M1, ELK TWA, and Elk 124 no hassle auto switching!

[bucko]

 I needed to find a way to set up my Elk so it would be able to do it's system announcements and also play my custom Elk 124 sounds through the same speakers. I also needed have complete  control of quiet times and speaker selection for sounds.
 
You can see my schematic and details on my blog......http://cocoontech.com/forums/blog/38-buckos-blog/
 
Hope you find this useful.

 

[tmbrown97]

You've got some fun projects - thanks for sharing all the details here!
 
The 124 integration is interesting... I used to use a 124 in my previous home (just haven't gotten around to it here) - I never bothered to use a relay - I just hooked them both up to the speakers side by side and it worked just fine.  I've also dug up an Elk document showing how to do it and they showed two sources hooked up at the same time with some capacitors inline.  The TWA adds a nice feature in being able to selectively turn different speakers on/off - I'll probably add that one the next time I'm messing with the speakers on mine so I can add speakers around the kids for important alerts, but keep those quiet during the day; and also to be able to mute the master bedroom speaker when my wife is sleeping (she works nights and sleeps during the day while I'm working from home elsewhere in the house).

 

[drvnbysound]

So, I viewed the TWAs manual, but really didn't see much relating to the various zones as far as programming and operation.
 
Is it possible to use the TWA alone to speak audible messages over certain zones only? I'm not even concerned with custom messages, just the standard built-in vocabulary messages for secure and unsecured zones... and the ability to speak different messages over different zones, and have them scheduled for on/off times as well.
 
Basically, I'd like to have certain messages announced over my SP12F keypad speakers, but also have those messages disabled at night (i.e. baby sleeping). Additionally, I've got a detached workshop; when I'm in the workshop (Partition 2 not secure) I'd like a variety of messages spoken out there. Again, I don't even need/want custom messages, but rather notifications of various events (e.g. my wife comes home - disarms, doorbell rung, etc). Wondering if this sort of stuff is possible with the TWA...

 

[Del91574]

Yes. Via rules and the audio matrix triggers.

 

[drvnbysound]

Yes. Via rules and the audio matrix triggers.

 
I know this was something that I had mentioned to you previously... at the time I hadn't yet seen the TWA.
 
What do you mean when you say, audio matrix triggers?

 

[RAL]

What do you mean when you say, audio matrix triggers?

 
I think he means control outputs 7 - 10 from the M1, which are used to select or mute the mics and speakers in the different zones.

 

[drvnbysound]

I think he means control outputs 7 - 10 from the M1, which are used to select or mute the mics and speakers in the different zones.

 
Ahh. Close. I just looked through the manual again and found this:
 
 

When two-way listen-in is active the control turns on outputs 7, 8, or 9 (or all three) to select mic zones 1, 2, 3 respectively.
Output 10 is also turned on while listen-in is active to collectively mute all spkr zones.
Special Option: Three jumpers on the board labeled "Override" allow you to selectively mute any of the 3 spkr zones utilizing the M1 Rules.
Simply place a shorting jumper on any of these option jumpers 11, 12, 13 and then write a rule to turn on output 11, 12, or 13 to selectively mute
spkrs 1, 2, or 3 respectively. This can be especially handy to turn off specific speakers during special hours or conditions.

 

[phareous]

I know this is a really old post, but if you're still around can you answer a few questions for me, as I want to do the same thing.
 
It looks like you're switching on the speaker side, instead of the TWA input side, right?. It looks like the audio comes out of the ELK-124 line-level audio port (RCA) and straight to the speakers? Why wouldn't you just use the speaker terminals instead?
 
I am actually thinking about doing the input side instead so I'll need to figure out which pins in the harness from the M1 to the TWA carry the audio (it's documented in another thread somewhere)

 

[bucko]

Actually I did it this way to eliminate the speaker pop and also the playback delay during the switch. My method works seamlessly and sounds very good.