Question and issues with my Elk M1G triggering false alarms randomly and across all 9 zones. The unit is set for audible notifications and when on will constantly (minutes apart) announce violated zones even though they are not being opened/closed. Frustrating enough that I had to turn the entire unit off. The unit is now out of warranty and I am looking to either have the board repaired or replaced. The unit was set up with EOL resistors / normally closed and the system worked perfectly for about a year with no setting changes. I went through all of the settings to verify nothing had changed from my initial settings and they are all the same. Is there a known issue with these and is there a place to return these to for repair? I cannot find anything from the Elk support and it was purchased through Smarthome and they have washed their hands of it since it is out of warranty. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Steve
Elk M1 issues with zones violating for no reason
- Thread starter sb13
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I recall reading in some other threads here that others have seen problems like this that were caused by a weak/bad memory battery. This is the CR2032 battery that is on the M1 board. Have you replaced this? It's a cheap thing to try before you conclude that the board itself is bad.
BraveSirRobbin
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Yes, this is a good idea. What are you voltages in your zones (look at the status 'keypad' in RP)?mikefamig said:
This is a very ugly scenario. I had an install with remote expanders in a detached building fed by a separate supply. Elk's white page about Altronix supplies, their LBC/switch and battery charging is because of that very install. It's where I learned the hard lesson about that hardware AND to ensure the aux supply's battery is sized to be larger than the main panel's, including all the derating factors.42etus said:
Once the M1's bus drops to the 12V range it's not a pretty scenario.
Sorry about the delay in posting my results. I changed the cr2032 battery on the Elk M1 control board and there was. I change in the symptoms. I have tried working with the unit with the backup battery removed as well. No luck, same issues. Zones are triggering every 30 seconds or so randomly. I can bypass all alarms and then arm the system but it will just trigger after another violation. Closer inspection of the board and notes from a previous forum confirm the same issue. I have a blown chip on the board with melted pins at q27. I don't see an end to the string with how his repair went and if it was worth repairing or just replacing the board. Am I missing anything? I would hate to have that repaired and find out I have another issue as well. Is there an Elk board repair company that I can send this to that will certify the board as good once the repir is completed? Thanks again for the assistance
If there are burned pins on Q27, that is a bad sign. According to this previous thread, which is what I think you are referring to, Q27 looks like it is part of the voltage regulation or power supply circuitry. That would certainly explain why your system isn't operating correctly.
The damage may or may not be repairable, depending on how badly the board is damaged. But the next question would be, what caused it to burn up in the first place, and are any other components on the board bad?
The damage may or may not be repairable, depending on how badly the board is damaged. But the next question would be, what caused it to burn up in the first place, and are any other components on the board bad?
I gave up on this for a while and never ordered a new board. Looking to see if anyone knows if this is fixable or the best/cheapest place to buy a warrantied elk-m1 gold board? I am looking to complete my setup of home automation/security and I am trying to figure out the cost to complete this in the most sensible way possible. I have an insteon isy99i/elk-m1 gold setup with many insteon switches. I have the Elk-RP setup on a touchscreen PC in my kitchen and will be purchasing cameras as well. 2 indoor and 2 outdoor to be monitored with ELK/KeypadPro. What are some good cameras that work with Insteon/ISY/Elk programming and EKeypadPro? Any ideas would be much appreciated.
If you buy from an authorized distributor, they will all have pretty much the same price - about $479 for the M1GCB. You can find unauthorized distributors that sell them for substantially less. A quick search found a price as low as $316. But if you go that route, you take your chances on the warranty.
Before I opted for a new board, I'd send the old one back to Elk to see whether it can be repaired. You might be pleasantly surprised. Other than the postage, what have you got to lose?
Before I opted for a new board, I'd send the old one back to Elk to see whether it can be repaired. You might be pleasantly surprised. Other than the postage, what have you got to lose?
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