Recent content by Mark S.

I'll be watching this. At this point it doesn't look like it has very many features - just a simple 32 zone unit - nothing close to ELK capabilities. But I wonder how they might expand it in the future with add-ons and integrations with cameras, doorbells, relays, programming, automation, etc.

The last time I looked at the E27, it seemed to be a step backward in functionality compared to the M1G. Newer is not always better. That said, I guess it depends on what you want your alarm system to do for you. I did not update to an E27 because 1) I hate cloud-dependent stuff, 2) I saw no...

Dropping a few metal pots on a tiled kitchen floor triggers it every time. Ask me how I know.

I would suggest running your wire into a small white project box that you could use as a junction box. Leave it loosely taped to the window frame or dangling for now - until the sheetrockers and painters finish their thing. Afterwards, tighten up the wire to mount the box right at the wire...

Power supply and/or battery are my first thoughts as well. I've seen some very bizarre things happen when power is flakey.

I'm not sure exactly what you are trying to do, but I use ELK counters as "flags" to communicate back and forth between HA-ELK and HS-ELK. In other words - if ELK Counter 1 changes to 1, then do this; if it is 2 then do that, etc.

I imagine the XEP will be available as long as the M1 panel is available. I keep a spare XEP on hand because I had one fail, and my M1G no longer interfaces with Homeseer or HomeAssistant without it, and I don't want to wait a week to get back up and running. I try to keep a spare for critical...

It's been many years since I transitioned from the NX8E, so I've forgotten pretty much everything about it. But an alarm system is basically an I/O controller, and corruption of EEPROMs is possible. So if you prefer to stick with the NX8E, you might try save your configuration, and do a...

@dwalt So if you define your zone as a water alarm, the event can trigger on any water alarm zone, as well as an individual alarm? I defined my water sensors as non-alarm, because to be honest, I didn't even know that water alarm was an option - musta missed that.

I'm not sure I completely understand exactly what you are trying to do, but I can share what I do. I have 3 leak sensors in my basement, but I only automate my water shut-off in the event of a leak near my well tank. I also added the ability to manually shut off or retore the water by...

Actually, that PC looks great. I wish I had seen that one before I bough the one I did. It is far beefier than what you need for HS4, but I am a firm believer in always using more speed and memory than you need. My only minor concern is USBs and serial ports. I use a lot of them for HS4. So...

I think the video quality of the name brands like Sony, Samsung and LG are all pretty good - so similar that I don't see much difference. So for me, the distinguishing characteristics are the controls and interfaces. I prefer simple and intuitive. The controls and user interfaces for many...

It appears that there is no way to automate a Force Arm via ELK rules. Too bad because that would be a helpful feature. However, I can auto-arm via ELK rules if I bypass any violated zones first. So I set up my auto-arm rules to 1) Bypass all the upstairs windows, 2) Arm in Home mode, then 3)...

The ELK does have a "force armable" feature. I can set a zone to be force armable - I assume the intent is that the panel can be armed regardless of whether that zone is violated, an example being an interior zone. One more thing I should have said in my original post is that the bedroom...

After a few decades of procrastination, I finally put wireless contacts on my second floor windows. I put it off because I had other priorities, and I trusted that Spiderman would not scale my house, rather he would prefer a first floor window or door. Anyway, after all those years of no...