Can it be done?

[nytetyme1976]

Hello it is nice to meet everyone.  I'm newly registered to this site however I've used it to lookup problems with my Elk M1 for  a while now.  I guess you would call it lurking.
 
I'm a 16 year IT veteran.  My specialty is networking and large server farms.  
 
I own an Elk M1 Gold and an ISY-994 Z Insteon controller.  My entire home has hardwired Insteon switches, motion sensors, 220V pool pump controllers the whole nine yards you might say.  
 
The elk and the Insteon systems work together flawlessly however I do have a single question.
 
I currently live in Oklahoma where the weather gets nasty really quick.  NOAA weather radio is a must.  With my Elk M1 system I have several speakers placed throughout the house and am wondering is there anyway possible to integrate the NOAA weather alerts with the speakers? I think this would be a neat project and would elimenate  the need for multiple NOAA weather receivers in separate rooms.  I would simply like to have one weather receiver listening on standby for the weather alert then when an alert happens for the sound to travel through the speakers that are already installed?  What are your thoughts regarding this?  Do you think it is possible?  Do you think it is a good idea?  
 
Thanks in advance
Robert Allen
 
 

 

[pete_c]

Hello Robert,
 
I am currently looking to play with this using a Midland weather radio.
 
http://board.homeseer.com/showthread.php?p=1109217#post1109217
 
That said I currently using the internet NOAA site for alerts using a weather plugin for my Homeseer set up.; but its not really that fast compared to the radio stuff.
 
I have already compared the two methodologies.  I am into weather a bit here and have taken the NOAA weather spotter classes.
 
Not a storm chaser but do drive around and take pictures when the weather happens to occur in the vicinity.
 
I have also tested the direct NOAA satellite to home automation computer maps and it works well using SDR radio / right antenna.

 

[tadr]

Sure, it can be done.
 
Attach the weather receiver's outputs directly to the speaker lines for your elk at the panel.  You'll need to either use a mixer to combine the audio from the elk and weather receiver or a relay system to switch the input over to the audio receiver and the back to the elk.
 
It looks like some units even have relay outputs, which would make this even easier:
http://www.thuneagle.com/we110.htm

 

[signal15]

See my post on feeding other stuff into the Elk speakers:
http://cocoontech.com/forums/topic/24029-how-im-feeding-the-elk-and-other-devices-into-the-stock-elk-speakers-with-a-mixer/
 
I moved, but I'm doing it at my new house also.  The only thing you need to be aware of is that you should probably buy shielded cables to connect the mixer/amp setup.  I had power running near mine, and I got a hum on the speakers until I switched out the wiring with shielded cables.