Upgrading to Uplink 4530? Presently using 2500, Elk M1 + XSP, NextAlarm

[seanadams]

My Uplink 2500 has always been problematic here. Nextalarm would often call to tell me that they were getting a huge number of events from my alarm panel. I suspect that my Uplink is trying to transmit but there is a reception problem and it doesn't get the acknowledgement, so it keeps transmitting.

I am thinking of trying the 4530 in the hopes that 4G service will help. A few questions:

1. I can't figure out if the 4530 has a serial port or not. Does this mean I would do away with the XSP interface and use dial capture instead?

2. Besides being a little slower maybe, are there any downsides to dial capture?

3. Can I use this setup with no phone line at all? I presently have no phone line.

4. Can anyone confirm that this product is compatible with M1G and NextAlarm?

 

[newalarm]

You may want to call Uplink. they are really helpful. But I think this was discussed no too long ago and it was a problem with the Elk not being compatible with this unit (not transmitting full data due to lack of serial connection).

Did you also try repositioning your antenna or seeing if there is a conflict (shot in the dark).

 

[smolino]

Looking at the installation manual for the 4530, the connection to the alarm panel is through the telephone interface. It appears to use dial capture.

The 4530 is designed to be used as the primary communications device. It does not have a pass-through telco jack to a POTS line. (the 4550 provides this feature).

 

[RichardU]

I've been using a 2500 for over a year with an M1G and it works perfectly. FWIW

 

[Del91574]

It's not clear to where the problem lies, as there may be programming issues on the 2500 as set up from the dealer originally. What you need to know is how the data is ported from Uplink into Nextalarm, as the issues and latency might point to an IP path to Nextalarm (have heard that many times) or signals simply sitting in their queue or if there's programming errors. Worst case, you should be able to ask what the dBm of the 2500 is and post that up, that usually provides an insight into the service quality for starters.

There's pros and cons of going the dialer capture route, and honestly, with the serial data, it really doesn't make sense to go capture on the M1 unless absolutely necessary. If you want 4G and Uplink on the M1, you might want to look at the 4500 instead. The 4530 is a single RJ connection to a POTS dialer and 4550 is pass-through POTS.

 

[seanadams]

Thanks very much for the ideas on this. 
 
I got the 4530 and I'm pleased to report that everything is working great!  Unlike the 2500 it has multiple LEDs to indicate finer levels of signal strength, so it is much easier to locate the unit effectively. I was only able to get up to 2 LEDs indoors, 3 leds outside, but it works fine with 2. 
 
I'm pretty sure it was just a reception problem with the 3g. We have terrible phone service here unless you have a 4g phone, so this is consistent with that.
 
Dial capture is a much quicker setup to do than configuring the M1XSP. You just hook it to the phone port. It *does* require phone number and account # in this mode, unlike the RS232 setup. 
 
Everything works fine with Nextalarm service, and I am getting full data reporting. So I am a happy camper and I would certainly recommend this setup to Elk users. There's nothing wrong with the 2500 IF it works for you - it worked fine at my old house, but not after I moved.

 

[Del91574]

I probably would've recommended the 4500 unit for 4G and the M1 over a dialer capture, many reasons, especially when you already had the serial setup, to each their own.

 

[newalarm]

Does anyone know if/when Uplink will come out with a 4g unit that has a serial connection? They told me they were testing a unit but would not tell me more since i am not dealer. Does anyone know if Elk is also testing a unit and when something might be available?
 
I was looking at the 2500, but don't like the idea that it will be obsolete in 2-3 years since it still uses the 2G technology...

 

[seanadams]

DELInstallations, are you sure the 4500 has RS232? And moreover, that is is compatible with the M1XSP?  That would be great to confirm - it doesn't even say in their spec sheet that it has rs232.

What are the downsides to dial capture? I realize it's a little rube-golbergy but it certainly works. It's a little slower to report than the rs232 interface, but it's fast enough.

 

[Del91574]

Hmmm. Just looked over the dealer site. There used to be a 4500 and the 4500EZ, same as the 2500 and 2500EZ, and the 4500 used a different plug serial cable.
 
Not sure if they're dropping models or they're introducing different but there used to be those listed on the dealer side about a month or two ago.
 
Dialer capture keeps the panel happy, no matter if the cell is truly functional or not, so in the case of the M1, if you have the "uplink loss" rules built in, it's bidirectional and you can have an output hit an input on the panel to generate a trouble and latch on the panel, alerting the end user besides a text display or other item, but the flip side is you can have the M1, if redundant paths are used, send that event out when that zone faults (like on a different, always active partition, etc.).
 
The dialer capture units only have the STC relay, so it's a general "trouble" condition alerted on the panel, which could be, in the case of the 4530, any of 10 individual troubles, even latency on the back side of the network. The largest item I'm not a fan of is as long as the panel gets the simulated handshake and kissoff, the panel's always going to be happy, irregardless of if the signal was sent to the cs, until the STC relay changes state....which depending on settings on the Uplink, can be a really long time.

 

[seanadams]

I totally agree about the failure detection. It would be much nicer to have proper notification/failover if there's a signal issue. I will probably get a cheap buzzer to attach to the alarm output of the 4530, just so I know preemptively if there's a communication problem.
 
However, I think a savvy crook cutting the phone line is the most important failure mode we have to worry about, and by using any cellular system, we address that. 

 

[Del91574]

Rather than doing that, wiring a buzzer, the preferred and recommended method is to connect the STC output to a alarm panel zone for supervisory.

 

[kengtay]

Can I use the uplink 2500 to monitor myself?
Such as receive the SMS from alarm trigger?
 

 

[RAL]

Most cellular communicators are designed to connect an alarm panel to a central station and transmit the alarm status information.  As such, they don't support sending SMS messages.

 

[vedardalarm]

Maybe it is detector problem. It should have clear information report to CMS.