Elk M1G and Area Partitioning

[DotNetDog]

I have a house that includes a fully functional in-law suite in the basement. This area is built within my basement. In fact, there is a sound-proof wall the divides the basement in half. However, in order to come and go you still have to go through the main part of the house.

I would like the in-law suite to be a separate "area" in the Elk M1G. The idea is that my mother-in-law (MIL) can arm/disarm her space as she wishes. Similarly, I can arm/disarm the rest of the house as necessary.

Here is a matrix that I put together. I am not sure of a couple of the disarm scenarios. If someone is very familiar with Elk's "area partitioning" could you check my matrix and let me know if I'm on track?

+===========================+==================+===================+
| Case Description          | Main House Mode  | In-Law Suite Mode |
+===========================+==================+===================+
| Away - All                |   ARMED - Away   |    ARMED - Away   |
+---------------------------+------------------+-------------------+
| Away - Main House         |   ARMED - Away   |    *no change*    |
+---------------------------+------------------+-------------------+
| Away - In-Law Suite       |    *no change*   |    ARMED - Away   |
+---------------------------+------------------+-------------------+
| Vacation - All            | ARMED - Vacation |  ARMED - Vacation |
+---------------------------+------------------+-------------------+
| Vacation - Main House     | ARMED - Vacation |    *no change*    |
+---------------------------+------------------+-------------------+
| Vacation - In-Law Suite   |    *no change*   |  ARMED - Vacation |
+---------------------------+------------------+-------------------+
| Stay - All                |   ARMED - Stay   |    ARMED - Stay   |
+---------------------------+------------------+-------------------+
| Stay - Main House         |   ARMED - Stay   |     *no change*   |
+---------------------------+------------------+-------------------+
| Stay - In-Law Suite       |    *no change*   |    ARMED - Stay   |
+---------------------------+------------------+-------------------+
| Disarm - All              |     disarmed     |      disarmed     |
+---------------------------+------------------+-------------------+
| Disarm - Main House       |     disarmed     |      ????????     |
+---------------------------+------------------+-------------------+
| Disarm - In-Law Suite     |     ????????     |      disarmed     |
+---------------------------+------------------+-------------------+

 

[personalt]

not sure I follow your matrix but is it assumed that if your MIL arms her area 'away' she needs to walk through main house which may or may not be armed. If she enters the house and uses her code to disarm her area she needs the main area to have a temp bypass so she can do downstairs.


It almost seems like
1. If you ARM the MIL area you need to temporarily bypass the motion sensors and entrance/exit doors in the main house so she can get out.
2. If your MIL disarms the alarm at the main house keypad using her code you need to temp bypass the sensors in the main house.

 

[Del91574]

Make an area "common" to your area. It may be as simple as having another area that consists of something like a door from your area to the basement, then her area has a contact coming into the same area.

Your matrix makes it harder to understand, but it depends on where the area is compared yours, but it's similar to having 2 offices with a connected lobby and a contact on that door from the lobby to the outside. Other manufacturers call it "common lobby logic" or similar.

The "lobby" would only arm when both areas are armed. If 1 area is armed, when the second is armed, it'll arm the "lobby" area, so all is armed. When either of the areas disarm, then the common lobby also disarms, but not the other partition.

Bottom of page 21 in the M1 manual sums it up, but if you really need a chart, let me know and I'll track down one for another manufacturer.

 

[DotNetDog]

Sorry about the matrix, guys. Let's take one simple scenario. I think personalt hit on this a bit.

Let's say my MIL is going to leave (maybe go get her hair done) and she wants to ARM her suite. Now, the "main" house could be either ARMED or DISARMED. Let's just say that everyone else is gone so the main house is ARMED (and the MIL suite started out as DISARMED).

In order for my MIL to leave she would need to somehow temporarily disarm the main house when she arms her area. Would she use her keypad to ARM her area (and via rules disarm the main house)? If so, I would need a LOT of time for her to get upstairs and out the door.

I would think that I would program a rule that says... whenever the MIL suite is armed, if the main house is armed then disarm it. Then, she would press the AWAY button on the keypad near the garage door. This means she would set AWAY from two keypads.

Sorry to make this sound so complicated. I'm just trying to figure out how to configure this so that my MIL can remember what to do. The easiest user experience is what I'm after (I can write whatever rules that are necessary).

 

[Del91574]

The issue at hand, as I understand it, is your MIL needs to pass through an area that has motion detectors and can be armed "away" in order for her to exit? Key is to keep it simple for both the users as well as rules, otherwise you're going to end up with a system that is too complex to be practical.

How about setting the motions in your house to be common to area 1 and area 2 (main house, inlaw) and then her using the quick exit function on your keypad for her to be able to exit via one of your E/E doors?

More details about the extent and scope of protection in your area that she'd have to cross would help.

 

[DotNetDog]

Thanks DEL... We have pets so I am not using motions for security. That means we only need to be concerned with exit doors.

Basically, the MIL suite is in the basement. Her suite has an Elk keypad in it. There is a solid wall with a door that splits her area from the other side of the basement. To exit, she must go through this common door and go up 1 level (to the main floor) via an elevator (she can walk but cannot handle stairs).

Once on the main floor she must walk over to the garage door. There is another Elk keypad near that door.

I think that this is simply a matter of her setting 2 alarms. She will ARM her MIL Suite. Then when she reaches the garage door she would ARM that one as well.

Does that sound about right?

 

[Del91574]

If you're only looking at contacts then technically it's pretty easy. The common door would be given to her partition.

2 areas, Main and MIL. I'm assuming , since it's your MIL, that you'll have access to her partition/alarm as well. You'd enable access for your code and her code in both partitions.

Your system being armed would make no difference, since she could walk (elevate, if you will) into it and go to your partition's entry door. The easiest for your MIL to do when leaving would be to press the EXIT key and start the exit timer (if your partition is already armed) for that E/E door. That'll give her 60 seconds to leave. Then when she comes back, it would be her code to disarm your system, enter and re-arm. Personally, I'd avoid a rule to re-arm automatically, since it's pretty easy for her to hit the STAY key once she's in. Then she goes to her partition, disarms and does whatever she wants to at that point.

You could get really complex and write rules if you worked in other items,such as elevator position and such, but IMHO in this case KISS works best.

The only other thing I can think of if you wanted to be slick would be to use prox readers and then base rules off the credentials, but might be overkill for most.