Recent content by HoustonFirefox

After 2 years on the job, my Elk temperature sensor mounted outside (under an eve) finally gave up the ghost. It still blinks but reports back a constant 170 degrees. Even here in Houston, that's kind of high for January. Any ideas?

Hi all, Well, it's been two years since the charging diodes on my Elk M1 went out and now it looks like the same issue. Basically, when first powered up, the system works but after a little warm-up time, the AC input voltage to the board drops to between 8 and 10 volts and the battery is no...

Thanks for all of the help guys. Where I'm trying to go with this is to get trend data of generation versus usage. Although I've never been able to run the battery bank dry, it would be nice to know how much reserve capacity I'm using for the reason Politics123 stated above. If it's getting way...

I know we have some sharp characters on the forums so I thought I would throw this out there to catch anything I might have missed. Scenario: 1) I have a 3.1kw 12v solar array feeding into a bank of deep cycle batteries (2.1k ah total at 12v) 2) Using the Elk, it would be nice to monitor both...

The TS-109 Pro doesn't use an x86 processor so I'm not sure about running Windows code. I could be mistaken on this point. Have a look at the community forums at http://www.qnap.com to see many of the apps users are running on this little beastie.

MavRic, what an interesting name, especially since I own a '76 two-door Maverick :P Anyhoo, yep! The TS-109 server is one of the best servers I ever bought. I bought it strictly as a NAS storage device because it had a Gigabit network adapter but came to find out that it is So Much More! It...

123, yep, thanks. I knew about these alternatives but since I haven't seen anything PHP-related I thought I'd throw out a code snippet to let everyone know that it can be done. I have PHP Sockets disabled on my server for security reasons and further wanted to let the PHP folks know there was...

How about wiring a magnetic switch to the door. Magnet on the door and the switch on the side/top/bottom on the freezer itself? This (IMHO) is the quickest way to go then you could have your Elk announce that the freezer is open and send you a SMS message on your cell phone (via email). I only...

I have a compressor in my garage that I control with the Elk M1 over a Z-Wave network. It uses the high-capacity appliance module so I'm sure your Window AC would work fine with it. Just make sure you don't exceed the current/wattage capacity of the Z-Wave appliance switch. Good luck with your...

I agree with Deranged... Let the exisiting A/C pump do it's thing if you must but I think getting a 12vdc high-capacity pump and running it off of batteries would end up as a good backup (or primary even). I have bought a 45 watt solar array from Harbor Freight that supplies an amazing amount...

It's been awhile since I posted this and realized I never followed up with what the problem was. Well, it started happening after an extended power outage and the system was running on it's two batteries in parallel for about 7 hours. I sent the control back to Elk and they graciously...

Hi all, I'm in the process of installing some solar panels to power my Elk M1 Gold as well as powering attic fans, mobile device charging stations, etc. With that in mind I thought it would be a good idea to install two additional temperature sensors to see if the attic fans were doing their...

I have a motion sensor in the kitchen that turns on the light for 5 minutes and will reset for any additional 5 any time motion is detected. That's pretty normal. My most important use for occupancy sensing is with regard to arming my Elk M1. 1) If no motion is detected in the living room for...

Spanky, thanks for the advice. I replaced the transformer but that didn't solve the problem. The system will only run on charged batteries with the AC adapter plugged in. If the batteries are disconnected and the unit powered up, the voltage drops to .02 volts at the 16vac input to the Elk with...

Hello All, In the last few days I've run into an issue with my Elk M1G I hope someone might have some insight into. My Elk has been running fine for the last 1.5 years with two Elk batteries wired in parallel. Recently I've been getting a LOW BATTERY indication on the keypad. If I left it...