My ELK Order - Did I miss anything right off the bat?

[personalt]

I know that every home automation project I do requires 2-3 orders to get all the odds and ends but I want to do my best to break the cycle and get this alarm set up in one order.

My planned order is below. My questions are

1. Do I really need the Gold? I run CQC which has a nice TTS speach processor that can feed my house audio for alerts. Other then the speech the number of zones and the nicer connectors is there anything that I am missing? I may decide to pull the trigger on the gold anyway as it will be nicer if I move and want to take CQC with me but wanted to make sure I wasnt missing some other reason to get the gold incase I decide to downgrade.

2. Do I need the ethernet adapter? CQC will work fine with the serial but from what I have read it sounds like the IP is nicer since I can connect the elk software and CQC at the same time if I have the ethernet adapter. It also seems like I would need the ethernet adapter to get the detailed monitoring from next alarm or to email myself alerts? It seems like this is requirement for most systems, does that make sense?

3. It seems like the M1XRF2G is the recommended wireless receiver over the cheaper GE model. I saw notes from 3 years ago saying that getting the cheaper NX548E from GE wasnt a good idea. Is that still the case?

4. If there anything obvious that I appear to be missing?

All prices are just list for general budget purposes..

$655 ELK-M1GSYS4 System with Big Keypad
$214 ELK-M1XEP Ethernet Interface

$142 M1XRF2G Wireless Receiver

$131 ELK-M1KP2 Extra Keyboard - 'Small Type'
$7 ELK-M1BBK2 Recess Mount Box
$19 ELK-44 Speaker/Siren
$27 ELK-SL1, ELK-WK1 Strobe

 

[WayneW]

IMHO
1 Yes, get the Gold
2 Yes
3 Yes
4 No, other than you probably want to standardize on keypads. I would hate having two different models of keypads in the house.

Make sure you call one of the fine supporters of CT (such as AO) and see what the "Cocoontech discount" price is. You may be pleasantly surprised.

 

[42etus]

Get the Gold here and save $150

http://www.securitystoreusa.com/Elk-ELK-M1...f-p/1882740.htm

Paul

 

[personalt]

I was looking the ELK-M1KP2 for the bedroom as I planned to recess it.

My original plan for the front door I was to get the internal proxy reader in the 'big keypad.' Maybe I will just get two ELK-M1KP2 and use an external proxy reader that way I can mount it outside and get a door release if I want.

Is there any shortcomings of the ELK-M1KP2 other then having less function buttons? I would imagine I only need one for Fire and one for Police/panic leaving me two buttons for other stuff.

I planned to reach out to AO but to get the best deal I wanted to have my whole order figured out.

Thanks for all the help.

IMHO
1 Yes, get the Gold
2 Yes
3 Yes
4 No, other than you probably want to standardize on keypads. I would hate having two different models of keypads in the house.

Make sure you call one of the fine supporters of CT (such as AO) and see what the "Cocoontech discount" price is. You may be pleasantly surprised.

 

[electron]

IMO I would order from one of the CocoonTech Vendor Alliance vendors. They have been vetted, are known for their exceptional pre and post sales customer support, while I'm not even sure if ELK will support hardware warranty claims from people who bought from vendors violating the MAP agreement.

edit: I see personalt has responded while I was posting this, I'm too slow ...

 

[Steve]

Trust me, its been tried many times before, I'm sorry but I doubt you will break the cycle. Nobody ever gets everything they need in 1 shot.

What about all the little stuff? Sensors, batteries, shelves, wiring and connectors, input/output expansion, smoke detectors, surge suppressors, etc, etc...

 

[personalt]

Thanks for the additional checks...

I have some GE sensors on my key windows. I was looking to supplement them with some of the MicraG sensors but need to figure out how those will work with my windows. If I recall the Pella windows that have are wood but have a metal track that goes down the side. That combined with the expanding foam that is between the window and frame I am unsure of how that antenna might work.

Go that might be order 2 right there :lol:

I dont think I will need additional batteries and I should not need the IO module.

I was planning on tying in my regular smoke detectors with a kidde relay but looking at the merits/issues in this thread.
http://www.cocoontech.com/forums/index.php...7&hl=SM120X

So alarm smokes may become order 3

Trust me, its been tried many times before, I'm sorry but I doubt you will break the cycle. Nobody ever gets everything they need in 1 shot.

What about all the little stuff? Sensors, batteries, shelves, wiring and connectors, input/output expansion, smoke detectors, surge suppressors, etc, etc...

 

[sic0048]

Is there any shortcomings of the ELK-M1KP2 other then having less function buttons? I would imagine I only need one for Fire and one for Police/panic leaving me two buttons for other stuff.

The KP2 keypads don't have a temperature sensor in them. Here is a comparison chart.

 

[AutomatedOutlet]

Trust me, its been tried many times before, I'm sorry but I doubt you will break the cycle. Nobody ever gets everything they need in 1 shot.

Very true!

 

[Neurorad]

As a DIYer, buy your equipment from vendors that offer the best support. Usually, the price difference is minor.

I've had a good experience with AO.

 

[personalt]

Martin gave me a good price so I went with him.. It is still not a cheap alarm but much better deal then what I have seen elesewhere.

My father is law is an electrican. He doesnt do a lot of alarms but has accounts with two alarm places, including ADI a big wholeseller. Both of them wanted more..

Thanks everyone for the help.... next stop to figure out what kind of switches I want to control but will browse the other threads and to read up on what was already asnwered.