Utilizing existing adt wiring in main floor closet w/ m1g in basement.

Hey guys,
The house has about 20 zones going into the main floor closet. 
 
The utility room where I'll mount the elk stuff is directly below the ADT panel, so it would be easy to just solder them all and run down a floor, but I imagine the easier option for troubleshooting down the road would be an M1XIN.  My issue with the XIN is that I'll have to deal with about 5 motions and 2 4 wire smokes.
 
To keep it simple is it ok to just solder them all there or should I use a punch down block?
 
 
 

There are a lot of people here who do the punch downs and cross connects - but that's just another potential failure point in my opinion.  And I'm an IT guy who does a ton of infrastructure - so I use cross connects every day for nearly 2 decades.
 
It's been a while since I messed with this stuff in detail, but the motions will run fine off the M1XIN; and I thought the 4-wire smokes could too... although in theory at that point you should be using fire-wire to connect the XIN, and may need an aux power supply.  If it's not too hard to solder wires, then go with that!
 
You will want to run a tester on the existing zones to check the resistance so you can see if there's an EOLR, and if so, if by chance it's compatible.

Thanks.  I'll just do that then.  I'd rather have all of it in one place if I can.  Good point on testing each zone.  I'll do that.  

Any way you can pull the cabling down the wall into the room you're installing the M1?

They were wired as a new install, stapled..  I wish

Since you're going to fish cables anyways, I'd just put the expanders and the like up at the old panel location and then put the M1 where you intended.
 
Basically you're looking at a category cable and maybe a few pairs for power/resettable power. A lot easier than dealing with all the splices

If you are going to have an enclosure with expansion boards in the original location then why not just put the M1 there and be done with it? Is your goal to clean up the ground floor closet or is it to have the M1 in the basement for some other reason?
 
Mike.

I haven't done any of the work yet, so I appreciate the continued advice.  
 
Considering I am planning on adding more boards, I bought the 42 inch leviton enclosure in hopes of keeping everything very clean and neat. 
 
The closet in question is dinky, and also the main entry closet to the home so there is good reason to get it out of there.   
 
As for the basement being a goal, it's really just because I have a utility room directly below that has a nice wall for the installation.  
 
I'll try and see if I can flush mount my elk 14" box in the closet.  If I can keep it clean I see what you mean about saving myself the hassle of splicing anything.

I believe that the 42" Leviton enclosure can be bought with a flush mount cover which is sold separately.

Interesting.  I'll measure the wall cavity tomorrow and see if that would work.

Depends, for keeping it simple and workable, you can install the expanders in a smaller can to keep from splicing everything through and then put the big guts, batteries and like in a easier to access and service location, with more room for peripherals.
 
Put the included 14" can in the closet with the cables, then install a 28" down in the utility room.
 
I haven't put in a M1 that really needed more than a 28" can, barring the power supplies and batteries.

DELInstallations said:

Depends, for keeping it simple and workable, you can install the expanders in a smaller can to keep from splicing everything through and then put the big guts, batteries and like in a easier to access and service location, with more room for peripherals.
 
Put the included 14" can in the closet with the cables, then install a 28" down in the utility room.
 
I haven't put in a M1 that really needed more than a 28" can, barring the power supplies and batteries.

Click to expand...

 
Another good thing about doing it that way is that you have a place to take zones from on two different levels of the house.

I've never been a fan of the generic enclosures with a M1 and then putting plates in to lay the boards flat. Much easier to install SWG's and then dress the cables in, not to mention get a good density of devices vs. space and still be able to service it. There's really no benefit to installing the boards flat.

Maybe I should have asked before I ordered everything!  I got the 42" today and 20 feet of cable raceway is on its way.  
 
Talking with my distributor, I was under the impression that normal stand offs would mount everything flat... Is that incorrect?

You can mount everything flat but by mounting boards on end you can fit more in the box. I've done both. Each installation is different. . The smaller boards like the XEP are just the right size to mount on end in the Elk Enclosure using ELK SWG's.
 
Plan everything on paper before starting to assemble the thing or you'll end up moving things around a lot like I did. If I had to do it again I would plan the location of each board based on the wire routing.If you plan where all of the wires will enter and exit the box first it'll allow you to place the boards in a way that the wiring is short and neat.
 
I'd install the M1 and battery first and then plan the other boards around that. The battery leads should be as short as possible so it usually goes right next to the bottom of the M1. The battery leads are not "power limited" and should be spaced 1/4" away from power limited wires by NEC specs. You can put the battery in the floor of the box and the M1 just above that or put the M1 higher up in the box and hang the battery on a battery tray just below the M1. Consider if you will be putting an AC power strip in there too.
 
I personally like the nice neat look of laying the boards flat if there is room to do it. It lays everything out in a way that you can see what is what which is nice on your first install when your'e learning. On the XEP there are only a couple of plug-in cables and mine is mounted  on edge but on the XIN there are all of your zones which can add up to a bundle of wires.
 
Mike.