Elk M1 + Uplink 4500EZ: Fire vs Burglar?

[highwayman24]

Howdy, I am trying to research as much as possible before I buy all the components for an upcoming Elk M1 install. I read some information in the Uplink 4500ez literature that mentions the siren steady vs pulse for burglar vs fire distinction. Is this required? Does is vary from different central stations? How does Elk M1 + Uplink 4500EZ distinguish fire vs burglar to central station?
 
Thanks!

 

[RAL]

I'm far from an expert on all of the Uplink models, but have studied them in the event that I decide I want to go with a cellular communicator.
 
The 4500EZ can decode the bell/siren output of an alarm panel to distinguish between a fire alarm alarm condition vs a burglary condition.  It can also use the other inputs (2 through 4) to signal other events.
 
But you can also connect the 4500EZ to the M1 via a serial connection using an M1XSP and a special cable.  You won't find this documented in the Uplink installation guide, but Elk has a tech note on how to do this.  Using the serial connection allows the alarm panel to send more information to the central station than just fire/burglar alarm conditions.
 
Another option is to use an Uplink 4530EX, which can be connected to the M1's phone line terminals, which will also allow the panel to send more than just fire/burglar alarm conditions.
 
The 4530EX will save you the cost of having to buy an M1XSP to connect it to the M1, and doesn't cost much more than the 4500EZ.

 

[Del91574]

Basically similar to above.
 
4500EZ with no XSP is going to be summary voltage driven and you're going to be driven to summary events. Less than ideal by a long shot, so that means you'll need an XSP and then drag the bus in addition to power to the cell location. May or may not be an issue based on your total bus length (>4000')
 
The downside of the 4500 is the additional hardware and power concerns and frankly, once you add up the additional hardware needed, a 4530EX is significantly cheaper than a comparable 4500 based installation. The only change is the number of conductors and AWG needed to support the 4530 practically.
 
There are other units on the market, but everything but the 4500 is going to be dialer capture (some caveats) and you'll need to plan on connecting a supervisory zone at the panel no matter which unit you use. If you use the 4500, really you're going to need to drive a relay to trip the zone because you need to keep the supervision failure event latched on the host panel.

 

[highwayman24]

Thanks for the replies. This makes a bit more sense now. There is a lot of research that goes into planning for this hardware. Cheers!