wire check

[jcalisi]

Ok I'm about to pull the trigger on the wire and want your advice on what I need. I'm putting in an elk M1 all hardwired. 2 wire smokes, motion, glass break, siren/voice, and door/window sensors.

• doors/ windows - 22/2
• 2 wire smokes - 18/2 (should these be ran serial from zone 16 or home run back to zone 16)
• motion / glass breaks - 18/4
• siren's 18/4
• keypad's cat 6 from ELK-M1DBH

What have I forgot? I'm open to any suggestions...

 

[gizzmo]

I think 18/4 is overkill for motion and glass detectors.
Don't know how many sirens you are going to have but 18/2 is an option and if you need different tones, speakers & siren driver are an option.
Keypads I would pull a 18/4 0r 22/4 depending on distance and also include a cat.
Smokes check to see how many 2-wire smokes the panel can power. This will be dependent on the panel and the detector used. If in any doubt run 18/4 for the circuit.
Home running smokes can be done but requires twice as many conductors and connections for supervision. It will also make the panel look like a train wreck. A good fire alarm circuit will leave the panel starting with the closest detector and going in and out of each detector until at the farthest detector you will connect the End Of Line resistor. If it is a 2-wire powered loop do not mix any other devices in this circuit, like heat det.
If panel is in basement or other area that limits cell coverage run some wire to a better location. You should also run spare wire to the attic and crawl space to pick up adds or what you forgot.

 

[Ranman]

I ran the following:

doors/windows - 22/2
motions and glassbreaks - 22/4
Keypads - Cat5e, 22/4 18/2

regarding the keypads, the Cat5e is for the data bus (obviously). the 18/2 is for the speakers (I added SP12's behind the KP2's) and the 22/4 is just two extra pairs for future needs like a listen in mic, etc.

Good luck on your install.

 

[chrisexv6]

I ran 22/4 to my motions/glassbreaks and to be honest I couldnt see any other wire being small enough to fit safely into the input and fold nicely back into the case

All of your other wire choices match what I used.

For sirens, you might be able to get away with 20/2.

 

[jcalisi]

thanks everyone. On the smokes do I have to use fire wire or can i just use the regular 18/2? The electrician is installing the un-monitored 110v smokes throughout.

 

[chrisexv6]

I would (and did) use fire wire for my 2 wire smokes.

I actually used 18/4, just because. Didnt think it was that necessary, until I pondered changing over to 4 wire smokes....at least I would have that option at some point with the extra wires there. it also allowed me to run the 2 spare conductors as a heat-only loop separate from the smoke loop (since my 2 wire smokes and heat detectors CANNOT be on the same loop)

 

[Del91574]

The smokes MUST be fire wire.

20 AWG is essentially an oddball and very hard to find at normal trade distribution. 18/2 would be the normal recommendation.

If you're considering 2 way voice/listen in or similar, you will need a STP for each item, 1 pair per mic and 1 per speaker. Regular cable has too many issues when doing AAV or 2 way voice.

 

[gizzmo]

Can I use red piano wire for smokes, I am sure some of them are 18 gauge :rofl:

 

[tmbrown97]

I'll just second the 22/4 for motions/glassbreaks - I prefer stranded but others will say they like solid better. For keypads, I run Cat5 and 18/4 - 2 pairs for the SP12 speaker behind the keypad and 2 spares. 22/2 for contact sensors. 18/4 for sirens (as mentioned above)

The one thing I'll mention - for an Elk, I know you can go either Voltage or Speaker output for the outdoor siren - after playing more with the Elk, I got rid of the sirens and went with the Speaker. The Elk already has a siren driver built-in, which is the only difference between a speaker and siren; and with the speaker you don't have to worry as much about over-current... and, as weird as this sounds, I like that the siren tones are in sync inside the house and outside the house (inside will get voice alerts as well, whereas the outside just gets the constant siren). Silly, but all in all I really prefer speakers over sirens.

 

[jcalisi]

thanks everyone. I put the order in yesterday now its hurry up and wait.