Where to Start

[NGage]

Yes, I have an attic above 2nd floor, and a basement (finished, but mostly drop-ceiling). The hard part would be getting new wire up to the attic.

It just occured to me that in a recent wiring project (I know, I'm kicking myself for not doing security then ) I ran dual cat-5 to all of the 2nd floor rooms. Is there any way to make use of unused cat-5, rather than having to run new wire all the way from the network closet in the basement?

 

[Digger]

If you have a Cat 5 in the attic you can put a zone expander in a second floor closet. Then from there run your smoke detectors, CO detector maybe one motion, for the second floor.

You could also put Heat Detectors in the attic.

 

[NGage]

Digger: Thanks for the info. If I can use a cat-5 to connect a zone expander on the 2nd floor to the main board in the basement, then can't I run as many sensors upstairs as I want, up to the number supported by the expander? The way you said "maybe one motion" made me think that there is some tighter limit that I was imagining.

 

[Digger]

Some people dont bother with Burg sensors on the second floor. I put one Motion on my top floor. I did put a Smoke Detector and a CO Detector in each bedroom and the hallway (4 each total), one motion, and two flood sensors in the bathroom.

A zone exapnder can handle 16 zones so there is plenty to work with. I just like everything on a seperate zone but its not required in most cases.

You can start small and expand. I put my zone expander in an old alarm system enclosure I had lying around and mounted it in my sons bedroom close which was the most central closet to make wiring easier. I then added the detectors as time and money permitted.

I would make Fire the priority, then CO, then the motion (but motions are cheap) and then the flood sensors if you want to even bother with them. Just my opinion.

I also left one standalone smoke detector in the hallway just in case............

 

[NGage]

Thanks, Digger, this is helping. Like you, my son's closet is ideally positioned (the Cat-5 runs right by it) to be the place for an expander. So that part is easy.

A couple questions about the expander:
1) I assume I need A/C nearby to power the expander?
2) Does the expander actually accept a Cat-5 connection (RJ-45), or are you just connecting the eight wires from the Cat-5 to the expander as though they were alarm wire?

If you have a link to the exact expander you have in mind, that would be great.

 

[Digger]

You do not need AC nearby as the power can come from the alarm panel. If yougo with the ELK there is a 4 wire terminal block for connecting to the panel (common, data1, data 2, and positive 12 vdc).

The ELK system only has one zone expander available (you can use several on your system). It has 16 zones. I use two but you an have to 208 zones if I remember correctly. You can also use a GE Caddx RF Receiver if you want wireless.

Its probably easier than you think once you get going.

Check out ELK Products on their website. If you go with another brand the concepts are similar.

 

[NGage]

OK, I get it now. If I were to go with Elk, you mean something like this (I'm looking at Elk's web site):
ELK-M1XIN
M1 16 Zone Input Expander

Off to work on a tentative shopping list. Thanks to everybody for their help!

 

[Steve]

Yep, the XIN is it. The Elk expanders go on the M1's RS485 bus. So, you can have 1 cat5 from upstairs to the M1 and then run multiple expanders, keypads, etc from there. So, no worries, you can put as little or as much as you want up there. The only thing would be power but if you will have several powered devices like motions or glass breaks I would use something like a PD9 and battery upstairs.

 

[Digger]

If the need arises to add more power (like in my situation) you can put the supplemental Power downstairs near the panel. You dont have to put it upstairs.

The nice thing about the ELK is that if you lose the supplemental power and there is a Keypad etc being powered by it, you will get a trouble when the panel loses communication with the keypad. Not every system will do that. Just make sure to have at least one keypad powered by the ELK itself.