tmbrown97
Senior Member
With Elk, you'll never be stuck. There are plenty of true Elk experts here and even Elk themselves monitor the boards. If there's a hardware issue, they'll take care of you too.
The Expander thing should make more sense when you start using it... There are a couple categories of devices - keypads, input expanders, etc... And when installing them, you address them as #1, #2, etc... This just is telling you where to put that expander. It's good that you know you want it now so you can leave that slot open for it.
You can use the KPNav exclusively - it counts as a regular keypad. That said my advice about the KP2s is because they have a great spot for an SP12 speaker behind them. I don't like the generic echo speakers because it feels unnatural to be using a keypad by the door just to have "System Armed" come from a central speaker elsewhere in the house. Those speakers are where all the system sounds other than basic keypad beeps come from. Also, when it comes to keypads, for me I like to be able to see the status of the alarm from my bed and be able to arm as I'm heading to bed. Sure, I can do that via a button on my bedside lamp control or from my phone, but combined with the SP12 it gives me sounds right in my room as well as one function you hope to never need: if your alarm gets triggered in the middle of the night, as you grab your gun and head for the door, you can look at that keypad and see which direction to aim (which zone was violated)!
The Expander thing should make more sense when you start using it... There are a couple categories of devices - keypads, input expanders, etc... And when installing them, you address them as #1, #2, etc... This just is telling you where to put that expander. It's good that you know you want it now so you can leave that slot open for it.
You can use the KPNav exclusively - it counts as a regular keypad. That said my advice about the KP2s is because they have a great spot for an SP12 speaker behind them. I don't like the generic echo speakers because it feels unnatural to be using a keypad by the door just to have "System Armed" come from a central speaker elsewhere in the house. Those speakers are where all the system sounds other than basic keypad beeps come from. Also, when it comes to keypads, for me I like to be able to see the status of the alarm from my bed and be able to arm as I'm heading to bed. Sure, I can do that via a button on my bedside lamp control or from my phone, but combined with the SP12 it gives me sounds right in my room as well as one function you hope to never need: if your alarm gets triggered in the middle of the night, as you grab your gun and head for the door, you can look at that keypad and see which direction to aim (which zone was violated)!