Some Elk Questions

[upstatemike]

I was reading the M1 user manual and it wasn't clear to me how you set a thermostat from an Elk keypad. It talks about viewing the temperature (I assume that would be the setpoint?) but not how to change it.

I am also a little unclear on how remote expansion works. On Caddx systems you use a supervised power supply to power remote expansion modules and the devices connected to them. I didn't see a supervised remote power supply for the Elk. I also thought I saw somewhere that you are not supposed to put smoke detectors on remote zone expanders. Is this true?

Also the KP2 is described as being surface mountable over a 1 or 2 gang box... Do you need the box or can you just go flat on the wall and use a piece of wiremold type raceway to get the wire to it?

 

[Steve]

I am also a little unclear on how remote expansion works. On Caddx systems you use a supervised power supply to power remote expansion modules and the devices connected to them. I didn't see a supervised remote power supply for the Elk. I also thought I saw somewhere that you are not supposed to put smoke detectors on remote zone expanders. Is this true?

Are you talking about powering things like glass breaks and PIR's in a quantity that would exceed the M1's capacity? If so, the usual thing to do is use an additional power supply and battery such as the PD9 or P624. On the smokes, 2 wire smokes need to go on zone 16 (on the controller) only. If you are using 4 wire detectors they can go on any zone including remote input expanders. The issue with remotes would be power since the smokes should be powered by SAUX on the controller so they can be reset properly via the keypad 'Smoke Reset', so the contacts can go to any input but the power should go to SAUX..

Also the KP2 is described as being surface mountable over a 1 or 2 gang box... Do you need the box or can you just go flat on the wall and use a piece of wiremold type raceway to get the wire to it?

To surface mount a KP2 you use the included surface mount back box. You mount the back box wherever you want and the KP2 itself screws into the back box. If you are looking for a 1 gang decora type keypad, that will be available soon. It's called the arming station and is just the buttons needed for arming/disarming and fits in a standard 1 gang decora opening.

 

[Spanky]

You can set up a zone as a supervised power supply input zone. Using one of the Altronix supervised power supplies, connect its supervisory output to the M1's power supply supervision zone input. With an End of line resistor, opening or shorting of the zone input signals low battery or AC failure.

From the keypad set up a TASK to set temperatures on a thermostat.

 

[upstatemike]

From the keypad set up a TASK to set temperatures on a thermostat.

Will that let me enter the setpoint I want from the keypad or will it only use a setpoint value that has been predefined in a custom setting?

 

[Spanky]

You can set the thermostat setting using a custom setting.

ie.:
Set the desired temperature in one of the custom settings.
Press the keypad function key to activate the TASK that sets the thermostat using the custom setting.