Elk M1 wiring RJ-31X w/DSL

[mishab]

greetings,
I am a bit confused here.
I have a SBC line w/DSL going to my house. The bedroom phone is connected to the phone line via DSL filter. The DSL modem is connected directly to the wall outlet. Very simple setup.

Now I am working on hooking up the phone interface of my Elk M1 to the phone line. Can someone share their installation / wiring steps?

1. Should the M1 interface run behind dsl filter as well?
2. How can I connect bedroom phone to inferface with the M1, so it be used as a keypad?

 

[electriclight]

mishab,

The M1 (RJ31 jack) should be the first device on your line from the demarc point (side of house). The exception with DSL is that you will use a filter to split the DSL and voice components at the side of the house (http://www.hometech.com/techwire/dsl.html#CC-SPSH70SR1). Feed the DSL modem straight from the DSL side of the filter and the the RJ31 straight from the voice side of the filter. The rest of the house will be feed from the "house" side of the RJ31 jack.

I have also used one of the included filters at the side of the house (in a weather proof enclosure) to filter the voice side. It's not quite as clean as the filter designed for the job.

 

[Spanky]

Here are two sites from a popular DSL security filter:

http://www.excelsus-tech.com/index.cfm?fus...on=support.faqs

http://www.excelsus-tech.com/index.cfm?fus...tionGuides.main

 

[mishab]

Thank you. I think I have these filters already so I must be good to go.
Am I required to use RJ-31X? Can that be bought at a local radio shack or this is a hard to find item?

How can i control the elk from the phone installed in house? How would the phone know to interact with Elk and not dial the security code? :angry:

 

[Guy Lavoie]

The RJ-31X is normally included when you buy a full M1G kit.

 

[electriclight]

The RJ31X is not hard to find. It is sold seperately at most of the home automation shops mentioned on this site.

You get the M1's attention by pressing *** from your house phones. The M1 will then take the line and speak the main menu.

 

[mishab]

Yes, the item in question was included in the M1 Gold package. I just did not pay much attention to the little plastic bag. Thank you.

I still do not understand how to wire the phone interface so it can be controlled by the phone device.

the manual has a diagram which shows that 2 wires go directly to the phone. how is that possible?

 

[Steve]

Ok, electric light pretty much described this but I will try a slighltly different way in hopes you get it. It sounds like your house is the typically daisy chain wired home where you line comes in from the outside and chains or loops from outlet to outlet in the house. In this scenario and if you have DSL, then the DSL signal is present on ALL outlets in the house, hence you put filters on all the phones and the DSL modem plugs right into the wall.

There are 2 ways to do this, the best and right way, or the quick and it will work way.
The quick it will work way would be to simply insert the RJ31X 'inline', that is, cut a wire somewhere and take the live line input (from outside) (probably green and red) and hook them to the T and R screws, then the other cut side would go to the T1 and R1. You then need to put a RJ31 alarm filter between the M1 and the RJ31X. This method is the quick and easy but not the best, as the RJ31X should be the FIRST jack from the outside, not just wheever you decide to tap into it.

The better way to do it, and the way I did is to put a 'whole house' filter/splitter either outside or in your alarm closet. With this, you run from your outside demarc (the phone company box outside) directly into the filter/splitter. Then you run 1 line to where you want the DSL modem as unfiltered and the filtred side then feeds the daisy chain in your house (and the alarm panel). This way you do not need any of the individual filters as all the jacks in the house will be filtered already.

Once you decide which method you want to use, we can maybe give you more guidance. The hookup diagram (attached here for reference) is very simple.

If this still makes no sense at all to you, perhaps you should consider hiring a pro to do the wiring.

Once the M1 is hooked up to your phone line either direct with a filter or to a filtered jack, you simply press *** to access the M1.

 

[mishab]

thank you. i think i got it.
i followed your advise and everything seems to work. but i must say this looks ugly from design point of view.
at risk of looking stupid i would like to run the set up and ask for your review:

a sbc phone wire comes from outside.
i split the line into 2 using a regular RJ14 dual jack.
Output 1 goes straight to the dsl modem [no filter]
Output 2 goes to RJ31 R and T connectors via dsl filter
I connect another wire to R1 and T1 on my RJ31 and run it to another RJ11.
My phone is connected to RJ11.
I can dail *** and get into the M1.

Does it look right? Too complicated?
My next question is how can i dial into M1 from the outside? Is it possible?
I dial the home number and try to press *** but cant get the M1 to answer.

 

[Steve]

Well, imo it does not sound ideal but if it works for you, well, I guess you can go with it. But what about the rest of the phones in the house? It sounds like you only go to the 1 off R1, T1 or is that connected to the loop in the house? A better solution imo would be to replace the regular RJ14 dual jack with the whole house splitter/filter mentioned above. Run the 1 unfiltered line to modem as you stated and the filtered stuff to the panel & phones.

Anyway, to access from outide, either wait until the answering machine answers and press *** or use the ringback feature where you call, ring once, hang up and call back. It is described in the Elk manual, don't have the time to find it right now.

 

[mustangcoupe]

the main problem with not having the RJ-41X / elk aT the first point of connection is that if someone is on the phone and there is an alarm then the panel can not disconnect the phone line to report it.

 

[mishab]

Please help. Something is up. I need help.
The phone is busy at all times. Either the Elk is huging the line or the RJ31 is acting up. I noticed that a few days ago as the phone stopped ringing. I thought telemarketers got tired of calling, but then my wife tried to call the land line and its busy.

I checked with NextAlarm. They are getting the trouble signal, ie the log has the entry. So the line is fine.
I turn off the Elk and the phone line comes back on, but not right away. It takes a while. The phone is fine - I bypass Elk and everything works fine.

Has anyone experienced something like this before.
This is urgent as NextAlarm wont be able to reach me when they try to call me.

Please help.

 

[rfdesq]

When you pull the RJ45 jack from the RJ31 do all the telephone lines in the house work?

 

[Steve]

Check to see if the teco seized LED on the left side of the controller is on when the phones don't work also.

 

[mishab]

rfdesq,
Not right always and not right after i unplug, but in most cases the phone starts to work.

steve, the light is off. i checked that first.

do you guys think the rj45 went kaput?