Elk appeared to reboot during alarm countdown?

johnnynine

Active Member
I was testing my Elk M1 and it appeared to power cycle/reboot 10 to 15 seconds into the alarm countdown. The keypad went blank for a quick moment and then it displayed text as if the Elk was just turned on. However after that text cleared the countdown displayed 5 seconds and continued to work correctly after that point.

Any ideas?
 
I also had this happen to me a couple weeks ago and thought I was seeing things.

I have two keypads at my house and I could hear the second keypad keep beeing during the countdown but the keypad in front of me rebooted and stopped beeping. Once the reboot completed the countdown continued and I was able to enter my code to disarm the system.

Interesting.

Spanky: Can we supply you anything to see if this is a bug?

Thanks
 
I also have 2 keypads. The keypad I was looking at was the original, the other one is a KP2. I'm not really sure what was happening with the rest of the system when the event occurred as I was taken off guard and was away from the other keypad.
 
My keypad will reboot because of static electricity. I go over to touch a button and next thing I know it's rebooting, usally comes back before the timeout period, but once I had to run to another keypad. The M1 itself does not reboot, just the keypad will got into diagnostics and display the rev level etc.
 
So this is only happening on the original keypads and not the KP2's? And you suspect its a static discharge?

Do you know what keys you were touching? The number keys are all one big piece of nylon. I cant see how a discharge can sneak around that. Was it one of the other keys?
 
Digger said:
So this is only happening on the original keypads and not the KP2's? And you suspect its a static discharge?
There was no static discharge for me, I'm 99.9% sure.

1. I set the alarm to away or stay mode by pressing the button, not sure which mode it was.
2. I waited the for the exit/stay delay which was 30 seconds.
3. A few seconds later I opened a door.
4. Then the 30 second entry countdown started.
5. At around 20 to 15 seconds the keypad went blank.
6. Then it showed the startup info.
7. Then it continued from 5 seconds.
8. Then the alarm went off.
 
It sounds like a keypad watchdog reboot, not the M1 Control rebooting. The watchdog system monitors for any processor lockups and power down reboots if it detects anything.

I do not know of any issues, but I will keep my eyes open.
 
It was definately the KP that rebooted, not the M1 itself. The climate around my place is dry but I don't believe it was static related.

Thanks Spanky.
 
If all of the keypads are powered off the M1 I dont think it would be a PS problem. If they are powered from different sources you might want to check loading???

If it was me I would check the wiring just in case.
 
I've witnessed my KP1 reboot twice in the past month now. Both times it was immediately after pressing the away button. As I recall I had to press it again after it came back up. The KP1 rebooted, not the M1. Perhaps it was static electricity, however I did not hear, feel or see it in either case. I also had not been on any carpet that I can recall.
 
First thing to check is the voltage at the keypad. If you are using Cat5 wire and the run is fairly long, the voltage drop on the wire could cause the voltage at the keypad to drop below its reboot voltage. If using Cat5 try doubling up on the power conductors. This will help hold the voltage at the keypad up.
 
First thing to check is the voltage at the keypad. If you are using Cat5 wire and the run is fairly long, the voltage drop on the wire could cause the voltage at the keypad to drop below its reboot voltage. If using Cat5 try doubling up on the power conductors. This will help hold the voltage at the keypad up.
It is cat5 but the run is only about 10 to 15 feet. I have a KP2 which is much further away and is more prone to static electricity, and I have not seen it reboot.

I'll check the voltage when I can get to it.

Thanks,
Johnny
 
If you had a keypad watchdog restart, you should have an entry in the M1's log for a keypad module restart.

The great thing about hardware watchdog monitoring is that instead of a device locking up and requiring a power cycle to start working again, the hardware watchdog system automatically powers down the device and powers it back up, breaking any silicon latchups. All Elk M1 devices have a hardware watchdog monitor built into the device.
 
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