Upgrading to ELK M1 Gold and relocating panel

[jasonburgess88]

I also have question about retrofiting an old DSC with the ELK. I assume the door and motion sensors will work, what would be the best windows sensors to get? I do not think i could get these wired, so i guess ill have to go wireless.. I am also relocating where the panel is located, so would it be better to run new wire from the sensor to the panel or is splicing an option? If i have to run new wire from the sensor, should i replace them? they are the recess drilled magnet type..

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[FaderJockey]

As far as moving the panel, how about putting a zone expander at the old location and then just pulling 1 line for bus comms to the new panel location

You'd have to rename/reassign your zones in the programming, but that seems less tedious than rewiring installed sensors.

 

[jasonburgess88]

Thanks for the reply, i will certainly check it out. Why would i have to rename the zones?

 

[FaderJockey]

Ah, yes, forget you were switching alarms.

If you had an Elk currently installed, your sensors would be wired in zones 1-16.

The expander shows up as zones 17-32.

 

[jasonburgess88]

Would i be able to use this zone expander for the speaker and keypad?

 

[tmbrown97]

Nope.

 

[jasonburgess88]

I have my ELK M1 Gold installed and now and looking to move the sensors over to it. What would be the best way to get the speaker and keypad moved over? I can run new cables to the new panel, just not sure if there is a better(easier) way to achieve this. I was looking at running new wires for all of these to the old panel and splicing them into the old wires.. I can also run new cables from the sensors themselves if that would be better in the long run..

Any help find the best and easiest way would be greatly appreciated!

 

[tmbrown97]

For true long-term, it'd better to have single home-run wires, but done right and properly protected, there's no reason to stress over a splice at the old panel location if that's what's easiest. If it were me, I'd probably recess a small panel (14" maybe) where the alarm used to be and make my connections inside there, then close it up and kinda forget about it.

 

[Neurorad]

Yes, running new cables to the sensors would be better, but depends on the difficulty in running them. Fewer points of failure, but if you splice well, shouldn't be a big problem.

I don't know the most reliable means of splicing. Solder with clear heat shrink comes to mind.

 

[Neurorad]

Yes, running new cables to the sensors would be better, but depends on the difficulty in running them. Fewer points of failure, but if you splice well, shouldn't be a big problem.

I don't know the most reliable means of splicing. Solder with clear heat shrink comes to mind.

 

[jasonburgess88]

Thanks so much for the input! I have been trying to figure out the best way of doing this.. How long do the door sensors usually last? This home is 10 years old and they are the recessed magnet type. Just wondering how hard they would be to remove and pull wire if they were close to end of life...

Thanks again for the help

 

[tmbrown97]

From what I know, the longevity of the contacts really depends on quality; there are plenty of homes in my area built in the 80's that have working contacts still.

For splices, I'm kinda partial to the gel filled white B connectors - Elk sells 'em and they're very easy to use. I know a lot of people around here like to introduce punchdown blocks for interconnections, but I'm not a fan of that personally and I've never seen another pro do it.

 

[jasonburgess88]

Awesome! thanks for the advice! I hope to have this wired up tomorrow.

 

[drvnbysound]

I didn't have to do any splicing to switch mine over, simply because I liked where my original panel was. Anyhow, I did do a bit of soldering for various reasons (e.g. keypads).

Here is some pretty good information about using the 'white B connectors': http://cocoontech.com/forums/topic/15043-b-connector-splicing-technique/

 

[jasonburgess88]

Well as i started to mount the panel in the wall, i found a surprise. When i opened up the wall, there was a void! It was a 5ft by 5ft area with a height sloping 3ft to around 6ft. So i have now started planing on moving my stuff in that area and letting the wife have the original spot for a mud room. This is in the closet by the from door. I Should have the wire ran tomorrow and I will have to tap into power to run to the panel.