Utilizing existing adt wiring in main floor closet w/ m1g in basement.

[mikefamig]

Maybe I should have asked before I ordered everything!  I got the 42" today and 20 feet of cable raceway is on its way.  

 
I think that making a parts list was the hardest part of my first install and I ended up with a few spare parts. I have a TWA and p212s power supply that went to the cutting room floor and are on the spare parts shelf.

 

[mikefamig]

I don't think that there will be any problem with using your  Leviton 42" structured enclosure but let DEL be the judge of that, he knows his parts.
 
Mike.

 

[Del91574]

You can determine what works for you. I've never seen the attraction to laying everything flat in the enclosure if it can fit in Elk's SWG's.
 
My system evolved from a fully loaded Vista 20P (it was essentially free, less a couple components) which was the defacto panel the company I was working for installed. I had been approached by a person to install a M1 and as "trade" I had the ability to make a 1 time buy with components at half dealer list, so I bought essentially everything in the parts book at the time and installed one, kept one. Mine is running 64 hardwired zones, Elk's GE wireless (fobs) and 3 DBHR's, RB and XOVR's, XSP, XEP's and the like......then had to gut the existing install and mine's in 2 28" cans piped together.
 
What would fit in a 42" Leviton can would easily fit in a 28" Elk can on SWG's.
 
I had a lot of trial and error on how to lay out my can, since not many M1's were pictured on the web and I was going from a different topology and install, so cable length was also an issue. Once you see how the M1 installs in a 28" can and the different layers get installed in the can on the SWG's, it makes sense how it all goes together. The key is to wire a section of the panel at a time, then move to the next.
 
I don't see the real need to look at the silkscreens on the boards or the blinky lights of the data bus. Really not much to see unless you're trying to troubleshoot, and at that point, easy enough to slide boards out of SWG's to view.
 
Best I would suggest is to look up Elk on Facebook of all places and look at their gallery. Plenty of examples there (I didn't have that luck when I started putting them in). There should be enough there to see the real estate differences in methods.

 

[mikefromgeorgia]

I pulled out the leviton 42 and see exactly what you mean.  I'll order a 28 and return the leviton.  
 
Flush mounting the closet box might be fruitless due to the alignment of the studs but I'll take a better look at that today.
 
I'm thinking that it leads me to use the existing ADT enclosure to have the wires pass nicely into that box for the XIN.  And then the 28 down in the basement unless it could just get the 28 to work somehow.  

 

[Del91574]

You need to get the Elk can to really take advantage of the layout for the SWG's and others.
 
Put the 28 in the basement and use the 14 that comes with the M1 in the closet. Should pretty much be straightforward, assuming you have a Vista panel installed.

 

[mikefromgeorgia]

Sounds good.  Is there a legitimate way to run the wires straight through the back of the can?  

 

[Del91574]

Should be knockouts on the can, but if you're recessing the can, not really a desirable location. You would cut the sheetrock out, I'd suggest a chase nipple or bushing on the knockouts you use, then pull the wires in either the top/bottom/both of the can and then get the can in the wall.