OK, this is my first post here so go easy on me.
This forum has been a great help. I am building a new house this summer and have pretty much decided on the Elk M1 Gold with Centralite Litejet 48 for the security and lighting. Before I make my final decision, I have a couple questions I haven’t found answered on this board or in the ELK and Centralite documentation and training videos. I am an electrical engineer, so I have a very good understanding of the systems and how they are wired and programmed.
Questions:
1. When wiring the high voltage to the Centralite Litejet, is it better to run a high current, say 50 Amp power line from the main breaker box to the equipment closet and put a circuit breaker box near the Lightjet with the 15 Amp breakers for the dimmer boards there, or run separate homeruns directly from the main breaker box? Both would comply with code, not sure which is best. The breaker box will be at one end of the house and the equipment closet will be centrally located.
2. With the Lightjet key pads, I would also like to control a garbage disposal, fountain pump, water pump and possibly other items that I would prefer not to have on solid state relays due to reliability concerns with motor noise on the line. Is it better to use the Lightjet RS232 line to inform the Elk to turn an output relay on, or use a Lightjet output module to control a relay?
3. What is the lag time for the Lightjet communicating with the Elk and turning an output on? Milliseconds, seconds?
4. Has anyone used the Lightjet key pads and had some keys wired to the Lightjet and some wired to the Elk inputs? Is this even possible to tie the commons of the 2 inputs together without generating a ground loop?
5. When you put bypass switches on the system to provide light switching if there is a problem with the Lightjet or key pads, do you do this with SPDT high voltage switches so that you do not short out the solid state relays, or is there a easier way by using switches on the low voltage side of the solid state switches?
Those are my questions for now. This will be a vacation house up on Lake Erie and I want to take advantage of the automation and security capabilities of these systems,, but, I am not going overboard on home automation. Yet?
This forum has been a great help. I am building a new house this summer and have pretty much decided on the Elk M1 Gold with Centralite Litejet 48 for the security and lighting. Before I make my final decision, I have a couple questions I haven’t found answered on this board or in the ELK and Centralite documentation and training videos. I am an electrical engineer, so I have a very good understanding of the systems and how they are wired and programmed.
Questions:
1. When wiring the high voltage to the Centralite Litejet, is it better to run a high current, say 50 Amp power line from the main breaker box to the equipment closet and put a circuit breaker box near the Lightjet with the 15 Amp breakers for the dimmer boards there, or run separate homeruns directly from the main breaker box? Both would comply with code, not sure which is best. The breaker box will be at one end of the house and the equipment closet will be centrally located.
2. With the Lightjet key pads, I would also like to control a garbage disposal, fountain pump, water pump and possibly other items that I would prefer not to have on solid state relays due to reliability concerns with motor noise on the line. Is it better to use the Lightjet RS232 line to inform the Elk to turn an output relay on, or use a Lightjet output module to control a relay?
3. What is the lag time for the Lightjet communicating with the Elk and turning an output on? Milliseconds, seconds?
4. Has anyone used the Lightjet key pads and had some keys wired to the Lightjet and some wired to the Elk inputs? Is this even possible to tie the commons of the 2 inputs together without generating a ground loop?
5. When you put bypass switches on the system to provide light switching if there is a problem with the Lightjet or key pads, do you do this with SPDT high voltage switches so that you do not short out the solid state relays, or is there a easier way by using switches on the low voltage side of the solid state switches?
Those are my questions for now. This will be a vacation house up on Lake Erie and I want to take advantage of the automation and security capabilities of these systems,, but, I am not going overboard on home automation. Yet?