Newbie Considering ELK M1G

[Grumpy Smurf]

The extent of my experience was having bought an X10 starter kit many years ago, and used it for a few months, then decided it was too much hassles and unreliable / unfriendly to continue use.

I found the biggest problem with it was that
- I needed to change batteries
- It did not work well with un-trained people (my wife could not turn on the light without being shown)
- Slight unreliability as it can turn on / off by itself.

Now I am building a new house and will be installing structured cabling with LAN, Video, Phone throughout. Included will be a PC PVR with 6 CCTVs hooked to it and distributed to all TV points. I am OK with this, and quite clear of my requirements.

Second part of my installation would be a need for an intercom system (3x door stations) that can ring my home phone. I have not found the right device to do this yet. Globaltech's FoneLinq is the closest thing, but it seemed expensive (US$750) and is only capable of 1 door station.

Third part of my requirement is a security system. All I needed here is any system that is capable of calling me AND announcing in a VOICE if a zone has been penetrated.

Fourth part is some sort of automation.

I think by combining requirements 3&4 together using the Elk M1G would be perfect.

With automation, my utmost need is to be able to turn on and off 2x reverse cycle ducted air conditioners. Other needs like turning on/off some lights/appliance would be handy.

What are your thoughts? Am I heading the right direction?

 

[tech-home]

I think you will find almost everyone here loves the M1-Gold. I find myself moving away from Homeseer to the M1 because of reliability.


It's powerful and has alot to offer. I find myself adding more and more modules to it. I finally installed a ethernet module last night because of the upcoming software.

Take a look at the screenshots here.
http://www.cocoontech.com/index.php?showtopic=2816

You won't find a better company to work with as a dealer or regular customer they are great.


Also for your door bell look here as it seems to get good reviews
http://www.smarthome.com/5070.HTML

 

[markthomas]

I am going down the same road as you. For you, the M1G seems a perfect fit. I am planning to get an Elk too, although I will be getting the EZ8 because it's much cheaper (and nearly identical except for the voice features, which I don't need).

I had researched the doorphone systems and decided the DoorbellFon was the way to go, for a number of reasons. However, now I'm re-thinking the whole doorphone thing. How future-proof is it? With Vonage, Skype, FIOS, mobile phones, etc, are we really going to have POTS phones located throughout the house anymore?

Now I'm leaning toward the Greyfox intercom system. It is a modern, stylish system that has room units that fit in a couple decora wallplates, and will coordinate well with whole-house audio systems.

With the intercom units in place, you never have to worry about having to have "old-fashioned" phones in every room in the house. There are other advantages, too--you get a nice chime instead of a ringing phone. You can connect up to three doors, each with a distinctive chime. I don't know of any phones that support three distinctive rings (in fact, my cordless phones don't support distinctive rings at all).

The only caveat is that all Greyfox equipment runs on Cat-5. You'd have to be able to run a Cat-5 to the doorbell location(s).

More info here: Greyfox (division of OnQ/Legrand) Intercom Products

 

[electron]

Damn, that intercom unit looks pretty sharp!

 

[elcano]

You can also build an intercom with the M1G voice module, but you will have to custom build it using relays, speakers/mics and some call/push-to-talk buttons. The outdoor speakers/mics will be the most expensive components.

You can program it to announce the specific door. Also, you can configure it so that when you are at home the sound is routed to the house internal speakers but when the alarm is activated away it dials your mobile phone.

 

[upstatemike]

I am surprised you are not considering a Panasonic phone system to address both phone and intercom/doorphones. I have had Panasonic systems for over 15 years and I condsider them the most basic component of home automation, even ahead of lighting and security.

Some advantages of a whole house phone system like a Panasonic KX-TA824 include:

-Works with system phones and single line phones and devices. Your Elk M-1 could dial the paging code and make announcements through the whole house.

-Has plain audio as well as camera phone doorbox options. Youer M1 can greet your visitors when the doorbell is pressed.

-Whole house paging and phone to phone intercom.

-Whole house paging and hands free speakerphone now work through wirless handsets in the latest cordeless system phones.

-Distinctive ringing by line so you hear if a call is on your regular line or on a private/business/kids line without running to look.

-Integrated voicemail.

Check out Ablecomm a more extensive list of features.

 

[markthomas]

Yeah, I know a lot of HA enthusiasts use and like Panasonic phone systems.

Having a business-like phone system like that has never appealed to me. Especially now, with mobile "family plans" and new technologies like VOIP and FIOS, all of which have overlapping features and may eventually antiquate POTS phones.

The one thing I do like is the voicemail. But if I ever decide I want a more sophisticated system, I will use Asterisk. It has many more features and HA integration points. For example, there are web and email voicemail interfaces.

 

[Steve]

I think it would be cool to have a Grumpy Smurf in the M1 club.

 

[upstatemike]

Having a business-like phone system like that has never appealed to me. Especially now, with mobile "family plans" and new technologies like VOIP and FIOS, all of which have overlapping features and may eventually antiquate POTS phones.

One of the reasons Panasonic is so popular as compared to NEC and others is that they make phones that are not too business-like and work well in a home environment. They also interface with all the new technologies you mention. If you can do it with a regular single line phone, you can do it with a panasonic system.

The one thing I do like is the voicemail. But if I ever decide I want a more sophisticated system, I will use Asterisk. It has many more features and HA integration points. For example, there are web and email voicemail interfaces.

The latest voicemail unit for the Panasonic system will provide email notification when a voicemail is left and will even mail you the voice message as a .wav file. I have seen Asterisk discussed in xAP forums and such and it strikes me as a "hobby grade" PC based system. For a phone system I prefer a rock solid plug and play type solution.

I'm also not clear how you do things like all phone paging and distinctive ring patterns with Asterisk? What do you have to do to integrate a door box or to have a backlit CID display at each phone? How do you do hands free answer back to an intercom call or display a message light when there is a new message in your voicemail? How do you light a light to show a line is in use?

I once had a Mitel SX-10 PBX and learned quickly that using advanced features from a standard single line telephone is no fun and not appropriate in a residential setting. You really need the dedicated buttons, lights, speakers and displays of a system phone to make the system easy to use (and to keep your family from making you rip out the system).

 

[markthomas]

The latest voicemail unit for the Panasonic system will provide email notification when a voicemail is left and will even mail you the voice message as a .wav file.

That's a nice feature.

I have seen Asterisk discussed in xAP forums and such and it strikes me as a "hobby grade" PC based system.

Hmm... the impression I got was that it is very robust and reliable. Some companies use it as their primary PBX. There's an O'Reilly book published on it: Asterisk: The Future of Telephony. I believe you do have to buy some special hardware to get the most out of it.

That being said, for me, the most compelling part of Asterisk is the integration potential. There's no end to what you can do. Connect your whole-house audio to it for music on hold. Create an extension that uses Festival (text-to-speech engine) to tell you the status of your automation system, read your email, etc. Create menus, with voice prompts, that allow you to control your home. Find out, via a web page or by dialing in, who called while you were gone. Set up click-to-dial from within Microsoft Outlook. Based on CallerID, forward some callers to your cellphone, send others to a particular voice mail bin, block others. Set all of this up through the web interface. Force callers with blocked CallerIDs to answer a math question before getting through to voicemail. Set up on an extension that will tell you the delivery status of an order (or any other tidbit that can be scraped from the internet). Set up a fax-to-email gateway (and vice-versa!) This is just off the top of my head, I'm sure there are many other things you can do. It's limited only by your imagination.

 

[markthomas]

I'm also not clear how you do things like all phone paging and distinctive ring patterns with Asterisk? What do you have to do to integrate a door box or to have a backlit CID display at each phone? How do you do hands free answer back to an intercom call or display a message light when there is a new message in your voicemail? How do you light a light to show a line is in use?

Good questions. I dug into the docs a bit, and all that stuff seems possible. You can use a phone that complies with the SIP standard (there's a long list of them--several different brands), and you can integrate with all their features (hold, forward, get messages, message waiting LED, even phone directory integration). Here's an example (a Polycom phone - polycom is an Asterisk partner):

Personally, I prefer plain phones, however having one multifunction phone, perhaps in the kitchen desk area where the answering machine would normally be, wouldn't be too bad.