How to Read Battery Voltage remotely

Greetings,

I have an Elk M1 Golf Edith M1EXP. I have two batteries, one for the main panel, another for the accessories.

I also have a rule set up, which sends me an email, when I lose power. The charger for the accessories battery gives me a low-battery signal as well.

- Now, is there a way for me to read the actual battery voltage?

- Follow up question: if yes, can I send this reading as an email through the M1EXP?

Thanks for your help.

Happy new year!

Make that an Elk M1 Golf with M1EXP

Gold! Darn autocorrect

You can read the M1's battery voltage through the keypad system diagnostics under menu 8.
 
But there isn't a way to read the other battery voltage for the aux power supply.  And there isn't a way to place the actual voltage value in an e-mail.

You can use an (analog type setting) input to read D.C. Voltages. I forgot what the max voltage input is. If you r over that you can use a resistor divider. It's an 8bit only accuracy.

This is a little crude but how about wiring a couple of cheap volt meters placed in front of an existing camera?
 
Mike.

There are also low voltage alarms/sensors that elk makes that you could tie to a digital input and send an email if tripped.  Won't give you a reading but it would let you know of an alarm.  I even think you can set the level you want it to trip on some models.

The system's LB event isn't good enough in conjunction with an AC fail report? What is the battery voltage going to give you if you're self monitoring? Should be able to calculate the voltage curve with no AC easily enough to know how long it's going to last with no AC in standby condition.

BraveSirRobbin said:

You can use an (analog type setting) input to read D.C. Voltages. I forgot what the max voltage input is. If you r over that you can use a resistor divider. It's an 8bit only accuracy.

Click to expand...

 
 

BraveSirRobbin said:

There are also low voltage alarms/sensors that elk makes that you could tie to a digital input and send an email if tripped.  Won't give you a reading but it would let you know of an alarm.  I even think you can set the level you want it to trip on some models.

Click to expand...

Thanks for this useful information. I just browsed through the manual and the input range is 0-12V. I'll use a divider to make 13.8V Battery as 10.0V and from there can tell the Battery Voltage as %. 8Bits should work fine.
The ELK charger does indeed have a low battery output, which I am already using as a trigger, but I wanted to have an idea at exactly what Voltage the M1EXP stops communicating. I will now write rules that send me an email at every 10% of drop in voltage. When I don't get mails anymore, I know when the EXP drops out. Will let you know how this works out.
 
All this, because the area I live in can have power outages that last as long as a day or two. 

Off the top of my head, I'm pretty sure the LBC kicks in at 10.5VDC, so wouldn't knowing the exact voltage the panel stops communicating be a moot point? The LB signal is going to be sent far before the LBC.

Use a variable D.C. Supply to pwr the xep board and vary till it stops working while measuring with a meter.

Use a variable D.C. Supply to pwr the xep board and vary till it stops working while measuring with a meter.