Getting ready to pre-wire new construction - your thoughts?

[skcocoon]

IF you run into a panel that requires EOL's you could always place them at the panel itself. Mind you that this will not provide the monitoring of the wiring to the sensor, but it will at least give you EOL compliance as far as the panel is concerned.

I did a little more research specifically on the EOL stuff. It's starting to make (a little) more sense to me why you would/would not use them. Primarily they are used to detect tampering of the line to a sensor, correct? It looks like ELK can use either EOL or non-EOL. Putting the 2.2k resistor close the the switch will provide that functionality, but putting it at the board will still allow a short to occur.

What's kinda the general concensus on weither to do EOL or not? I doesn't look like a ton more effort to do it. I do see that there are some considerations if you want to wire a zone in serial. I am considering putting a sensor in the top and bottom sash, but wiring them in series, so that a double-hung window would be a single zone. I see on the ELK install guide on page 9 they discuss how to wire EOL with two 2.2k resistors to account for this. What if I decide to go with something besides ELK? Is non-EOL considered more (or less) universally compatible?

Also - more on the double-hung windows. Would you recommend wiring a sensor for each sash and homerunning that, or like I mentioned above and doing a windows as upper and lower wired in series. In situations where I would have a bay of windows (i.e., 3 double hung windows) I would plan on each window being unique. So in that scenario, with a homerun I would have 6 zones, or wiring in series would result in 3 zones. I could see where homerunning would really help with troubleshooting, but honestly if I know one window is messed up, then I know it's gotta be one of two sensors.

Thanks!

 

[felixrosbergen]

I htink you're answering your own questiosn with regarss to the homerunning vs series situation.

The troublshooting is one part...also consider that from a monitoring point of view it doesnt seem important to know whether the upper or lower window or the left or right in a 2bay setup is open. You're going to have to walk out there anyway to close it.

The story could change a little if you're considering additional sensors to allow the window to be partially open and still monitored sense then no all sensors are expected to the 'closed' at the same time.

It's all a matter of cost, convenience and your conform with the quantity of connections in the wall.

Just to follow up on the EOL....if you pre-wire and install the sensor and go the EOL route you can buy the sensors with EOL already in them... this is great, but you'd be committing yourself to a certain resistor value (and thus a certain alarm panel supplier since they use different ones) at the time of pre-wire. Also consider that with EOL changing from one panel to another could then mean replacing all sensors or opening up the walls to change the resistors as well.

I have nothing against EOL's, for my own situation i just didn't find it worth the hassle. And you can configure ELK with or without EOL on a zone by zone basis (including on the expanders).

 

[beelzerob]

Also - more on the double-hung windows. Would you recommend wiring a sensor for each sash and homerunning that, or like I mentioned above and doing a windows as upper and lower wired in series. In situations where I would have a bay of windows (i.e., 3 double hung windows) I would plan on each window being unique. So in that scenario, with a homerun I would have 6 zones, or wiring in series would result in 3 zones. I could see where homerunning would really help with troubleshooting, but honestly if I know one window is messed up, then I know it's gotta be one of two sensors.

Thanks!

Our windows are double hung. I ran 22/4 to each window, and then used one pair per sash. I homeran every window. Main reason was I just didn't want any connections in the wall where I couldn't get at them. Of course it uses a lot more 22/4, but that stuff is cheap comparatively. For actual monitoring, I combine the wires in series down in the wiring room so that with a single I/O input, I can monitor an entire room. But then for troubleshooting, I can hook up my continuity meter across each window and each sash termination to narrow down the culprit.

I don't know how you'll do it if you don't wire each sash...guess it depends on how your windows are configured. If you have andersen 200 or 400 windows, you might want to check out my thread of how I did it

 

[AceCannon]

I told my security guys to exclude EOL's. Didn't seem worth the hassle and extra complexity.

 

[Monk]

IF you run into a panel that requires EOL's you could always place them at the panel itself. Mind you that this will not provide the monitoring of the wiring to the sensor, but it will at least give you EOL compliance as far as the panel is concerned.

I did a little more research specifically on the EOL stuff.

Also worth mention, the search indexing here is marvelous. You cannot use "EOL" as a term - it needs to be > 4 characters I think, so "EOL Resistor" might work. There are a bunch of conversations here discussing EOL pros and cons - how to, etc...

 

[WayneW]

Also worth mention, the search indexing here is marvelous. You cannot use "EOL" as a term - it needs to be > 4 characters I think, so "EOL Resistor" might work. There are a bunch of conversations here discussing EOL pros and cons - how to, etc...

Use the Google search box and the white "search" button and you can search for 3 character words.

 

[Monk]

Also worth mention, the search indexing here is marvelous. You cannot use "EOL" as a term - it needs to be > 4 characters I think, so "EOL Resistor" might work. There are a bunch of conversations here discussing EOL pros and cons - how to, etc...

Use the Google search box and the white "search" button and you can search for 3 character words.

Thanks Wayne - I didn't know that.