M1 Newsletter

May 24, 2006

Monitoring Pool/Spa Area for Safety

Contacts on entrance gates and outdoor motion sensors are used to monitor the area around the pool or spa.  These contacts and sensors may be hardwired to the control or an M1XIN Input Expander, or may be wireless.  The M1 and EZ8 systems are compatible with the following Caddx wireless receivers:

These receivers are compatible with Caddx and ITI transmitters.  The ELK-WO35A wiring harness is required to connect the receiver to the M1/EZ8 panel.

The M1 or EZ8 system monitors the zones around the pool or spa and makes an announcement inside the home if a zone is violated.  Each zone can be given a voice description consisting of 6 words or phrases.  For example, the voice description may be “Warning, someone in pool area”.  A rule is written to announce this voice description when the zone is tripped or violated.  Also, the keypad will beep and “Pool Alert” will be displayed on the keypad.  The star key must be pressed to clear the message and silence the beeps.

A similar rule should be written for each motion sensor or gate that is being monitored

A rule is used to make this announcement, instead of using the chime feature.  This is because the chime feature may be disabled to prevent announcements from other zones.  The announcements from the monitored pool area zones should be heard even if the chime has been disabled.

Temporarily Disable Monitoring When Pool/Spa Is In Use

The customer may desire to disable the pool/spa announcements while in use.  However, the system must automatically reset, allowing the announcements to resume, in the case that the customer forgets to re-enable pool/spa area monitoring.

Pool/Spa area monitoring can be disabled/enabled using an F key (F6 in this example).   The rule below toggles an unused output (Output 200 in this example) when the F6 key is pressed on Keypad 2, which is located near the patio door that leads to the pool/spa area.  The state of Output 200 determines if the warning announcements are enabled or disabled.  Also, a counter (named Pool Counter in this example) is set to 300, which will be used as a timer.

The rule written to give the pool alert must be modified to only make the announcement if Output 200 is off.  This can be accomplished by adding an AND statement to the rule as shown below in bold.

Anytime a monitored zone becomes not secure and Output 200 is on, the Pool Counter is set to 300.  A rule similar to the one below must be written for each monitored zone.

The rule below decrements the Pool Counter by 1, every second if Output 200 is on. 

As long as motion is being detected in the pool/spa area the counter will continually be reset to 300 (300 seconds = 5 minutes).  If the Pool Counter ever reaches 0, Output 200 will be turned off, which will allow warning messages to be announced again.  To allow more or less time before the “reset” occurs, simply modify the number that the counter is set to when motion is detected.

The F key illumination event can be programmed to follow the state of the unused output to give the customer visual indication when the Pool/Spa alert is enabled or disabled.  You can also program a voice message to be announced when the pool alert becomes enabled or disabled.  For example, 2 miscellaneous messages are programmed.  One says “Pool Alert Activated”.  The other says “Disable Pool Alert”.  The rules below will announce the appropriate message when the state of the unused output changes.

Got Questions or Ideas?
Email me at amy.strickland@elkproducts.com