Should I turn it on?

[RandyKnight]

So I picked up my Elk M1 and various accessories today (gotta love being within driving distance of AO).

Wanted to detail what I've done so far wiring wise to see if I've got it right before I blow the thing up on first shot.

I've got the Elk, battery, speaker, transformer, data bus adapter, and keypad all connected per the installation manual. It also said that for "bench testing" which is essentially what I'm doing at this point you should put an EOL resitor on every zone. So I did that as well. I just looped them from the input to the neg, with the negative sharing 2 EOL teminators. Is that right?

For the data bus adapter, I'm going from the M1 to the adapter and then from J1 to the keypad. I've got it's EOL plug in J2. I also jumpered JP3 on the Elk for it's end of the 485 bus.

Does all of that sound right? Should I power it up and see what happens?

I've still got ethernet and 3 serial expanders but I want to see some pretty lights first. :lol:

BTW, I plan on moutning the Elk in a 42" leviton SW can, but it doesn't seem like the holes line up. Do I need to drill the can or am I missing something obvious?

 

[RandyKnight]

No explosions so that's a good sign. I'm able to arm/disarm with no problems, keypad works, etc. Only issue is it says "Output 2 Trouble". I assume this is because there is nothing (no siren yet) connected to output 2?

 

[Digger]

If you put an EOL Resistor on the output 2 terminals it will get rid of your trouble. Almost any resistor value will work (it just needs to see something if I remember correctly).

With most alarm panel boards you would not want to just drill the CAN to mount the board. However, since the ELK M1G is mounted in a plastic "pan" you dont have to worry to much about spacings between the board and the CAN etc. If you didnt want to modify the CAN itself you can take a piece of metal and drill holes in that as a mounting adaptor plate (holes for the M1G and holes to mount the plate to the CAN). I think the Leviton CANS have enough depth to them. Some other CANS might not.

I hear its pretty hard to damage an M!G board. It has a lot of protection built into it. I would just use normal common sense and caution (dont wire 120 V line right to the board etc).

The worst thing you could probably do is short the battery leads by accident (you dont want to do that).

Figure out which knockouts you need to remove before you install the board if you can. With the M1G its not that hard to remove the board to get rid of another knockout in the future but it still takes some time (dont chance removing a knockout in the vicinity of the board while it is in the can).

Good luck and have fun!

 

[Black Magic]

Spanky once mentioned that you can use the magnetic strips (stick on one side. Just stick the stick end to the M1, then mount it anywhere on the box. The advantage here is ther is will stay stuck to the box and you can slide it around later on.

 

[RandyKnight]

Magnetic strips is a great idea. Guess I'll add those to my shopping list. :lol:

 

[Digger]

OK so I overlooked the obvious. I cant help it I am an engineer

 

[Spanky]

Randy,
The M1 comes defaulted to end of line resistors on the zone inputs, but you can program them out to normally open zones and not have anything connected to the zone inputs. Short the zone input to violate it. Or program the zone inputs to normally closed. You will then have to put a shorting wire across each input to make it secure.

Have fun, don't forget the installer programming code if you change it. As long as you know the installer programming code you can default everything back to factory values using Global 45, 99 programming.

The refrigerator magnet material works great for mounting all kinds of devices. Otherwise you will have to drill the Leviton box and use two or four screws.


Digger:
Good luck on your new job. It has been a pleasure working with you in the industry. Your old employer is losing a great guy.

 

[Digger]

Randy,

Spanky is the ELK guru........



Spanky,

I have never worked with a better alarm equipment manufacturing company. The staff at ELK are the best of the best. The products are top notch and the working relationship was the best I have had with anyone in the industry.

I will miss working with you and your coworkers more than you know. If any of you guys come up to NY let me know and we can have some cold ones..........

 

[RandyKnight]

Things are looking good so far. Hit a wall with Insteon as I need to wait for the Elk secret decoder ring to download the XSP firmware tomorrow. But spanky tells me I should be able to get it done tomorrow no problem.

Got the other 2 XSPs wired up ... going to try to do the thermost and swap out my current security system on Saturday.

Fun stuff!