Will Elk detect a missing/dead sensor?

[Madcodger]

Hi all,

We recently sold our primary residence that had an Elk M1G or I would just go check this myself. But since I cant, I wonder if an expert here can help me settle a minor disagreement I have with someone on another board. Basically, I think the Elk (and most security systems) automatically detect whether a wireless sensor (e.g., a wireless dry contact sensor) has gone offline and is no longer reporting. So the big questions are: Is that true? And if so, how long does it take for this to occur (i.e., if it occurs via polling, what is the default)? Another question is, would the answers change if the sensor was line-powered, rather than battery-powered?

The situation came up because I discovered that if I unplugged a zwave Mimo Lite (AC powered) at a vacation house to work on it, that particular automation system had no idea it was missing for several hours (9 hours, in my case). So, if the thing just died or was unplugged in normal use, I would have no idea it was offline, creating a trust issue in my mind. I THINK that the situation is different for an alarm-based sensor, but am not certain (and sadly, cant test as I have not installed an Elk here, yet). So, what do ye experts (or curious fellow amateurs) say?

 

[RAL]

The Elk M1 does detect lost transmitters. The various brands (Honeywell, GE and Elk) all would be detected if they were missing.  The time interval may vary a bit, but all transmitters send an "I'm alive" message to the receiver on a regular basis, such as once per hour.  If a sensor goes missing for more than a few periods, then the Elk will issue an alert.  Thus, it can take several hours for the alert to be issued.  @ano reported in an old post that it takes 5-6 hours for his transmitters to show up as lost.

 

[vc1234]

Hi all,

We recently sold our primary residence that had an Elk M1G or I would just go check this myself. But since I cant, I wonder if an expert here can help me settle a minor disagreement I have with someone on another board. Basically, I think the Elk (and most security systems) automatically detect whether a wireless sensor (e.g., a wireless dry contact sensor) has gone offline and is no longer reporting. So the big questions are: Is that true? And if so, how long does it take for this to occur (i.e., if it occurs via polling, what is the default)? Another question is, would the answers change if the sensor was line-powered, rather than battery-powered?

The situation came up because I discovered that if I unplugged a zwave Mimo Lite (AC powered) at a vacation house to work on it, that particular automation system had no idea it was missing for several hours (9 hours, in my case). So, if the thing just died or was unplugged in normal use, I would have no idea it was offline, creating a trust issue in my mind. I THINK that the situation is different for an alarm-based sensor, but am not certain (and sadly, cant test as I have not installed an Elk here, yet). So, what do ye experts (or curious fellow amateurs) say?

 
If the elk panel uses either GE RF sensors or Honeywell 5800 ones,  those periodically send a keep alive packet roughly once and hour. So, elk or any other panel using this kind of sensors would detect a missing/dead sensor.  They also send their battery status so that the panel could notify about a low bat status. Not sure about their own (Elk's) wireless sensors.

 

[vc1234]

The Elk M1 does detect lost transmitters. The various brands (Honeywell, GE and Elk) all would be detected if they were missing.  The time interval may vary a bit, but all transmitters send an "I'm alive" message to the receiver on a regular basis, such as once per hour.  If a sensor goes missing for more than a few periods, then the Elk will issue an alert.  Thus, it can take several hours for the alert to be issued.  @ano reported in an old post that it takes 5-6 hours for his transmitters to show up as lost.

Sorry, did not see your response.

 

[Madcodger]

Hi all,

I don’t see my “Thanks” post, for your replies. Apologies, and THANKS!