Newbie Elk M1-Gold Phone Control

[gatorwes]

Hello, all. I'm a DIYer that is slowly replacing a legacy alarm system with an M1-Gold. Slowly but surely, it's coming together.

I am having some issues with phone communications, though. It doesn't appear that the legacy phone line brought back to the alarm panel allows the RJ31X jack to sieze the line when needed. If this were the only issue, I could live with it for a while until I got around to having the incoming line re-run. The good news is that the system can see a dial tone and dial out when necessary. My issue, other than the inability to sieze the line in an emergency situation, is that I cannot use either interior or exterior phones as a "Telephone Remote Control". Option G01 TelRmtCtl is set to 2 (interior & exterior use). Attempting to press *** from an interior phone produces a dial tone after the second *. The same key presses from an exterior phone yield no response. Are the two issues related? Am I missing a setting? Is there optional hardware involved? Thanks in advance for any help you might be able to provide.

Wes Simmons

 

[tmbrown97]

Wes,

You say the existing wire doesn't allow you to sieze - is the line basically just another extension in the system (instead of an RJ31X, just another standard phone-line)?

If so, do you know how/where it's wired? If by chance it's a 2-pair back to the original phone termination point, you might have some options to get the RJ31X jack in sooner than later... we can walk you through it.

 

[gatorwes]

I believe the phone line is simply another extension. There are extra pairs in the cable, though, and I can see where you're heading (maybe?). If the cable simply runs back to the main junction box, I can rewire to properly set up the RJ31X. Or, if I can trace it back to some other junction point, I might be able to do the same thing. Or maybe something else ???

Given the fact that it's hot as heck in Florida now, I'll need to wait for a free morning to go on a search mission in the attic. Hopefully I can investigate Sunday AM and post my findings.

Do you believe having the proper RJ31X phone connection is a requirement for phone remote control capability with the M1-Gold?

Thanks for your thoughts and help.

Wes Simmons

 

[mustangcoupe]

Do you believe having the proper RJ31X phone connection is a requirement for phone remote control capability with the M1-Gold?

I beleive it does because it needs to isolate it from the "outside world" and without a true R131X type connection then it cant.

 

[tmbrown97]

yeah, I was trying to figure out if you might be able to do some simple rewiring to accomplish the goal of fixing the wiring so it's a true RJ31X jack.

And I don't have positive confirmation, but I'd suspect that to be the remote control issue as long as you know that telephone control is enabled (make sure it is enabled... Mine was disabled out of the box).

 

[murphy]

I'm working with the remote controll everyday.

Can you check, if you have a dial tone before the ELK-M1 and also after the system?
Then the ELK-M1 should be able to pick up the phone line too.

In my case, I set 2 rings (in Globals 29-42) before the system is answering (with 4 short beeps)
After the 4 beeps I'm entering 3 times *
And after this, a sad & tired girl is asking for a security code, which is the same as on the keyboard, when entering your home.

Next I can hear every status, switch every light/output, ask for every temperature or simply listen in.
This is the way I'm avoiding the hot Texas summer and controll the irrigation on my farm there from Germany.
OK, I have a flatrate for phonecalls to the US (for 3,95 Euro/month, around 6.00 $/month).

No problems (exept my programming).

 

[gatorwes]

I appreciate everyone's responses.

A quick update:

I was able to trace the Elk's phone line back to the main junction box. The Elk line was wired in parallel with the house phone lines. A little trial and error and I was able to wire the house phones in series with the Elk, the Elk first. Telephone control works properly now.

Hope this information helps someone in the future.

Thanks again.

Wes Simmons