Need help with Elk, UPB and PIM

[dhiren]

Folks,

I'm hoping that someone on the board can help troubleshoot an odd issue with the ELK m1 gold panel and the elk UPB PIM.

Current equipment and connections

ELK M1 gold
Wireless expander (connected to the serial bus on panel)
two keypads (connected to the serial bus on panel)
Cellphone unit
XSP
All (4) of the serial devices are connected to the panel directly
ELK UPB PIM (connected to the serial bus on panel)
Simply automated wire in phase coupler
Assorted Simply automated light switches and scene controllers


All of the elk stuff and some other electronics (router, gig swtich, sonos players, NAS) were connected to a surge protector which was plugged into the same outlet as the UPB PIM and everything seemed to work fine.

Current Issue

I added a standard APC UPS (from costco) which seemed to have introduced some type of noise / complication as the PIM has been behaving strangely since then.

I added a (simply automated) filter and tried a couple of combinations (wall outlet has only two receptacles)

UPS> Filter> Wall outlet & ELK, PIM > surge protector >wall outlet
UPS> Wall outlet & ELK PIM > Surge protector > Filter> wall outlet

but for some reason the outcome seems to be the same wherein the ELK panel /PIM can send UPB signals for about 4 - 5 hours and then is unable to send any commands however the security function from elk panel continues to function normally

However, whats even more stranger is that once I unplug & turn the UPS off completely but leave the PIM connected, the ELK panel starts complaining about losing connectivity to the devices connected on the serial bus and will only quiten if i unplug the PIM ( maybe i need a data bus expander )

Any ideas ?

 

[tmbrown97]

The UPS should be plugged into the filter then into the wall. The PIM Need's it's own outlet, not on the UPS or filter.

Not sure why the bus is going down - are any parts of the bus on separate power?Also try the magic reset of the PIM - I think it's 10 preses the. 2 of the reset button.

 

[dhiren]

Thanks a ton Work2play. I had the the ups plugged into the filter which was then plugged into wall but the pim seems to respond for a bit and then quits . The elk has its battery source as a backup but no other source of power

Could the bus be overloaded since elk recommends only 2 homerun connections whereas I have 4 ? That still doesn't explain why the bus doesn't quit when the UPS is plugged in

Is the magic reset the same as a factory reset ? Would you able to help clarify the steps again

 

[dhiren]

Ok, so a factory reset of the UPB PIM and power cycle of the ELK panel seemed to help. Elk seems to be sending signals with no problems..
Hopefully, it doesn't quit on me

However, i would appreciate if someone can confirm if they have more than 2 plugged into the data bus on the panel or if a data bus expander is necessary when having that many devices running of the panel

 

[jpmargis]

The number of devices on the RS-485 data bus is not a factor, but you must have no more than two homeruns each with a terminator at the end of the run. Refer to page 12 in the manual.

 

[tmbrown97]

Or if you want to have 4 home-runs, you should use a DBHR.

Unless you're doing "homeruns" with cat5 and following the daisy-chained-star that is essentially what the DBH does for you (by keeping a continuous send/receive path that flows in one direction the whole way).

 

[dhiren]

Just placed my order for a DBHR. Thanks all