITI days, before the private labelled Radionics (now Bosch) then Caddx (interlogix/networx) and finally GE. The differences when GE killed off the long life sensors (10 or 15 year warranty from my memory) were the main selling point for me to install them.....put them in and pretty much never have a service call for a battery. The GE devices have a worse tamper switch design (tons of failures on them sticking over the years).

The price difference between GE and Honeywell is generally trivial at best. The only real difference is the distribution model. The performance is the same. Honeywell has a far superior repeater and frankly, better variety and quality of sensors (GE PIR's are absolute garbage and the shatterbox units aren't much better). This is coming from someone who's installed and serviced literally hundreds or GE and thousands of Honeywell devices, not just a single maker.

Since Elk stopped supporting the NX548E via firmware upgrades (it'll still work though) the price point of the receiver is moot between the two.

Del

I appreciate your input and have followed many of your posts in the past. I also have not found much difference in cost between the GE & Honeywell from my limited research. I am just starting to try and decide the best sensors to use and would be interested in your opinion on what sensors are best for most applications. I also note that you said something about ELK not supporting NX548e via firmware any longer could you elaborate on what interface I should be looking at for ELK.

tmbrown97 · Apr 26, 2016

Honeywell seems to have more sensor options... but GE is more accessible, especially for dealers (moreso for smaller dealers). That's the sole reason I went GE - my primary distributors carried it.

The Elk stuff is 2-way - I will try it in the next year or two; just haven't had an opportunity yet. The concept is great, but I'm not a fan of single-vendor solutions normally.

Del91574 · Apr 27, 2016

Elk has their own version of a GE compatible that supports crystal and SAW units for GE. Honeywell is just that. Repeaters are a moot point, actually GE's doesn't have a backup battery which can be a HUGE deal.

Honeywell is only through their distribution network "legally" with a warranty. GE can be bought through any normal distributor. From dealing with all units, frankly, GE GBD's and PIR's are garbage. Have been for years.

I wouldn't go with the 2 way. I've yet to see an advantage EXCEPT for a keyfob, and in the case of the M1, I'd rather just install a LED and call it a day.

Moving, Starting over with M1 + wireless ?

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