4-Pin Connector on M1XIN/M1XOVR/M1XSP/M1KP2/M1KAS

[dutchyn]

Does anyone have a part number for the plug ("housing") that connects to the M1KAS and M1KP2? The part number is JS2452, and Google points me at plug. I know the keypads come with a 4-wire harness comprised of the plug and wires, but I'd like to attach the plug directly to my in-wall wiring ... rather than use the ELK-900 style connectors.

Further on that idea, I notice that

• the M1G has two of these (J1 and J2)
• the M1XIN has two of these (J2 and J3)
• the M1XOVR has two of these (J1 and J2)
• the M1XSP has one of these (J5)

all of which are marked as RS-485 data bus connections. Is there any reason I cannot use these plugs to connect my expanders and control together? It would make wiring so much easier ...

Chris D.

 

[dutchyn]

I've spoke to Elk tech support, they weren't able to say much other than, "don't use the plugs on the M1G and expanders". I posted to the support forum at Elk's website asking for more explanation.

 

[felixrosbergen]

from what i thought that plug is the exact same things as the 4 terminals on the components, but just in plug format. Somewhere in the manual i sais its for convenice for ELK during testing, etc. Too bad they don't make a DBH what is all these plugs instead of RJ45's...lol.. That would work well for stuff that stays inside the same panel.

 

[sic0048]

I agree. I've always thought the DBH to be a strange beast. You still have to make custom cables (or cut a patch cable in two) in order for it to work. You need a cable with a RJ45 on one end and bare wires on the other end. It seems to me that the DBHR is an easier solution - at least as far as wiring is concerned.

 

[Steve]

It seems to me that the DBHR is an easier solution - at least as far as wiring is concerned.

That may be true (and not by much) for an initial install but once you have the RJ45 on it is MUCH easier to move things around or add/remove things from the DBH.

 

[sic0048]

It seems to me that the DBHR is an easier solution - at least as far as wiring is concerned.

That may be true (and not by much) for an initial install but once you have the RJ45 on it is MUCH easier to move things around or add/remove things from the DBH.

But how often do you need to do that? I'm just starting my ELK journey so I really don't know (ie I'm not trying to be an @ss here). But I haven't run across a situation where I needed to remove a device. In fact, it would be rather cumbersome to do because you have to un-enroll it from the system to prevent an error.

 

[dutchyn]

I'm uncertain why the 4-pin headers on the M1G and expanders are for testing only. It can't be that they're unreliable or electrically imperfect ... I (will) have 7 of them on my data bus: each and every keypad and arming station has one. It can't be that they're too easy to unplug when you are moving wires around in the cans: you're must power down before wiring things anyway. Maybe it's because UL needs something more permanent.

 

[Steve]

It seems to me that the DBHR is an easier solution - at least as far as wiring is concerned.

That may be true (and not by much) for an initial install but once you have the RJ45 on it is MUCH easier to move things around or add/remove things from the DBH.

But how often do you need to do that? I'm just starting my ELK journey so I really don't know (ie I'm not trying to be an @ss here). But I haven't run across a situation where I needed to remove a device. In fact, it would be rather cumbersome to do because you have to un-enroll it from the system to prevent an error.

Well, in a perfect world you may never have to touch it once installed. A while back I had some upgrading and troubleshooting to do and the DBHR really pissed me off. I really wished I had the DBH at that point. If all you need is the one bus I like the DBH and its really not hard to throw some RJ45's on some Cat5, but the DBHR does have its place especially if you need the extra indepented busses.

 

[dutchyn]

I was hoping the 4-pin headers would supply a similar level of flexibility and simplicity for the core system that the DBH does for keypads (and other cat5-connected devices. But, I've decided not to use the 4-pin headers between boards. In my experience, when a manufacturer says "don't do it" without a solid reason, and some other unrelated failure occurs, the failure becomes the customers' responsibility regardless of the unrelated nature of the failure.

 

[AceCannon]

I agree. I've always thought the DBH to be a strange beast. You still have to make custom cables (or cut a patch cable in two) in order for it to work. You need a cable with a RJ45 on one end and bare wires on the other end. It seems to me that the DBHR is an easier solution - at least as far as wiring is concerned.

My solution for this (actually for all the cat5e runs in my house) is to punch them all down to a patch panel in the wiring closet. The databus hub is located near the patch panel, so I just use a short cat5e patch cable (literally a few cents at Monoprice) to connect. I shouldn't ever have to touch the cat5e coming in from the various parts of the house again. No crimping of RJ45 plugs. No custom patch cables.

For the other various Elk expander boards in my central closet that sit on the rs485 bus, I am taking a length of cat5e, connecting to the screw terminals, then punching the other end down to the patch panel and using Monoprice patch cables to the DBH.

BTW, this punchdown tool I got is fantastic: Fluke d914 Automatic Impact Tool