Newbie: Elk M1G Wiring

[alangsk]

I am new to security systems and the Elk M1G. I have been doing a lot of reading on this site, however I have not been able to find the info I am looking for. Below are my groups of questions. Any help anyone can give would be much appreciated.

I am wiring a new home and need to wire contacts to all of the doors and windows. I have 6 rooms plus the garage with a total of 13 windows and 4 doors. The Elk M1 only has 16 zones.

Q1: Does every window and every door have to go to a separate zone? Can all the windows in one room be wired together? How can this be accomplished? I am using 3/8" Magnetic Stubby Reed Switches. Is 22/2 wire OK for these? What is the best way to install the resistors?

Q2: I have 2 Keypads. Can these both be run back to the Elk or does there need to be some type of expander for the second one? I do not fully understand this from the installation manual. What wire should be run to each keypad?

I am sure I will have more questions, but this will give me a great start. Thanks to all who contribute to this forum!

Kyle

 

[Sacedog]

I am new to security systems and the Elk M1G. I have been doing a lot of reading on this site, however I have not been able to find the info I am looking for. Below are my groups of questions. Any help anyone can give would be much appreciated.

I am wiring a new home and need to wire contacts to all of the doors and windows. I have 6 rooms plus the garage with a total of 13 windows and 4 doors. The Elk M1 only has 16 zones.

Q1: Does every window and every door have to go to a separate zone? Can all the windows in one room be wired together? How can this be accomplished? I am using 3/8" Magnetic Stubby Reed Switches. Is 22/2 wire OK for these? What is the best way to install the resistors?

Q2: I have 2 Keypads. Can these both be run back to the Elk or does there need to be some type of expander for the second one? I do not fully understand this from the installation manual. What wire should be run to each keypad?

I am sure I will have more questions, but this will give me a great start. Thanks to all who contribute to this forum!

Kyle

If you haven't read through the wiring guide, start there. It has a ton of great information, including the right type of wiring to use for contacts.

http://www.cocoontech.com/index.php?showtopic=6700

 

[CollinR]

I am new to security systems and the Elk M1G. I have been doing a lot of reading on this site, however I have not been able to find the info I am looking for. Below are my groups of questions. Any help anyone can give would be much appreciated.

I am wiring a new home and need to wire contacts to all of the doors and windows. I have 6 rooms plus the garage with a total of 13 windows and 4 doors. The Elk M1 only has 16 zones.

You'll need a device called a zone expander, the Elk supports many many hardwired zones.

Q1: Does every window and every door have to go to a separate zone? Can all the windows in one room be wired together? How can this be accomplished? I am using 3/8" Magnetic Stubby Reed Switches. Is 22/2 wire OK for these? What is the best way to install the resistors?

Yes, you wire them togther in series, wire the EOL in series as well, assuming the contacts are normally closed. I install the EOL using "B Connectors" basically just a crimp connector with an insulated cover. Mine say on the bag, "Never strip wires again!". Thats BS, strip the wires, then twist, then crimp!

 

[sic0048]

Q1: Does every window and every door have to go to a separate zone? Can all the windows in one room be wired together? How can this be accomplished? I am using 3/8" Magnetic Stubby Reed Switches. Is 22/2 wire OK for these? What is the best way to install the resistors?
Kyle

You do NOT have to run every contact device back as a seperate zone. You can combine some by running them in series. If you combine contacts, you will be notified which zone is open, but it cannot tell you which contact in that zone is open. So you have to plan accordingly.

For example, most people will run every door back as a seperate zone because they want to know what door is open, not just that some door is open. Most also combine windows together by room. So combine all your family room windows into one zone. If one is left open, you will only know that a family room window is open (as opposed to the second window on the right), but most people will still end up with just a few windows on each zone, so checking to find the open window isn't a big deal.

 

[shenandoah75]

this may be ovious, but I'd strongly recommend you run each window back to the panel though so you can change ifyou ever want to (and so you could diagnose if one of your contacts ever failed). make the series connections in the panel, not in the drywall around the windows :unsure:

 

[CollinR]

this may be ovious, but I'd strongly recommend you run each window back to the panel though so you can change ifyou ever want to (and so you could diagnose if one of your contacts ever failed). make the series connections in the panel, not in the drywall around the windows :unsure:

Agreed, homeun everything and build your series in the panel. Then you are future proof.

 

[AnotherOne]

You can daisy chain keypads (and zone expanders) together, so you just run wires from the M1 to the first keypad, from the first keypad to the second keypad, etc. But if you read the M1 installation guide, you can have two sets of daisy chained devices from the M1, so you could run both keypads off the M1 without daisy chaining them together.

Typically all the windows in a single room are wired as a single zone, that way you know what room a window was opened in. Doors are wired as an individual zone.

Great debate on prefered wire, I like running 22/4 so I have extra wires and I run the same wire everywhere (motions, contacts). Also, I like standed wire.

It seems overwhelming when you start, but it's actually very straight-forward.

 

[Digger]

I am new to security systems and the Elk M1G. I have been doing a lot of reading on this site, however I have not been able to find the info I am looking for. Below are my groups of questions. Any help anyone can give would be much appreciated.

I am wiring a new home and need to wire contacts to all of the doors and windows. I have 6 rooms plus the garage with a total of 13 windows and 4 doors. The Elk M1 only has 16 zones.

Q1: Does every window and every door have to go to a separate zone? Can all the windows in one room be wired together? How can this be accomplished? I am using 3/8" Magnetic Stubby Reed Switches. Is 22/2 wire OK for these? What is the best way to install the resistors?

Q2: I have 2 Keypads. Can these both be run back to the Elk or does there need to be some type of expander for the second one? I do not fully understand this from the installation manual. What wire should be run to each keypad?

I am sure I will have more questions, but this will give me a great start. Thanks to all who contribute to this forum!

Kyle

If your system will be somewhat large you might want to remore locate a zone expander to minimize teh wire runs. You can then have individual zones but less wire run overall. I have a zone expander on ever floor. A little more money in the long run but leaves lots of room for expansion later.

 

[alangsk]

Thanks for all of the replies!

If I homerun all wires from the contacts to the main panel and do the series connections at the panel, do I still put a resistor on each contact or just one of them?

If I understand right, I can homerun each of the two keypads to the main panel without any expander. Is this correct?

Thanks again for all of the replies!

 

[shenandoah75]

just one per zone...

 

[Steve]

1. Put it on the last/furthest contact from the panel

2. Yes, you can attch them both to the data bus on the controller. If you will be adding more to the bus you may want to think about one of the data bus hubs

 

[alangsk]

I have some more questions.

What wire is best suited to temperature sensors?

What do you recommend for temperature/humidity sensors?

What are the best locations to put them?

Thanks again for the replies. This definately seems a little overwhelming as I get started.

 

[alangsk]

Is it advisable to run security sensor wire through the same holes as the 120V electrical? Or should low voltage wiring rules apply to sensor wire?

 

[CollinR]

No, and low voltage rules apply.

 

[Spanky]

If you only have two keypads on the data bus make sure you follow the RS-485 wiring suggestions on page 7 of the installation manual. The extreme ends of the data bus should have the termination jumper installed. With the M1 power off, measure the resistance of Data A to Data B on the data bus. A properly terminated bus should read about 65 ohms +-20 ohms.

Keep your wire runs as far away from 120 VAC line as practical. Lightning can and will jump from the high voltage lines to the low voltage lines if they are close together.

Happy M1ing!