Elk M1 - Open my front gate

[schwa13]

Hi, just got the Elk M1 up and running, I have the M1XEP as well. I have a Door King gate control connected to the same house phone line as the Elk M1. I can pick up a phone and dial *7 then 9 to open/close the gate.

Trying to setup an F4 button on the keypad to do the same thing.

Do I create a telephone dialer, using voice to send the same key sequence, then create a rule for the F4 button? Have tried a few things and can't seem to get it right.

Thanks

 

[tmbrown97]

Interesting solution... I don't know the dialer well enough to comment on that particular use; but I can say that the normal way people would accomplish this would be to run a pair of wires from a relay output on the M1 to the gate controller, same as you'd do with a garage door.

 

[gatchel]

Did you try using DTMF pager as the reporting format? Can you enable butt set mode to hear what is going on with the dailer?

Also, how is your panel wired. Most of the time the alarm panel is the closest device to the phone line connection. If your panel is picking up and dialing, it is disconnecting the rest of the house from the phone circuit. If your gate is on the standard house wiring it may never hear the DTMF tones, just the phone line will hear them.

 

[tmbrown97]

gatchel mentioned a key part there actually... the gate control is always supposed to be on the other side of the RJ31X such that, if the alarm picks up the line, it cuts off the rest of the house, including the gate control... this would typically make it so the gate control and the alarm can't talk to each other. If your gate is wired on the other side, someone could press the intercom button to tie up the line while they break in and the alarm will never be able to dial.

Typically it would go CO Line > RJ31X > Gate Control > House Wiring - the gate controls work in the same concept as the RJ31X, in that they can take over the phone line, emulate a CO line to the house, etc - so for that to work the rest of the house phones are behind it.

 

[schwa13]

Right, the wiring diagram above would eliminate the ability to do what I was trying to get done. Elk is on the wrong side of the dialing for the gate controls. I have two CAT5's running out the gate, using one for IP control and programming to the Door King and the other is using two pairs for the phone portion in/out. I wish there was an IP control API from Door King to control the gate. Going to look into the Mi Casa Verde side that I also have setup to see if anyone has done that.

Thanks for the explanation.

 

[Del91574]

Hi, just got the Elk M1 up and running, I have the M1XEP as well. I have a Door King gate control connected to the same house phone line as the Elk M1. I can pick up a phone and dial *7 then 9 to open/close the gate.
Trying to setup an F4 button on the keypad to do the same thing.
Do I create a telephone dialer, using voice to send the same key sequence, then create a rule for the F4 button? Have tried a few things and can't seem to get it right.
Thanks

Are you doing this from offsite or onsite? What is picking up and allowing the sequence to open/close the gate?

I would be wary of putting anything in front of the M1 in regards to line seizure. The M1 will only pick up if the # of rings is programmed too low or a ring/hang/ring is done (if enabled in programming). Negating the seizure allows someone to be able to dial into your line and keep the line busy negating an alarm being able to dial out.

However, the controller can be wired downstream and work properly if the Elk is programmed properly. You can also use a pair on the feed out to the gate lines and wire a dry contact to the controller and use the M1 via whatever method you see fit to trigger the gate.

 

[tmbrown97]

I wish there was an IP control API from Door King to control the gate.

That'd be pretty easy to do - it's just contact closure - you can do that via UPB, a GlobalCache iTach (they even have a wifi version), an output directly off the M1, etc...

I'm not sure which model you have, but I just worked on an 1812 about 2 weeks ago for someone - with that model you could wire a single pair from a relay off the M1 to the terminals 7 & 9 - Input 1 and Negative... and that will trip the doorking to open the gate; or you can bypass the door king and wire directly to the gate's controls in the same manner. The catch is that wiring is at the gate/intercom, not the house where the phone interface generally is.

Any type of relay device would work - from a UPB Relay, a relay off the M1, the wifi or wired GlobalCache unit - etc...

Any reason you wouldn't go down one of those routes? If it's needing help with the wiring of the Elk's outputs or how to use a relay to interface with the gate, we can help with that if you're not familiar enough. You'd be able to use the spare pair from the phone wiring to accomplish this.

 

[schwa13]

Thanks for the information, weekend projects are over, gotta wait until I get back from a work trip. There should be an extra pair on one of the CAT5's that I had pulled from the house out to the gate. I will see if I can tap into those and figure out the wiring on both ends. Need to look at the manuals and if I need a hand I will be certain to ask, thanks for the help thus far.

 

[schwa13]

OK, one year later and I finally got around to doing this.  Did exactly as Work2Play suggested.  I took an extra pair from the CAT5 I have running out to the Door King at the gate and spliced them into terminals 7 and 9.  Worked like a charm.  Programmed an F key on the panels to open the gate.  So far so good.  Now I need a Android app that supports the outputs/F keys, will try the ones out there.  Wish the Vera plugin for the Elk supported outputs, but not there yet apparently.
 
Thank you.

 

[signal15]

OK, one year later and I finally got around to doing this.  Did exactly as Work2Play suggested.  I took an extra pair from the CAT5 I have running out to the Door King at the gate and spliced them into terminals 7 and 9.  Worked like a charm.  Programmed an F key on the panels to open the gate.  So far so good.  Now I need a Android app that supports the outputs/F keys, will try the ones out there.  Wish the Vera plugin for the Elk supported outputs, but not there yet apparently.
 
Thank you.

 
It does...  Just not the version that is currently released.  MCVFlorin didn't have time to work on it anymore, and about a month or so ago a bunch of people from the forum started tweaking with the alpha code for 2.0.  Outputs are working now.  I'm not running it yet because I want to make sure it's stable.   Previous versions were causing startup problems with the LUA engine.  
 
If you don't want to upgrade right now, you can do this:
- Create a text on the elk with something like "OpenGate^M"
- Create a rule that says when "OpenGate^M" is received on Serial 0, then turn output X on for 1 second (or however you are opening the gate)
- On Vera, create a scene called Open Gate with the following LUA code:

local socket = require("socket")
host = "<IP of your ELK>"
c = assert(socket.connect(host, 2101))
c:send("OpenGate\r")
c:close()

 
This is how I control my garage doors with the Elk outputs.  Note that you'll have to make sure port 2101 is enabled in your M1XEP config.

 

[tmbrown97]

OK, one year later and I finally got around to doing this.  Did exactly as Work2Play suggested.  I took an extra pair from the CAT5 I have running out to the Door King at the gate and spliced them into terminals 7 and 9.  Worked like a charm.  Programmed an F key on the panels to open the gate.  So far so good.  Now I need a Android app that supports the outputs/F keys, will try the ones out there.  Wish the Vera plugin for the Elk supported outputs, but not there yet apparently.
 
Thank you.

:rockon: