Zone Question

[MrGibbage]

What type of zone would you use on an interior garage door? My exterior garage door is set to type 16, because sometimes it just takes me too long to get out that door (loading up the two-year-old and such). If I set it to a type 01, it would be easy--I would set the interior door to type 05. Right now I have the interior door set to type 01, but that means I can't set the system for the stay mode or night mode, because I often need to go into the garage.
To summarize, I don't want to set my exterior door to be active on the alarm system--I just can't be sure how long it will take me to enter the house or leave through it. And I would like to be able to go into the garage even when my system is armed stay mode. How would you set this up? Is there anything I can do with rules to solve this?

Skip

 

[rfdesq]

Here are a couple of my thoughts, for what they're worth.

1. Put a keypad in the garage.
2. Set the exterior door to force arm, that way it can be in the system, but you don't have to close the exterior garage door until you are outside the garage.
3. Set the interior door to 06 Burglar Interior Nite, see page 30 of the installation manual for complete definition.

 

[Steve]

My garage door is set to 16 also. My interior garage door is setup just like the front door and set to 1. The garage door is just simply opened/closed too often to be worth the hassle. If somebody wants in my garage so bad where they can defeat the door, so be it, but don't try to get in the house!

 

[carry15+1]

Below is my reply on the Elk site concerning this same question. Just putting it here to offer a couple other ideas.

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Your installation sounds identical to mine. I have a two car attached garage and a door between the kitchen and garage - and this is our normal exit/entry door.

I define my kitchen screen door as type 03, burglar instant, overhead garage door as type 02.

You have a few options.

1) Install a GE/Caddx RF receiver and use a keyfob remote to arm disarm the system after you are out of the garage and the garage door is closed. This is my method. I live in a very rural area. There will be those who suggest you never control your system with a remote, so keep that in mind.

2) You can also make the overhead door a "force armable" zone type 01 or 02. The force armable option is in the zone definition screen. This way you can arm the system with the door up, and it will join the system when it is closed. You won't be able to go back in the house, but you'll have plenty of time to get the car out without tripping an alarm.

3) (a) You can do option #1 above, AND shunt the kitchen door contact with rules to mechanically bypass that zone when armed stay. I do this with one of the Elk relays on an output expander. I shunt (short) the kitchen door contact when the garage door is secure and the system is armed. Once shunted it is out of the system and you can open and close the door as often as you like. My wife absolutely requires this as she has a second refer and our freezer in the attached garage. (NOTE: this requires 4/c cable to the contact, assuming the EOL resistor is at the contact)

angry: Think about it and you can do more with rules and this shunt relay. For example, when Armed Stay, and Garage Door Unsecure, you can open the shunt and now your kitchen door will sound an alarm immediately if violated. Good for when you want to take a nap ;-)

4) You can take advantage of Entry/Exit timer #2 to give you time to exit/enter ( > 4 minutes ) in the Area definition. This may be handy to give you more time to get to a keypad when you return through the garage.

I hope my explanation is understandable or at least gives you something to think about.

 

[MrGibbage]

Those are some excellent ideas. I did try one thing, that comes close to doing exactly what I need. I found that you can write a rule to enable/disable a zone based on an event. So, what I have done is disable the interior garage door whenever the system is armed in any stay mode, and enabled it after every disarming, and on any arming away mode (I like the small redundancy there, just in case things get out of sync or something). So, in theory, if my system is armed in the stay mode, someone could break my garage door down, which will still chime on opening, and get into the house without setting off the alarm. One easy way around that would be to add another sensor to the door which would be enabled/disabled similarly to the interior door. I am also thinking about getting a GE/CADDX wireless receiver and that relay idea sounds interesting too.

Skip

 

[MrGibbage]

My next question then is, how do you handle the front door when armed in a stay mode. What if the doorbell rings? Any thoughts on automatic enabling/disabling/disarming on detection of a doorbell ring? It would be easy to do with the doorbell extender, but I am more interesting in everyone's thoughts on the safety & practicality of perhaps disarming the system, or maybe just that one zone for, say, a minute or two after the doorbell rings, to keep me from having to disarm it to answer it. What do you think? Am I overlooking something?

 

[carry15+1]

I live in a very rural area. I have never had a trick or treater in 10 years :lol: and I only get a salesman once a year or so. I have a "no peddlers sign" at the end of the drive :unsure:

I would think long and hard before allowing my doorbell to disarm any part of my security system. If you go with the keyfob you can have one in your house and use it to disarm/arm the system when you want to open the front door. If I had to answer my door often I would consider a video intercom (whatever they're called).

 

[Digger]

The ELK has a feature that if you are armed stay and want to oen the door and leave where others are sill home (or let the dog out) you just hit the stay button again (I think its that button) and it starts the exit delay over. So whatever that exit delay is would be the time you have.

Check the manual since I dont remember it exactly and I am working with so many other panels from another manufacturer that things kind of blur together.

 

[MrGibbage]

(Also posted on the M1Dealer Website--sorry if you read this twice)
Resurrecting an old thread here. I never got around to fixing this, so I have never armed my Elk in the stay or night mode. But I need to leave for an extended period of time (Navy), and I want my wife to be able to arm the system while she is at home. The crux of the matter is, I want my interior garage door to act as a type 01 when armed in the away mode. When armed in a stay or night mode, I want it as a 16 because I have some lighting automation rules set up for that door and I will want to be able to go into the garage without setting off the alarm. Some suggestions have been replied here, but I had another idea. Can I hook up that one zone switch to two different zone inputs, one configured as a zone 01, the other as a zone 16. I could then use a rule to disable the zone 01 whenever armed in a stay or night mode, and enable it when armed in an away mode. This picture may help:

Electrically, is there anything wrong with connecting two zones like this? Could I damage the Elk by doing that? Am I missing something such that this might not work?

Skip

 

[Spanky]

Electrically, is there anything wrong with connecting two zones like this? Could I damage the Elk by doing that? Am I missing something such that this might not work?

Skip

There is no problem electrically connecting two zones together and shorting them to negative through a switch. As you indicate, you will bypass either zone with Rules.

 

[MrGibbage]

Awesome! Tried it today and it works great! Now I can arm my system to STAY mode. So, how do I teach my wife to not set the alarm off in the morning when she leaves, or answers the door? She is quite alarm-challenged on the car alarm. I hate to see how many times she'll set this off....

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[Spanky]

Electrified door knob when the alarm is armed? LOL