replace ademco with elk?

[johnh123]

I'm planning to purchase a house soon. The favored house currently has an ademco alarm system. Can I replace it with an elk, but not replace the sensors? In other words, just take out the 'box' in the utility room, and replace that and the keypads with elk products?

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

Should be able to. You should measure the resistance between the sensor leads to see if on EOL resistor was installed at the sensor (unless of course you see the resistors on the panel itself, then it's a no-brainer). You might have to add a resistor if that value is to high (we can tell you how).

Also, what type of wiring do you presently have going to the keypads?

 

[johnh123]

I don't know- we won't actually close on the house till next month. I'll check back in at that point.

 

[jeffx]

You should be able to use all the wired sensors, but any Ademco keypads or wireless sensors or wireless smoke detectors will not work with the Elk.

*I'd be interested in buying any Ademco keypads or wireless sensors you'd be getting rid of

All the Ademco keypads will use at least 4 wires. Some use more if they have built in relays, etc.

 

[johnh123]

You should be able to use all the wired sensors, but any Ademco keypads or wireless sensors or wireless smoke detectors will not work with the Elk.

So what kind of wireless sensors would work, if I have to replace them?

ps- I'll let you know if I will be getting rid of any-

 

[jeffx]

You should be able to use all the wired sensors, but any Ademco keypads or wireless sensors or wireless smoke detectors will not work with the Elk.

So what kind of wireless sensors would work, if I have to replace them?

ps- I'll let you know if I will be getting rid of any-

http://www.automatedoutlet.com/home.php?cat=159

 

[johnh123]

All the Ademco keypads will use at least 4 wires. Some use more if they have built in relays, etc.

So does that mean that I will have to replace the ademco 4 wires with cat5 for the elk, or can the elk use the current ademco wiring?

 

[WayneW]

So does that mean that I will have to replace the ademco 4 wires with cat5 for the elk, or can the elk use the current ademco wiring?

Elk uses 4 wires for the keypads. Some use cat5 out of convenience, but it is not needed. If you have more then 2 keypads, make sure you research using the Elk retrofit hub, rather than the regular hub. That is what I use.

 

[Steve]

So does that mean that I will have to replace the ademco 4 wires with cat5 for the elk, or can the elk use the current ademco wiring?

Elk uses 4 wires for the keypads. Some use cat5 out of convenience, but it is not needed. If you have more then 2 keypads, make sure you research using the Elk retrofit hub, rather than the regular hub. That is what I use.

Why is your 'rule' > 2 keypads use the retrofit hub?

 

[toymaster458]

The retro fit Hub works better when swaping out systems that only have 4 wires going to the keypads and you do not want to replace them with Cat5 in order to use the standard hub because it requires 6 wires going out to the keypad. But now with the new KP2 coming out and if you are going to replace the 4-wire with a Cat5 make sure you run 2 cat5's instead of one so you can take advantage of some of the new products that will be coming out for the KP2 in the future.

 

[WayneW]

because if you already have 3 or more existing keypads with only 4 wires, you cannot do the termination properly as you would have 3 ends (bad). So you either need more than 4 wires (ie cat5) or you need the hub to offer more legs. and the retrofit because if you have existing wires, it is probably easier to use the retrofit hub than to crimp rj45 connectors on old wiring.