Elk M1 Voice out triggers with nearby lightning strikes

[Dbwarner5]

Specifically, I have my Elk M1 Out1 (Voice out), connected to my Russound controllers Page-in input. Whenever there is an electrical storm in the area, the Elk will somehow cause a 1-2 second signal to go to the resound, causing the resound to stop playing music and enter PAGE mode. No sound comes out, just silence, until the Page has “ended” then the music resumes. 
 
This can happen 3-4 miles away but not on every one, only ~⅓ of them. 
 
Any ideas? 

 

[tmbrown97]

What's the connection like between the two?  What type of wire and what distance?

 

[upstatemike]

I am in the market for a lightning detector and a whole house audio system... it sounds like I could kill two birds with one stone using your setup.

 

[RAL]

What are you using as the trigger signal for the Russound's Page In trigger?  A 12V M1 voltage output?

 

[Dbwarner5]

The wire to the Russound is a very light gauge wire, about 15’ long coming directly from the Elk Out1 to an RCA-In on the Russound. Currently i have it still in “temporary” mode as i have to transition from the wire to the RCA and have just twisted the wires (bare) for now. I am assuming that this wire and /or temporary connection is picking up the electrical charge directly in the air like an old AM radio would? 
 
And yes Upstatemike.. it would work well for you.. just a little on the expensive side though!  lol 
 
RAL there is no trigger needed for the Russound if an audio source is used directly. See the last line of the Russound manual below: 
Paging Audio IN



[SIZE=9pt]The MCA-88 has a paging audio input on Source 8 (right channel only) that accepts line level audio signals via an RCA cable. The paging input interfaces with the page output of a telephone system or other peripheral device. When a page event is engaged, it interrupts audio outputs for all enabled zones. System paging can be disabled permanently in each zone by software programming or temporarily with Do Not Disturb. To utilize Source 8 for paging input, it must be con gured as a page source in Web Con g.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=9pt]Note: [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]If Source 8 is enabled for paging events then only seven other source inputs are available.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]Page Trigger IN[/SIZE]
[SIZE=9pt]The page trigger input is used to trigger a page event. Paging is con gurable per zone using Web Con g. A 12VDC trigger selects the audio input from Source 8 (if con gured in software as the Page Input) and sends it to any zone that does not have page disabled or that is not in Do Not Disturb mode. Do not use the page trigger input if there is a regular audio source connected to Source 8.[/SIZE]
 
What i probably need to do is make a more permanent connection with a quality RCA wire the whole length between the two that is better shielded.  I was still in the "does this work" and "is it what i want mode" before i made the final hook up. 
 
Any other thoughts welcome!  thanks.
 

 

[RAL]

The Russound Page In signal is line level, but you are feeding it with the speaker level output of the M1, which is a higher level signal.  It's possible that the lightning creates some modest speaker-level static that the Russound sees as a much higher line-level signal, triggering the page mode.  
 
You might try adding a speaker-to-line level adapter and see if that makes a difference. Russound actually makes one, the ADP-1.2.  I don't think this is anything more than a voltage divider network using a couple of resistors. Looks like 430 ohms and 3.9k from the picture, for a 10:1 ratio.

 

[Dbwarner5]

Thanks RAL.. I missed that in my rush to 'try" this.  I will order one and give it a try and see if that eliminates the lightning interruptions.... but of course, I will need to wait for a storm!  lol