Smoke detector

[42etus]

I want to put a smoke detector in my (metal) shop. I tried wireless, but the results were unreliable. I have an Elk M1G in the house and a M1KP keypad in the shop. The 4-wire bus to the M1KP is through 4 unused wires in a cat5 cable to the shop. My thinking is to put a M1XIN zone expander in the shop and use a zone on it for a smoke alarm circuit. (The input zone on the keypad is already used for door alarm). My question is, can I use a 2 wire smoke with the M1XIN ( I'm thinking not). If I go with a 4 wire smoke, do I get the power from the + and - of the 4 wire bus to the keypad and M1XIN expander? Will the 24 gauge cat5 support that? Distance is about 125 ft.
Is there another approach that I'm not seeing?
Thanks to all,
Paul

 

[fcwilt]

I want to put a smoke detector in my (metal) shop. I tried wireless, but the results were unreliable. I have an Elk M1G in the house and a M1KP keypad in the shop. The 4-wire bus to the M1KP is through 4 unused wires in a cat5 cable to the shop. My thinking is to put a M1XIN zone expander in the shop and use a zone on it for a smoke alarm circuit. (The input zone on the keypad is already used for door alarm). My question is, can I use a 2 wire smoke with the M1XIN ( I'm thinking not). If I go with a 4 wire smoke, do I get the power from the + and - of the 4 wire bus to the keypad and M1XIN expander? Will the 24 gauge cat5 support that? Distance is about 125 ft.
Is there another approach that I'm not seeing?
Thanks to all,
Paul

2 wire: No

Power: Yes

CAT5: Maybe but to play it safe you could always get a ELK power supply and battery to power the shop location stuff. Then you would only connect three of the wires from the house to the remote stuff (not connect the wire carrying power). I think ELK now has a new product which would be perfect for this application - it connects to the bus, would monitor the ELK power in the shop, report problems and allow (I think) shutting off power to the ELK stuff in the shop when shutting off power to the ELK stuff in the house.

 

[Digger]

If you use the power from the 4 wire buss how will you reset the smoke detector? You may be able to put a relay on the keypad output and trip the relay during a smoke detector reset etc.

You can do what you want just think it all of the way through. Would be very annoying not to be able to reset the smoke detector if you ever had a false alarm (or when you test it etc).

 

[gatchel]

Is there welding and other burning activities in your shop? Spray painting? I think you may want to consider a heat detector instead of a smoke. JMHO.

 

[AceCannon]

One of the GE smokes with a relay built in might work. 120v power with 9vDC batt backup. No M1XIN needed, use 2 of your spare 4 wires back to one of the first 16 zones on the main control. Won't be able to cycle the power on it, but you can't do that anyway on normal 120v smokes in a house.

Then there is the excellent point Gatchel raises. . .

 

[42etus]

I don't have any spare wires in the cat5. What I have decided on is to put a power supply and battery in the shop along with a input expander and an output expander. That will give me plenty of in and out zones to work with both now and in the future and the p/s will solve any potential voltage drop problems the 24 gauge wire could cause.
Paul

 

[ano]

I don't have any spare wires in the cat5. What I have decided on is to put a power supply and battery in the shop along with a input expander and an output expander. That will give me plenty of in and out zones to work with both now and in the future and the p/s will solve any potential voltage drop problems the 24 gauge wire could cause.
Paul

That will work, just make sure you install an End-of-Line relay if you use the 4-wire smokes. That way, if the power should go out, you'll know.