Remote wiring from Elk for Sprinkler valves.

[BDHall]

I am planning to install some sprinkler valves in two different locations outdoors to be controllrd by Elk outputs. One location would be somewhere around 75' and the other one around 125' away. I do not want to do anything that could bring the rest of my system down in case of a problem. I have considered several options.

Run the low level Elk outputs to either an Elk relay board or solid state relays located at the house and using a seperate power supply also located at the house to power the valves run the power directly from the house to the valves. This way I believe the Elk would be pretty well isolated from the other wiring.

Run the low level Elk outputs to the location and then fire a solid state relay (very low current required to operate) with a power supply at the remote location to operate the valves. With this approach I would be concerned about what would happen if a problem were to develop in the underground wiring between the house and the remote location. Are the outputs short circuit protected, I suspect not but need to know for sure? If not I would be concerned about either burning up an output or taking down the whole system due to low voltage in the case of a short in the wiring.

Run the RS485 to the remote location and install an Elk output expander at the remote location. This option worries me also due to concerns of a wiring problem taking down the Elk network.

My existing Output Expanders are Elk-M1XOV.

Any thoughts?

Brian

 

[Digger]

I would not run the 4 wire buss outside the protected area. Someone could disable your alarm by shorting the data and power buss's.

 

[Steve]

My valves are controlled by relays on the M1RB. There is a Cat5 running from the valves to the M1 closet. The 24V transformer is located outside in the old sprinkler timer case.

 

[BDHall]

My valves are controlled by relays on the M1RB. There is a Cat5 running from the valves to the M1 closet. The 24V transformer is located outside in the old sprinkler timer case.
[/quote

Steve,

Do you have the relay board mounted in your old sprinkler timer case and the Cat5 triggering the relay boards relays from an Elk output board? I assume if you already had a sprinkler system then you probably used the existing wiring for the valves. Is this correct?

At this point I am thinking that the best approach for me (new install) would probably be to do the relays at the house and then just run the wiring underground to the valves. I have never had a sprinkler system before so I will probably start pretty simple and add to it according to my needs. This will be operating from a well with limited pumping capacity so I will have to be careful and spread out my usage so the well will have some time to recover. I use HomeSeer and Elk but I hope I can keep things simple enough to do the basic timing functions from the Elk.

Thanks!
Brian

 

[BDHall]

I would not run the 4 wire buss outside the protected area. Someone could disable your alarm by shorting the data and power buss's.

Digger,

I am not doing any security yet with my Elk but you have a very good point. My thinking was more along the lines of physical damage, water damage, etc. but the result would likely be the same, the Elk going down. I will likely be doing smoke, carbon monoxide, and possibly burgular alarming in the future and naturally I want my Elk system to be very reliable.

Thanks!
Brian

 

[Steve]

My valves are controlled by relays on the M1RB. There is a Cat5 running from the valves to the M1 closet. The 24V transformer is located outside in the old sprinkler timer case.

Steve,

Do you have the relay board mounted in your old sprinkler timer case and the Cat5 triggering the relay boards relays from an Elk output board? I assume if you already had a sprinkler system then you probably used the existing wiring for the valves. Is this correct?

At this point I am thinking that the best approach for me (new install) would probably be to do the relays at the house and then just run the wiring underground to the valves. I have never had a sprinkler system before so I will probably start pretty simple and add to it according to my needs. This will be operating from a well with limited pumping capacity so I will have to be careful and spread out my usage so the well will have some time to recover. I use HomeSeer and Elk but I hope I can keep things simple enough to do the basic timing functions from the Elk.

Thanks!
Brian

Yes, it was an existing system where I just removed the existing timer and replaced it with relays controlled by the Elk. The relay board is in the can with the rest of the components. If it were a new install I would probably just do the same thing except move the transformer inside and just run the wiring from the relays to the valves I guess depending on where the valves are. Another option would be to remotely mount the relay board someplace closer to the valves (but still indoors - garage, etc),