Elk + Digicell AnyNet + NextAlarm

[stevehub]

A few questions re: the Elk + AnyNet + NA. It's all hooked up, NA says they've activated the serial number with Uplink, and I'm seeing some activity via the LED on the M1XSP (and, yes, the LEDs on the AnyNet show I've got a good signal).

So far, I am seeing nothing show up in the NA Activity Log.

1. Is there any way to increase the level of debug logging on the Elk? I am just blindly assuming it's actually trying to use the AnyNet. I'd love to get a dump of what's actually sent/recv'd via RS-232.

2. I setup a daily dialer test. Looking at the logs, I see a 1353 event (dialer test). If it had failed I'd assume I'd see a failure status?

3. With the AnyNet, what does a dialer test do? Does the fact that it suceeded confirm a round-trip to Uplink's NOC? At this point is it safe to assume the problem is NA?

Thanks!
-Steve

 

[DeLicious]

did you make sure to tell NA that you should have the AnyNet communicating through the serial port? By default, NA will activate the AnyNet and only read the output relays.

 

[stevehub]

did you make sure to tell NA that you should have the AnyNet communicating through the serial port? By default, NA will activate the AnyNet and only read the output relays.

Excellent suggestion.. I'll ask. I let them know I was using the Elk and had turned on reporting for all user, zone, etc. events. I was assuming they'd figure out what they needed to do from there, but perhaps not.

Also, looks like the Dialer Test does nothing with the AnyNet. I just disconnected it and the test completed without reporting a failure.. not 100% scientific, but it definitely makes me thing there is no way to confirm connectivity to the Uplink NOC?

Thanks..
-Steve

 

[stevehub]

did you make sure to tell NA that you should have the AnyNet communicating through the serial port? By default, NA will activate the AnyNet and only read the output relays.

Excellent suggestion.. I'll ask. I let them know I was using the Elk and had turned on reporting for all user, zone, etc. events. I was assuming they'd figure out what they needed to do from there, but perhaps not.

Also, looks like the Dialer Test does nothing with the AnyNet. I just disconnected it and the test completed without reporting a failure.. not 100% scientific, but it definitely makes me thing there is no way to confirm connectivity to the Uplink NOC?

Thanks..
-Steve

Got a response from NA this morning.. they suggested putting in a different account number for the area and checking my DIP switch settings (although they didn't say what they should be). All of them are set to OFF and the manual would suggest for RS-232 it shouldn't matter anyway. Is that right?

 

[stevehub]

Just wanted to post a follow-up to this..

Thanks to Don @ Elk for walking me thru a bunch of steps to validate that the M1XSP and the AnyNet were performing as expected. It gave me the ammunition I needed to go back to NextAlarm and have them check that they were monitoring the serial interface (after already asking them to check it earlier in the week). My experiences so far with Elk have been great--I can't recommend them enough.

For future reference, if you setup an AnyNet with NextAlarm and are planning on using the serial connection, you should supply them with these instructions:

'Ask NextAlarm if they configured the AnyNet unit’s option for “Serial Connection to Alarm Panel”. That’s an option for the unit which is located on the Uplink dealers “Configure” webpage. It would need to be set as “Yes” otherwise I think it’s depending on the AnyNet’s voltage trigger inputs to generate the reports.'

 

[DeLicious]

isn't that what i said??? <_<