Elk tips/tricks/FAQ thread?

[IVB]

Is there an official Elk tips/tricks/faq thread? I have 2 to contribute that I can think of right now, but i'm sure there'll be more soon enough. I actually just needed one of them right now, to make sure I didn't hose my system by adding the Data Bus Retro back in.


Tip#1: How to check your jumpers:
To see if you've got the right # of jumpers in place on the Elk, turn the power off on the M1 and measure the resistance across the A and B terminals on the RS-485 data bus. A properly terminated data bus should read about 60 ohms +/- 10 ohms. 30 ohms means too many terminating resistor jumpers in place, 120 ohms means only one terminating resistor jumper in place.

Tip#2: How to reset the elk [aka reset the EEProm]:
Default the EEProm in the M1 control using keypad installer menu 07, G45, 99.

After defaulting the control, reload your settings using ELKRP.

 

[IVB]

Got a new one, this one is even original :
Tip #3
Consider "disaster recovery" as part of your design, and what you'll do if a piece of equipment fails. If you're going to have multiple expanders, set one up with all mission-critical sensors required for bare minimum operation, one up that's got sensors you're willing to do without in a pinch. That way if the mission critical expander fails, you can pull off all the wires from an optional one and keep your system up & running while you wait for the replacement.

In my particular instance, i'm going to put all the window sensors as "optional", and the motion&door as "mission-critical". I currently have an expander that's being exchanged, but configuring this way means that I'm still able to keep the Elk up & running.

 

[Mike]

Tip #4: Make sure you bought an Elk!

nuff said?

 

[AutomatedOutlet]

Some good stuff IVB!

 

[IVB]

One more. Not original, BSR told me this a while back, but I only started paying attention to a few weeks ago. Had I actually listened months ago, I would have saved myself mucho heartache.

Tip #4b (Mike took #4 )
For every single device that you get, the first thing to do is determine what it's "normal" voltage reading should be and what it's "alarm" voltage reading should be. You can easily determine this by looking in the ElkRP Status screen available via the icon on the account overview page.
The reason for this is that wiring problems are much more common that, well, I ever thought. Especially when i'm the one doing the wiring. This way, when you first wire the sensor to the Elk, you can quickly see if you've got the wiring correct, the EOL is mounted correctly, etc.

 

[IVB]

Got a new one, this one is even original :
Tip #3
Consider "disaster recovery" as part of your design, and what you'll do if a piece of equipment fails. If you're going to have multiple expanders, set one up with all mission-critical sensors required for bare minimum operation, one up that's got sensors you're willing to do without in a pinch. That way if the mission critical expander fails, you can pull off all the wires from an optional one and keep your system up & running while you wait for the replacement.

In my particular instance, i'm going to put all the window sensors as "optional", and the motion&door as "mission-critical". I currently have an expander that's being exchanged, but configuring this way means that I'm still able to keep the Elk up & running.

I'm quoting and bumping myself because i'm very thankful that I implemented this tip. I have 3 expanders, one is "mission-critical security", another is "high-priority gas/heat/etc", another is "medium priority security/automation".

I was doing some stuff a few days ago and one of my expanders stopped being recognized. All the wires are still connecting, but in case this is related to my other "overcurrent" in the other threads, I decided to just temporarily re-enroll the expanders and have this one sit in the RS485 bus but be unrecognized by the Elk.

Didn't make any huge impact to my functionality as the mission-critical stuff is still up&running. I'll revisit this issue once I rig up my 2ndary power supply and resolve that problem to see if this is related somehow.