My work so far: Elk M1 system

[CORT]

Here are some photos of my work in progress. See the end of the thread for updates--there have been major changes. It is in a new home. I personally pulled most of the wire and did the installation. Each room in my house has at least one Cat5e and RG6 home run cables. The main boxes and accessories are Leviton. I have an Elk M1 with M1XEP, 4 KP2's, 1 KPAS, a DBH, 3 PD9's, a WSV, 3 M1XIN's, 1 M1RB and more. The network equipment includes an APC 750 backup, D-Link DIR-655 router, D-Link DAP 2553 access point, 3 Proliphix NT100e thermostats, and a Netgear gigabit ethernet network switch. So far, I have 2 flood/water sensors in the system, and there are plans for more. I wish that I had been a little more visionary with home audio during construction, but cost was a factor. I eventually retrofitted the 6 zone audio system. I still plan on installing some lighting control switches, and I have a few more sensors to wire in. I have no idea how much it would have cost to install this system professionally.

Update: I've learned that the Poliphix stats aren't quite as advertised. They offer a lot, but they fail miserably at one thing, keeping accurate time. Worse, Proliphix support on this issue has been non-existant. Maybe one day they will produce new firmware to allow the stats to schedule updates from an internet time server.

Picture 1: The left cabinet houses the Elk system


Picture 2: The right cabinet houses the punch down blocks for the ethernet system and the splitter for the RG6 cables.


Picture 3: The water shutoff valve

 

[murphy]

Hi Cort,

that all is looking terrible good. $ 5000 for hardware? Usually the labour is in the same range. That installation will give you "peace of mind" and comfort which is sure more worth than your labour and hardware.

What type of water-shutoff-valve are you using ?
And your watersensor: is it only a cardboard ?

 

[politics123]

Here are some photos of my work in progress. It is in a new home. I personally pulled the wire and did the installation. Each room in my house has at least one Cat5e and RG6 home run cable. The main boxes and accessories are Leviton. I have an Elk M1 with M1XEP, 3 KP2's, a DBH, a PD9, WSV, and more. The network equipment is APC backup, D-Link DIR-655 router, 3 Proliphix NT100e thermostats, and a Netgear gigabit ethernet network switch. So far, I have only 1 water sensor in the system, but there are plans for more. I wish that I had been a little more visionary with home audio, but there was a limit on finances, so no central home audio. I still plan on installing a few lighting control switches, and I have more motion, glass break, and temperature sensors to wire in. I have no idea how much it would have cost to install this system professionally. Thus far, there is about $5000 invested in hardware, cables, wall boxes, sensors, etc. Once all the wires are routed and sensors installed, I will tidy things up. So far it is a bit of a mess.

Picture 1: The basement wiring closet
View attachment 1145

Picture 2: The left cabinet houses the Elk system
View attachment 1146

Picture 3: The right cabinet houses the punch down blocks for the ethernet system and the splitter for the RG6 cables.
View attachment 1147

Picture 4: The water shutoff valve
View attachment 1148

Picture 5: A water sensor underneath the water heater
View attachment 1149

Looks great. Using A-BUS, a cat5 cable to each room provides future room for whole-house audio. Easiest (low-cost solution) assuming you still have access to walls --> pull one cat5 plus two speaker wires (home run) to each room, and then loop the speaker cable up to the speaker locations. You may never have whole-house audio, but at least then you can add it later if finances permit.

Did you use the ELK water shut-off valve, or the automation one?

I have all my wires coiled (for 6 months after move-in!) in the basement, still debating whether to surface mount, or recess mount the enclosures. How do you plan to handle the wires to the wire shelves? Are you going to drywall to the ceiling, and then cut access ports for the wires?

 

[brotsten]

The water shutoff valve is Elk's. I was tempted to use the Automaton valve, but Elk products have been so reliable and well thought out that I cannot imagine looking elsewhere (has anyone determined if there is a difference between the two valves?).

I bought the 12v assured automation. It's not installed yet, and I didn't snap any pictures of the internals. It does get wired differently then the Elk valve. Does anyone have a shot of their Elk valve innards?

Brian

 

[raymondh]

Plus, I wish that I had known more about smoke detectors when the house was built. I would have used smoke detectors integrated with the Elk rather than a network of conventional ionization/photoelectric Kidde detectors. I am debating about how to connect these conventional smoke detectors to the panel. A GE 350CX might be appropriate, assuming it can work with the Kidde detectors.

I have the same situation with smokes at my house. A network of Kidde's that I would somehow like to connect into the Elk. Can you point me in the direction of how to accomplish this?

 

[Rogier21]

I was actually looking for a good simple IP thermostat! How is this one performing? I saw it is not really cheap thoe... But the IP installation is a good advantage again

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

The Proliphix stats have been great. I can recommend them. Sometimes I regret not going with the Elk integrated solution, but there is no denying that the Proliphix ones work. Their system is proven. It is very nice being able to log into their web page and access my thermostats. I don't need to worry at all about dynamic IPs.

Is there a fee (monthly?) for this service?

 

[Sacedog]

Moved the DBH, and got more zones hooked up. Looking good!

What's the Apple power supply for?

 

[Spanky]

Cort,
Nice job. It gets to being addictive!

 

[Photon]

Cort said, "Here is the M1XSP and Uplink AnyNET module in the attic."

Any idea how hot your attic gets? I have an elk M1XRF in mine, so I am monitoring attic temp as the receiver is rated to just 120*F. I've recorded 110 briefly, so I think I'm OK, but this has been a cool summer. You may have issues since you are more southern.

Regards. . . . John

 

[Lagerhead]

Any idea how hot your attic gets?

Right, I have recorded peak attic temperature of 122*F with the ventilation running. Bright sun is a problem on a black roof, even in Connecticut. As a result I do not keep anything valuable in the attic, and no electronics (other than the temperature sensor).

 

[Digger]

Cort said, "Here is the M1XSP and Uplink AnyNET module in the attic."

Any idea how hot your attic gets? I have an elk M1XRF in mine, so I am monitoring attic temp as the receiver is rated to just 120*F. I've recorded 110 briefly, so I think I'm OK, but this has been a cool summer. You may have issues since you are more southern.

Regards. . . . John

Well, this wiring cabinet is in more of an "eave closet" than a true attic, so I don't think it gets quite as hot. Nevertheless, the gear probably should be relocated to an interior, climate controlled area. In my quest to mount the antenna as high as possible, I overlooked the temperature issue. Now, I must figure out where to mount the communicator inside. It needs to be away from fluorescent lighting and on an upper level.

I do temperature testing on alarm equipment at work all of the time. We have a room setup that is about 1800 or so square feet that we can easily maintain at 125 F. We have some panels and keypads etc in there operational for several years (based on dust in invetory tags) and every few months we have a QC tech do some normal operation tests.

I spent a few hours in there yesterday myself setting up a new panel running 7 amps in alarm (a commercial system). I bet that if we decide to leave it there it will be running when I retire in 20 years if we did our homework on the panel. While we could not comfortably claim it will work at 125 F in alarm for all of those years we will defintely claim it will work in standby at about 1 A for many years when we are done with our testing.

The purpose of the test is to prove reliability and we found one diode so far we want to beef up before production (it did not fail but it is running a tad hotter than we want).

 

[felixrosbergen]

Damm dude...you do some nice install work...are those black pads surrounding the smurftube for insulation or something?

How far can this external antenna be from the uplink module? Can i place the module in my basement and run the antenna extension cable up to the attic?

 

[SnyperBob]

Wow, nice update man. Looks like you're about 'done', at least for now, lol. Looks great with the sheetrock up

 

[felixrosbergen]

very nice.

Whats next on your todo list? It looks like you're getting pretty close to a completed project....