Recent content by Mark S.

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...

I think that Home Assistant is more capable than Homeseer, but the learning curve is significantly more challenging than Homeseer. Homeseer is definitely more intuitive, but Home Assistant is far more flexible - you can do almost anything if you put the time in to figuring it out. I don't see...

My issue is discussed in this Cocoontech thread. If you run Homeseer or Home Assistant with your ELK, you can see the current values of your variables on those systems. If not, I think you can see the values on an ELK LCD keypad. If you don't have that either, then you can set up a simple ELK...

Can you verify that your Counter 9 is actually working? I recently had an issue where my ELK counters starting acting flakey, then stopped working entirely. In other words, they would not change values, at all. On the advice of an ELK tech, I had to reset my panel and it fixed the problem.

I bought a spare XEP and keep it in a box, just in case.

Why are they closing avenues for sending texts? It is hard to imagine a high security risk, especially if the user takes on that risk.

I wish I could learn my lesson to stock up on spares. In over 30 years of doing home automation, I have seen all too many systems arise and then quickly disappear, catching me off-guard. By the time I need something, it is off to ebay, sometimes too late. When I jump on board with a new...

I'm not aware of a battery powered relay with a phone app. As you suggest, battery life could be a problem. However, you might be able to create your own with a Shelly device such as this one. This one operates on 5-24 volts, so powering with a series of AA batteries (or a 9v) might keep it...

As BSR suggests, if you create a new event that sends an email, does that work? I am not suggesting that you are there yet, but I recently had an issue that made no sense. My counters would not work - events would not change counter values no matter what I did. After contacting ELK, they...

My RCS zone controller is also on the fritz - serial communication just stopped working - probably took a lightning strike. Finding a replacement is turning out to be harder than I thought it would be.

I had as similar experience setting up my 7TS. I don't remember every problem I had, but I do recall it took a few reboots to get it to connect via wifi. Although I prefer hardwired connections, I have not yet purchased the POE adapter. I also had a big issue doing the resync - it would...

Thanks, @RAL. I was guessing some kind of power issue was at the root of it, perhaps the same power failure and/or low voltage surge I experienced a few weeks ago that apparently knocked out my RCS thermostats and my HS server.