Westec 5000 to Elk M1 Gold

[shawnc]

Hi,
 
First I'm new here....
 
 
My question:
 
I recently purchased a house with an existing Westec 5000 (in working condition).  I've always wanted to have an Elk M1 Gold system so I bought one.  Does anyone know if I can convert everything that's currently installed in the house to my Elk 1 Gold?  Our new home has a lot of doors, glass break sensors, etc...  I have done some research, some say it shouldn't be too difficult, others say it may be difficult due to resistance in the door sensors.  
 
I'm assuming that I have to do some resistance tests before I will know for sure.
 
Has anyone here done a conversion from Westec 5000 to an Elk M1 Gold?
 
Would it be better to find a contractor to do this for me?  (I live in Los Angeles and apparently Elk knows one installer in OC and one in LA)
 
I would love to do this myself (I've never done alarm before, but I have a lot of experience with computers, and some with PBX phone systems).
 
The last remodel on the house was 1993, so I'm assuming that's when the system was installed.
 
 
Thanks in advance!
 
Shawn

 

[Del91574]

I've yanked a few of the Westec panels over the years....with the biggest difficulty being locating the zones on the board without a schematic (pre-smartphone in the field days).
 
You may or may not have resistors installed at the devices or in the contacts, but that really shouldn't be too difficult to fix. Hopefully Westec didn't do like they did here and run everything to a junction box or punchdown block before the panel and AMP connectors.

 

[shawnc]

I've yanked a few of the Westec panels over the years....with the biggest difficulty being locating the zones on the board without a schematic (pre-smartphone in the field days).
 
You may or may not have resistors installed at the devices or in the contacts, but that really shouldn't be too difficult to fix. Hopefully Westec didn't do like they did here and run everything to a junction box or punchdown block before the panel and AMP connectors.

 
 
Actually there is a punchdown block directly above the control panel.  There is a hand written description of it.  There are also a few zone expanders (I think there are 3), they are also labeled.  
 
 
 
 
Shawn

 

[Del91574]

In your case, should be easy to pull the plug on the panel zones and meter at the punchdown to see if there are resistors involved.
 
The old Westecs aren't hard, they just take up a ton of real estate. Really not too much different than any other alarm

 

[ecborgoyn]

I changed out my partially failed W5K for an Elk M1G a couple of years ago.  As Del said, not too difficult.
 
In my case, the EOLR's for door/window contacts were integral to the switches themselves.  So I needed to replace every contact switch and use the Elk EOLR's.  Not a lot of effort, but a bit tedious.  Otherwise the system change-out was uneventful.  I replaced the smoke/heat detectors.   You will need to research any sensor that you are keeping in order to understand the power supply needs (current draw).
 
In case anyone 'out there' is interested, I still have the W5K components that I need to sell some day.....
 
My W5K system included an OAT (Outside Access Terminal), basically a weatherproof keypad.  That functionality no longer seems to be in-vogue with modern systems.  I've kept the keypad itself in-place and I've kept the OAT interface card from the panel.  I've started to reverse-engineer the keypad interface and someday build a microcontroller based interface to the OAT..   I need to find some more spare time for this effort....
 
Good luck.

 

[shawnc]

In your case, should be easy to pull the plug on the panel zones and meter at the punchdown to see if there are resistors involved.
 
The old Westecs aren't hard, they just take up a ton of real estate. Really not too much different than any other alarm

 
 
Could you explain a little more?  Turn off the Westec and then measure the resistance of the 'sensors' via the punchdown block?
 
Shawn

 

[shawnc]

I changed out my partially failed W5K for an Elk M1G a couple of years ago.  As Del said, not too difficult.
 
In my case, the EOLR's for door/window contacts were integral to the switches themselves.  So I needed to replace every contact switch and use the Elk EOLR's.  Not a lot of effort, but a bit tedious.  Otherwise the system change-out was uneventful.  I replaced the smoke/heat detectors.   You will need to research any sensor that you are keeping in order to understand the power supply needs (current draw).
 
In case anyone 'out there' is interested, I still have the W5K components that I need to sell some day.....
 
My W5K system included an OAT (Outside Access Terminal), basically a weatherproof keypad.  That functionality no longer seems to be in-vogue with modern systems.  I've kept the keypad itself in-place and I've kept the OAT interface card from the panel.  I've started to reverse-engineer the keypad interface and someday build a microcontroller based interface to the OAT..   I need to find some more spare time for this effort....
 
Good luck.

 
 
You replaced every contact switch?  I have the hidden ones built into the top of the doors.  Do you think I will need to replace those?  That may be a PITA, as I have around 17 doors (yes, my house has too many doors) with them, although I am always up for a challenge.  I guess the first thing I need to do is check the resistance of everything... and do some research on current draw?  I wonder if I should try to find a contractor to help me and speed things up a bunch..... 
 
Shawn

 

[ecborgoyn]

Yes, I replaced every contact switch (both magnetic and mechanical).  The EOLR's were integral to the switches and the value was not compatible with the M1G.  The switches are cheap.  The effort was 'tolerable' and 'incremental' (did a couple of windows/doors at a time).
 
Yes, check the EOLR resistor values in the loops.  You may not even have EOLR's....

 

[shawnc]

Yes, I replaced every contact switch (both magnetic and mechanical).  The EOLR's were integral to the switches and the value was not compatible with the M1G.  The switches are cheap.  The effort was 'tolerable' and 'incremental' (did a couple of windows/doors at a time).
 
Yes, check the EOLR resistor values in the loops.  You may not even have EOLR's....

 
 
I found another punchblock in my garage... I think I saw a 'schematic' for it with the other paperwork, I didn't get a chance to check it.  I will have to take a look.  I'm really considering hiring some help.... at least to get me setup.
 
Thanks for the advice!
 
Shawn

 

[nelsonmorin04]

For hard numbers it;s better to  call and speak to their tech so  you'll be emlightened with sure answers.
They can assist you with your situation out or make suggestions.