KHouse Elk M1 Install (Questions and Help For A Rookie)

KHouse

Member
Mods:  Not sure if this should be posted here, or in another section of the forum, but wanted to document, and most importatnly have a single place to ask questions and get some help with my Elk instal, both for me, and future rookies doing a DIY install.  If necessary, please move.
 
I'm currently running an ISY w/Insteon for my home automation, and adding an Elk M1 for security.
 
I've got the items purchased and laid out, and am currently trying to determine how everything connects, followed by the obvious programming issues I'm sure I'd run into.  I'm coming at this as an advanced home DIY'er, if you will, but this is a first for me as far as wiring/security systems are concerned. I'm not afraid to learn and take the time, so figured a DIY on this install would be fun.
 
I'd like to keep one thread going to go to for help with quesitons on my install.  Any support you folks can give would be much appreciated!!
 
Here's what I'm working with:
 
Elk M1 Gold + 28" Cab
Elk M1 KP2 Keypad
Elk M1 XEP (Ethernet Module for connection to ISY)
Elk 952 In-Line Surge Protector
Elk M1 XRF2H (Honeywell Wireless Module)
Elk M1 DBHR Data Bus Hub Retrofit (not sure if I need this, but the gentleman from AutomatedOutlet recommended I did)
 
There are some other miscellaneous pieces (speakers, wireless door/window sensors, etc) also, however not of much concern to me at the moment.  The system will be mostly wireless, as running cable through the existing home would be near impossible.  Theres a part of the basement that is unfinished that does give me access (that I need) to help, but for the most part doors/windows will all be wireless.
 
I'm currently using MobiLinc for my HA control, but toying with trying out eKeypad.  The KP2 will be mounted directly next to my M1, and the only controller / keypad we will have will be an in-wall mounted iPad to alarm/disarm, etc.  Our front door and garage door both enter into our foyer, and is the only means we ever enter/leave the home.  Thus the iPad mounted here should suffice as my only kepyad, except for the KP2 next to the M1.
 
My big task now is to get the M1 on the wall, all the above pieces installed correctly, and then move on to the programming.  Once that's done, I'll worry about expanding the system.
 
With all that said...
 
My first question is:  Do I need to "steal" the home phone line right where it comes into the home and connect it to the M1, or can I just run a phone line from the wall in the room where the M1 is located to it, and call it a day?  We do not currently have a single phone hooked up to our home phone lines (only use cell phones), and don't have any plans to ever use any in the future.  Thus, I'm not to concerned with the system needing to take control of the lines for a call out in case of emergency, as it will be the only thing ever making a call out.  Is there anything I'm missing, or can I simply connect a phone line to the nearest phone jack and call it a day?  (Wall phone outlet --> Elk 952 Surge --> Elk RJSET --> M1)?
 
 
Again, any help now or in the future with my install is very much appreciated!!
 
 
 
 
Since you have no other phones on the phone line, things will work if you just connect the M1 up to nearest phone jack.  But from a best practices point of view, I would install a RJ31 jack where the line first enters the house and connect the M1 up there.  That's the right way to do things and will prevent problems should you, or perhaps some future owner of your house, ever forget and plug in something else that uses the phone line.
 
Edit:
 
I should add the you should investigate how your phone jacks are wired. If they are all home runned back to a common point, installing the RJ31X there and connecting it up to the M1 could be quite easy.   On the other hand, if the jacks are daisy chained, it will probably require some extra work, unless the jack nearest where you plan to install the M1 happens to be the first one in the chain.  If the jacks are wired with Cat3/5/6 cable rather than just 4 conductor cable, you may be able to use spare pairs to reconfigure the daisy chain.
 
Thanks RAL.
 
Below are some pics of how the setup looks.  To be honest, I see this mounted on the wall in the basement utility room, and although the phone lines enter the house directly above this, outside at the 1st floor, I cannot see inside the house, where the phone lines enter.
 
Anyway, these look daisy chained to me, but I may be wrong as I'm not too sure what I'm looking at.
 
The Elk will be installed in a different location, and just based on the fact that we truly never plan on using standard landline phone lines again, I think I'll just wire from the nearest jack to the M1.  Would be incredibly convenient for me as well.
 
Would the correct setup then be a standard phone cable from the jack, into the Elk-952 surge protector, and then the surge protector to 6' of phone cable, and splice/terminate that to the Elk?  Or does the ELK-RJSET / RJ31X play a role in this still?
 
 
 

 
 
That looks like things are mostly home run - honestly if you're not going to use any jack except the one that the M1 is connected to, I'd disconnect the others - otherwise a wiring problem anywhere in the house could short out the M1's phone line - you'd need a way to trace or tone the correct jack.  If you could get a piece of Cat5 from the M1 to the MPOE there, that would be ideal - then do the RJ31X right next to the gray box - then it would go out the RJ31X to that distribution block there.
 
Thank you for the advice! I'll run the Cat5 from there, up the M1. I'm sure I'll run into some more questions connecting the Cat 5 to the MPOE, but thanks again for the guidance!
 
Have all day today to toy with this system, and I'm hoping to get a little more clarification on what to connect to what.
 
The utility room ( in basement) is directly below where the phone service enters my home (on the main level).  I see the pipe running from their boxes that are mounted on the side of the house, down into the ground, but do not see those cables coming out in the utility room, and cannot track down exactly where those cables enter my home.  All I see is this group of cables running to this board.
 
So, I'm hoping this is where I would make my Cat5e connection, to run to the M1.  If not, then I'm going to have to either just connect at the phone jack by the M1, or figure something else out.
 
Can someone please explain exactly where/how/which cables to connect to the Cat5e cable to run up to the M1?  Any help would me much appreciated.
 
And as a teaser of more to come, a pic of the mounted can and beginning of the connections.  (Note, I'm not having any other keypads throughout the house at this time, so the KP2 is installed here for programming/testing.)
 

 

 
 
It's a bit difficult to tell what is wired to what cables from the photos.
 
The incoming line from the phone company should be wired to the Network terminals on the MPOE.  It sort of looks like these are connected to one of the blue/yellow pairs that is spliced to one of the cables on the left.
 
The blue/yellow pair of wires from the Voice terminals should be connected to the punch down block.  Trace that pair of wires, and if that's where they go, then this is the pair you want to connect to the M1.
 
Are you going to install an RJ31X? ?  If you are, then the telco side of the RJ31X would go to this pair, and the other side of the RJ31X would go to the house wiring or your Cat5e cable to the M1.
 

See the M1 manual for how to wire the RJ31X.  If you are not using the RJ31X, and will be connecting to the Cat5e directly, the convention is to use the white/blue wire pair for tip and ring.  The white wire with a blue stripe is Tip, and the blue wire with a white stripe (or solid blue) is Ring. 
 
You don't need to run any additional wiring if the M1 is close enough to an existing jack.
 
You would need to identify the home run cable from that jack to the 66 block.
 
Since you have a second bare block, the easiest way to handle this is to take the feed from the MPOE to that block, punch down the identified cable (r/g) and then return the telco to where the MPOE was landed.

Install the 31X at the M1 and then connect. Done.
 
I'd strongly suggest you reconsider your decision about NO keypads installed on the M1.
 
Thanks for the tips.
 
DELInstallations: I do have 1 keypad, mounted in the can with the M1.  Are you saying that is not enough?  In my setup, I plan to have the iPad, running eKeypad at the front door/garage door (the wall mount and installation of that was done this weekend).  This is the only location where we would ever enter/leave the house, thus having the only keypad there makes sense to me.
 
I would think I'd want at least another keypad in the master bedroom, but figure I can use my iPhone and eKeypad again there to arm/disarm or whatever need be.  Reading on the forum, I see that at least one real Elk keypad is necessary for setup, so have mounted this as close to the M1 as possible, and figured that would be enough.
 
Please let me know if my thought process is incorrect or if I'm missing anything.  I'm clearly new to this so any input on a BETTER solution that doesn't require demoing full walls of drywall to run wires would be appreciated. 
 
Regarding the POTS line...I've got a networking buddy who will stop by next weekend to help.  He lives a bit away from me, and tried to help over the phone, however, I'll show him this thread and with the info here, and his knowledge, he's confident he'll have this part wired in no time.  With that said, I'm going to pause the POTS hook-up until next weekend, and move on for now.
 
*******
 
That leads me to my next question.  I've connected the KP2 to the M1...however, what do I do with the blue and brown wires?  I've read through the manual (M1 and KP2 manuals), and watched the two Elk webinars (Intro and the "How To Get More Keypads").  She mentions the blue wire is zone input, so I'm thinking if I had a motion sensor in the zone where the keypad is, and I didn't want to run the cabling from the motion sensor all the way back to the M1, I could run it to the keypad, and the keypad would pass on that info to the M1.  Is that correct?  Thus, I should do nothing with the blue wire. 
 
She says the brown wire is your output, and is switched positive.  What does that mean?  I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do with the brown wire.
 
One of the graphics shows the black and blue connected with a resistor between, and a black and the brown connected to a load.  What's the load?  I figured the KP2 is getting power from the M1 via the 4 wire connection...but if I need to input a load...then I'm confused.
 
Thanks again for the help.
 
The keypad input and output (blue and brown wires) are zone inputs and outputs, just like inputs Z1 to Z15 and outputs Out7 to Out16 on the M1 board.  If the address of the keypad is 1, then these are Z193 and Out193.  If the address is 2, then they are Z194 and Out194, and so on (see the table in the keypad manual).
 
So, if your keypad is mounted near an entry door, you could wire up a contact on the door to the keypad input, rather than running another wire all the way back to the M1.  And you could use the output to do something like light up an LED outside the door to indicate that the system is armed.  Or, you could use the output to drive a relay that would control something else, like an electronic door strike.  In either case, the LED or the relay would be considered the load.
 
That the output is "switched positive" means that it will have 12 volts on it when it is On, and zero volts when it is Off.  It can provide a current of up to 50 mA.  This isn't much, but sufficient to drive an LED, or to control a small relay, which could then control a device that requires more current.
 
Awesome, thanks so much for the explanation.  Basic stuff to you folks I'm sure, but to someone just learning, well...it all means nothing until someone explains it.
 
Thanks again.
 
Just to clarify a little bit - that gray device you show is a whole house DSL filter - there are 3 pairs on it - the top is supposed to be what's coming from the telco, then the 2nd pair down should branch off to the rest of the house jacks - connected by that little 66 distribution block on the left; the bottom pair would go to a dedicated jack for a DSL modem.
 
There should be a gray box or similar from the telco around there somewhere - but absent that, I would loop the pair off the middle pair of that DSL filter up to the RJ31X jack then hook the return pair onto the right-most pins of that 66 distribution block - where the wires that run between the DSL splitter and the 66 block today.  You'd eliminate the direct connection between the DSL filter and the 66 block instead looping through an RJ31X.
 
I know DEL has recommended in the past hooking up the RJ31X even before the DSL splitter, but in doing that, your DSL internet would go offline during any M1 communication (if you used DSL; moot otherwise). 
 
Thanks for the info Work2Play.  I'll keep this info for when we work on the line this coming weekend.
 
On that note, I've decided to run Cat6 from the utility room to the M1 for the phone line.  Going to start fresh with a dedicated cable from that connection back to the M1 so I know exactly what's what.  About the only easy wiring I have is from that basement utility room to the M1, so we'll run it.
 
In addition, I think I'll run a cable at the same time for a planned WSV2.  Although I haven't purchased the unit yet, eventually I will, so figured I'd run it now too.  Should I run Cat6 for that as well?  This thread mentioned possibly running 2 Cat5 cables, doubling up and having extra for a status line:  http://cocoontech.com/forums/topic/13280-connecting-elk-wsv-via-cat5/
 
What would be ideal?  One Cat6, two Cat6's, or just standard 18/4?
 
If 18/4, would this be a good pick?:  http://www.amazon.com/Monoprice-100-Feet-4-Conductor-High-Purity-Oxygen-Free/dp/B003KPYRJM/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1399354256&sr=1-1&keywords=18%2F4+cable
 
**The wiring diagrams show the green wire labeled status, not attaching to the M1 in any way.  What/how would that connection be made for status?
 
Any help on which cable to order for the WSV? (Cat or 18/4)?

I'd like to order tonight. Any help is much appreciated!!
 
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