More Elk M1 Questions

upstatemike

Senior Member
I'm looking to use an M1 for access control in the following situation:

I have a stairwell that will have a keypad of some sort at the top (looking at Automated Outlet model AY-S55). This will open a door at the bottom of the stairwell.

I can put an Elk security keypad just inside the lower door but that will make the connection from the Wiegand harness much longer than 5 feet to reach the keypad at the top. Will this be a problem?

I am also looking for more info on ascii I/O. Can I configure a serial expander for RS485 to control an RS485 device?

Can I use ascii and a serial connection to a PC to kick off batch files somehow? Or do I need to use a full software package like Homeseer or CQC to trigger stuff on a PC?

Does the M1 have any flags or variables that are not associated with zones or inputs? I want to keep track of some stuff without referencing "virtual" inputs that might reduce my physical expansion options.

When controlling Insteon lights that are also controlled from a keypad, do most folks just use group commands and define a controller group that includes the lighta and associated keypad buttons?
 
Does the M1 have any flags or variables that are not associated with zones or inputs? I want to keep track of some stuff without referencing "virtual" inputs that might reduce my physical expansion options.
The M1 has counters which hold a numeric value and can be manipulated via rules. So it depends on what you are trying to do. Another common method is to use phantom outputs to track state but you are limited to just on/off.

You may want to just download and install a copy of RP. You can look thru all the settings, play with creating rules, etc and really get a feel for what it can do besides just reading the docs. While you technically need a serial # to download a copy I don't think Spanky would mind you playing with RP without having the HW yet. IIRC, you don't need a panel to just load it and play around, I think you enter the serial # when you connect.
 
This would work. I assume I could set a phantom output to turn on when a task is activated from a touch screen? Then if I have Homeseer or CQC watching for that output to go on it could trigger some PC action?
 
If you use my.elk, you can actually trigger events direclty, without having to use outputs, but the method you mentioned is the most popular one. I believe you can download the demo version of Elk RP online from the Elk site, without having to have an account, so no need to worry about requiring a serial # etc.
 
Yea, I mentioned it to show it can be done without the outputs, but Dean would have to add support for that kind of stuff to the plugin. The output method is probably the better method.
 
upstatemike said:
This would work. I assume I could set a phantom output to turn on when a task is activated from a touch screen? Then if I have Homeseer or CQC watching for that output to go on it could trigger some PC action?
Yea, you could have a rule like WHENEVER TaskX is activated THEN TURN OUTPUT xyz ON

Then in CQC you could do different things depending on the state of the output. And of course you would need some mechanism to turn the output back off. It is a bit of a weird concept, but they can be pretty darn powerful. And you have 208 outputs to mess with whether they are used to control relays, etc or just used for phantom uses like flags.
 
Another thought.... Can I remove the cooling setpoint control from the thermostat screen since I don't have AC? It would be less confusing to folks if it just wasn't there.
 
I'm not sure about that in ElkRM. ElkRM is really nice and powerful, but the real power is building your own interface in something like CQC - you can then build the screen to look however you want with whatever controls you want.

I'm pretty sure electron tried the CQC viewer on the TS07 and it worked. The only issue is the current version does not support some things like alpha blending and overlays but I think Mark is addressing that shortly.
 
I don't know what alpha blending and overlays are... You might be overestimating my ability to create fancy custom screens.
 
upstatemike said:
I don't know what alpha blending and overlays are... You might be overestimating my ability to create fancy custom screens.
Nah, just terminology. Overlays are just like smaller screens with a larger screen. For example, think of it like RM where you have the buttons on the left side and the screen that changes on the right. In a non-overlay system each time you switch functions you redraw the entire screen which wastes resources and slows things down. With an overlay you would define a section of the screen like that left side in RM to be static or permanent, part of the 'master' screen. Then the area on the right that changes all the time would be an overlay that simply swaps out a portion of the screen that changes.

Alpha-blending is a technique which can be used when computer graphics are laid on top of each other and one or more of the objects contain a transparent, or semi-transparent, portion. It ensures that the pixels of the graphic which are underneath a transparent area are visible through it and that their color or brightness is adjusted according to the degree of transparency of the upper object. The alpha channel is really a form of mask, dictating what amount of information should be allowed to show through from lower-lying graphics.

Put simply, it allows you to use transparency nicely.
 
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