Replacing GE NX-8 with Elk M1 Gold

[scotsman]

OK first post.  Lots of newbie questions so forgive me in advance.
 
I am fed up with my existing GE NX-8 alarm.
 
- I want more flexibility and control
- I want to have more a more individual view of open doors and windows.
- I want to hook it up to my home automation system (Insteon + Indigo).
- I want to alarm my garage
- I want to add some Carbon Monoxide detectors.
 
Here's the current system (and yes it looks awfully messy but for some reason it works still...)
 

 

 

 
It's connected to a Hai C3 to provide cellular monitoring (via Alarm Relay).  I don't have a landline in the house.
 

 
My list for replacement - I am trying to keep things as clean and simple as possible.
 
 
M1 Gold Control Board
ELK-M1KPAS M1 LED Keypad Arming Station
ELK-1280 8Ah Battery
ELK-TRG1640 AC Transformer
ELK-RJSET Telco Jack & Cord
 
ELK-M1XEP M1 Ethernet Interface
 
Also considering a 16-zone expander.
 
I plan to use my existing door, glass, and smoke sensors. 
 
Some questions:
1) Does the expander need a separate power supply and battery, or can I use the M1's?
2) Recommendation for a wireless garage sensor and receiver.  Looking for something on the garage door.
3) Recommendation for a CO sensor
4) Which can to contain all this and how big?  Elk or leviton?  Or just a plywood board inside a can?  I will eventually have two cans - one with cable modem, patch cables etc, and one with the alarm system.
5) There are existing cables to the network X control panels (not a cat 5) - can I just swap them out with the elk control panels?
 
Have I missed anything?  I presume it will just be a case of figuring out which wire in the existing box goes to which sensor, and re-connecting to the elk.  There's some resistors in there too - I'll need to do some searching to figure out if I still need them. I see quite a lot of discussion about these.
 
Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[brad]

Some questions:

1. Does the expander need a separate power supply and battery, or can I use the M1's?

Will the expander be mounted near the main panel or remotely? If near the main panel then you should not need a separate power supply and battery.
 

1. Recommendation for a wireless garage sensor and receiver.  Looking for something on the garage door.

The M1 System can interface with three manufactures of Wireless Sensors

 

• GE using the ELK-M1XRFEG

 

• Honeywell 5800 Series using the ELK-M1XRF2H

 

• ELK Wireless ELK-6010 Fobs, 6020 Window/Door Sensor; 6021 Window Sensor; 6022 Universal three input sensor using the ELK-M1XRFTW

 
http://www.elkproducts.com/search_results.html?CCID=9570&FID=55089&ExcludeBoolFalse=True&PageID=2981455

  

1. Recommendation for a CO sensor

Hardwired or Wireless? Any 12 VDC hardwired should work and for Wireless you’ll need to use GE or Honeywell.

  

1. Which can to contain all this and how big?  Elk or leviton?  Or just a plywood board inside a can?  I will eventually have two cans - one with cable modem, patch cables etc, and one with the alarm system.

 

1. There are existing cables to the network X control panels (not a cat 5) - can I just swap them out with the elk control panels?

 
What type of devices are these cables connected to?

 

[scotsman]

Thanks for the reply Brad.

Hardwired or Wireless?

I think I'll have to get one wired CO sensor, and one wireless one.
 

What type of devices are these cables connected to?

 
The current control panels are NX-1308E -