Elk M1 Gold - Should I upgrade?

[gottHA1]

I was hoping someone could assist me. I am in the process of evaluating an Elk M1 Gold as a replacement to my current alarm panel. I'm especially interested in integrating the panel for internet access with the addition of the ELK-M1XEP ethernet interface. My ultimate goal is to have both an email ( to work) and/or text message (to my phone) sent based on certain events. I'd really prefer to do this from my own internet connection and not a central monitoring company. If I can't do this then there is really no sense in me spending a lot of time and money upgrading my current panel.

So a couple questions:

1) has anyone done this successfully yet and could they share their experience.

2) Is there documentation that more fully explains the programming capability of the Elk M1 (via the RM software)?

I saw a section in the Elk M1 installation Guide (pg 49 PC Programming and Automation Capabilities) where it gives a couple of examples but it seem almost like an overview. I was also able to find an ElkRM Remote Management Software Setup Manual & User Guide but other then installing the software and some basic configuration it doesn't go into hardly any detail relating to the programming capabilities of the Elk M1.

For the programming, i'm looking for a technical reference manual that goes into the programming options in detail and also outlines what events can be detected and responded to.

Does such a document exist?

Thanks in advance,

David

 

[video321]

1. I'm doing just that. You can't send a text message but you can send an email to your phone number and receive it as text or you could just receive an email. However, you can only have something like 16 messages and you can't do smart or dynamic messaging. You would need to cover everything you needed with those 16 messages or look into an automation software package.

2. I'll have to check my RP install at home, but I don't recall any technical guides at all. Though it is pretty straight forward with just about anything being able to be detected. Do you have any specific needs that you're concerned about?

 

[wuench]

1. I'm doing just that. You can't send a text message but you can send an email to your phone number and receive it as text or you could just receive an email. However, you can only have something like 16 messages and you can't do smart or dynamic messaging. You would need to cover everything you needed with those 16 messages or look into an automation software package.

2. I'll have to check my RP install at home, but I don't recall any technical guides at all. Though it is pretty straight forward with just about anything being able to be detected. Do you have any specific needs that you're concerned about?

So for example you can't write 1 rule to say IF ALARM send "Alarm... Zone x violated" and have the rule fill in X dynamically. You can however write a rule hard coding the zone info. So technically the M1 sounds like it will meet your requirements, as you stated them, but the email capabilities are very limited.

 

[gottHA1]

1. I'm doing just that. You can't send a text message but you can send an email to your phone number and receive it as text or you could just receive an email. However, you can only have something like 16 messages and you can't do smart or dynamic messaging. You would need to cover everything you needed with those 16 messages or look into an automation software package.

2. I'll have to check my RP install at home, but I don't recall any technical guides at all. Though it is pretty straight forward with just about anything being able to be detected. Do you have any specific needs that you're concerned about?

 

[gcimmino]

Been using the XEP to send texts and emails for years - but there's a catch. Most cell providers support an email interface to text, for example <phone number>@vtext.com for Verizon phones. This is how you can get texts from the XEP.

As others have noted, the message text is static. Having dynamic messages is a feature that's been requested for years, but I'm presuming it won't be coming with the current XEP.

Many of us have been wishing for years for an M1 Platinum that has the XEP function onboard with larger flash as many of the current limitations seem to be related to the amount of available flash memory.

That said, I've installed multiple M1's and am very pleased with the robustness, engineering, integration possibilities and superior support.