Is the NEG terminal near +VAUX the same as the NEG terminal near Z1 on
the Elk board? I would think so, and I'm interested in exploiting
that to make more efficient use of the limited number of wires I have
available pre-pulled in my house, as follows:
In wiring up a motion detector or a glass break sensor, I would
normally take a 4 conductor wire, use two for power, and two for the
sensor/resistor. Back at the panel, the two power wires go to +VAUX
and NEG, and the two signal wires go to the zone area... one perhaps
to Z1,and the other to the NEG terminal next to Z1. All
straightforward.
But what if I want to get BOTH a motion and a glass break sensor to
share this same four conductor cable? One way is to have them each
share the power, and then wire their sensor outputs in series. Then
the panel knows if either is tripping, but doesn't know which one.
What I'd like to do: First, set up the motion, but make it just use
three of the four wires: two for power, and one for Z1. Take the
motion signal wire that would have used the fourth wire to get to the
NEG terminal near Z1, and instead connect it to the conductor that is
headed for NEG power at the panel... same thing! That frees up a
wire. Does it do anything bad, hurt noise immunity or something?
If not... now I get to hook up the glass break right next to the
motion on the wall, sharing the same cable: it gets power off of the
two power wires, one of its signal outputs goes to the NEG wire, and
its other signal output uses my freed up 4th conductor to get back to
Z2 at the panel.
Is that OK to do? If so, can I be more extreme, i.e. take two four
conductor wires, and use that to monitor 6 different motions (2 shared
power for all, and the remaining 6 wires are each signal)?
the Elk board? I would think so, and I'm interested in exploiting
that to make more efficient use of the limited number of wires I have
available pre-pulled in my house, as follows:
In wiring up a motion detector or a glass break sensor, I would
normally take a 4 conductor wire, use two for power, and two for the
sensor/resistor. Back at the panel, the two power wires go to +VAUX
and NEG, and the two signal wires go to the zone area... one perhaps
to Z1,and the other to the NEG terminal next to Z1. All
straightforward.
But what if I want to get BOTH a motion and a glass break sensor to
share this same four conductor cable? One way is to have them each
share the power, and then wire their sensor outputs in series. Then
the panel knows if either is tripping, but doesn't know which one.
What I'd like to do: First, set up the motion, but make it just use
three of the four wires: two for power, and one for Z1. Take the
motion signal wire that would have used the fourth wire to get to the
NEG terminal near Z1, and instead connect it to the conductor that is
headed for NEG power at the panel... same thing! That frees up a
wire. Does it do anything bad, hurt noise immunity or something?
If not... now I get to hook up the glass break right next to the
motion on the wall, sharing the same cable: it gets power off of the
two power wires, one of its signal outputs goes to the NEG wire, and
its other signal output uses my freed up 4th conductor to get back to
Z2 at the panel.
Is that OK to do? If so, can I be more extreme, i.e. take two four
conductor wires, and use that to monitor 6 different motions (2 shared
power for all, and the remaining 6 wires are each signal)?
