It's taken me awhile to get this last article in the series completed and the actual installation job is still not done. This is because it entails wiring the house and that is much more difficult than plugging together a PC.
For this next part of the project, we turned to Elk Products that are distributed through SmartHome, which also supplied the Insteon products used in Part 3 of this series. The package we started with is the M1G Home Control System priced at $649. It includes the M1 Control Panel (Fig. 1) and the M1 Cross Platform Control unit (Fig. 2). The kit also includes a number of other items that we will get to later. This provides the base for the system, but each remote sensor or device such as a smoke and heat detector is an item that is purchased separately. We utilized a number of units but only scratched the surface with all the available the options. Some items we didn't get a chance to look at include intercom-like audio system and wireless key entry systems.
The M1G is the kind of system that professionals install when building a computerized home. It can be part of a sophisticated alarm system, as well as a control system that can manage everything from watering the grass to tracking access in a secure office environment.
Elk Components
The M1G alone supports up to 16 zones. This is expandable to 208 zones. It has voice capability (including announcements capabilities) plus a built-in telephone remote-control system. It can drive audio outputs and sirens. It can control multiple devices and track input from even more devices as well, including multiple devices per zone.
The system is modular and easy to use. For example, terminal blocks (Fig. 3) can be added to the end of regular wire. The blocks plug into the control unit (Fig. 4).
A PC can track and control the system. In this case it is our multimedia PC, which communicates with the M1G control unit using the Insteon PowerLinc Controller V2 USB (Fig. 5). The M1G control unit actually has a serial interface, so a second PowerLinc Controller will be found near the M1G unit. The difference is this PowerLinc Controller has a serial interface instead of a USB interface. The M1G can be controlled by and provide information to a remote PC.
The M1G control unit comes in a rugged metal box that is normally mounted on the wall in an out of the way spot like my basement. It needs to be near a power source, and a 12-V lead acid battery is housed in the box to provide power if external power is lost. The battery is automatically charged when power is available and the system can track the battery's voltage.
The system also provides power for the devices connected to the system. In general, these require little current and the lead acid battery is usually sufficient to keep things running for quite a while, but it is always possible to augment this backup capacity if necessary.
The M1 control unit is a dedicated, embedded microcontroller that can also interface to a standard telephone system, accepting incoming calls for remote management and making outgoing calls if a programmed event occurs.