Recent content by crossbar

Wow.  This is why I am going to just bail on the Elk.  Too many long standing bugs that never get fixed, too many missing features, too much bad documentation, too many functions that just don't work well or don't work at all.   Quote from the M1DBHR manual "Like the Main M1 Bus, the Maximum...

I used an old serial spy cable I have between the M1XSLZW and VRC0P+3.  I don't know if the M1 or the M1XSLZW is the issue I didn't connect a RS-485 interface to spy on the M1 bus.  As far as I know the main RS-485 bus protocol is not public. 

I just used a serial spy cable I had from a long time ago (back when everything was RS-232). So that is one the things the M1SXLZW does not look at the replay code from the VRC0P so commands are not resent because it does not check to see if the command was received or not.  As someone pointed...

My example above is actually best case and you need to design around worst case which is the M1 running on Battery.  The M1 will run on battery down to 10.2V so this should be the value used in any calculations.  Check with the specific devices for their lowest operating voltage.   According to...

By looking at the serial communication between the M1XSLZW and VRC0P+3.   You can look up discussions of the two for details but in general ZigBee is just a much better defined standard.  It was designed for industrial networks and is much more robust for large networks.  It took a lot longer to...

I checked the Serial communications between the M1XSLZW and the VRC0P.  The issues are on the Elk side.  The M1XSLZW will sometimes just not send the commands (my initial testing was using the M1 to Go.  I will do further testing to see if the rules have the same issue of just not sending...

I think ZigBee is a superior network protocol in general (of course Z-Wave does have some advantages).  I think once there are sufficient ZigBee devices available at a reasonable price we may see ZigBee become more dominant but just like with Beta/VHS the superior technology does not always...

That I can find the Elk will only interface directly to the Jetstream lighting controller (via a Serial Expander) which uses ZigBee but this would not be a ZigBee interface for the Elk to control other ZigBee devices.  The other options I see are just interfacing the Elk to an external...

Maybe it is just the RCS thermostats mentioned above that miss commands.   I did verify that the M1XSLZW sometimes does not send the commands.  The other issue is that the Elk does not look at the response from the VRC0P+3.  The VRC0P+3 will send a <X000 if the command is successfully delivered...

Post #4 refers to voltage drop of the Data bus not the power bus.  I was pointing out that in most cases you will run into issues with voltage drop on the power bus before the data bus.   Actually code is a non issue here. But if you are talking NEC power code that is exactly how they run 200A+...

One thing to keep in mind with Cat cable and the M1 bus (Keypads, input / output expanders, etc ) is voltage drop for the power.  While the RS-485 bus has a maximum length of 4000' the voltage drop for the power will be much more limiting.  Take the KP keypad for example at 0.16 A. 13.8V at the...

I have a KP for the main entry and a KP2 (blue) for the Bedroom.   I believe the KP is the only keypad with a speaker (for the beeps only no voice) but allows volume adjustment of the beeps.  The others only have on or off for the beep volume (button key press beeps and alarm sounds are at the...

So now I go to implement checks like the OP and others are using to verity the thermostat gets set.  I figure the best way is to basically set up a "subroutine" that I can set 2 counter to the values of the high and low temp to set into the thermostat.  Then have this "subroutine" query the...

So the Elk firmware has been through at least one UL review since this, Elk menu disabled when armed, issue was raised.  Why in the world would you not be able to access the user menus during Stay or Night modes?  This is ludicrous.   If this is truly a UL issue then have an option to turn this...

Yes good that CT100 is working with the the M1XSLZW but it seems to be unreliable.  Commands sent to the thermostat sometimes do not update the thermostat.  As is posted in other threads others seem to have the same problem with wired thermostats as well.  So I wonder if the ELK just sometimes...