Low Battery Warning Setting

[Kevin L]

Happy New Year to all!

Both my cans are getting full, and to free up some room in the Elk can I'd like to get rid of the battery. I have a UPS dedicated to each can, and I have an automatic whole-house generator, so if I lose power I only need battery backup for the 20 or 30 seconds it takes the generator to start and automatically switch over.

Is there a way to turn off the low battery warning in the Elk so I can remove the battery and leads?

Thanks,

Kevin

 

[wuench]

Happy New Year to all!

Both my cans are getting full, and to free up some room in the Elk can I'd like to get rid of the battery. I have a UPS dedicated to each can, and I have an automatic whole-house generator, so if I lose power I only need battery backup for the 20 or 30 seconds it takes the generator to start and automatically switch over.

Is there a way to turn off the low battery warning in the Elk so I can remove the battery and leads?

Thanks,

Kevin

Try this. Go into Voices and blank out the System Battery Low under voices. Then go into Globals and under G06-G10 turn off Audible System Troubles.

 

[Kevin L]

Try this. Go into Voices and blank out the System Battery Low under voices. Then go into Globals and under G06-G10 turn off Audible System Troubles.

Thanks, wuench. I didn't have a problem with the audible warning, or the notification to the alarm company, it's the keypad display I can't stop - It keeps flashing "LOW BATTERY".

Basically, what I'm trying to do is turn off the Elk's monitoring of the battery so I can remove it from the system.

Thanks,

Kevin

 

[gatchel]

Maybe you could tie the battery positive to the positive of the Elk Supply (12vdc). I don't know how the unit would work when the panel goes to check the battery, though. Spanky would have to confirm. Disabling the battery notification might be a UL violation, therefore it might not be able to be turned off, just guessing here also...

 

[Kevin L]

Thanks, Gatchel. Hopefully Spanky will chime in.

Kevin

 

[tmbrown97]

Maybe you could tie the battery positive to the positive of the Elk Supply (12vdc). I don't know how the unit would work when the panel goes to check the battery, though. Spanky would have to confirm. Disabling the battery notification might be a UL violation, therefore it might not be able to be turned off, just guessing here also...

Isn't the Elk power supply 16VAC? That'd be a quick way to silence the warning, and the rest of the alarm panel...

I'd worry about how the charging circuit would be affected too...

 

[Digger]

You can use a 12 vdc wall wart plugged into the UPS to keep the panel from going into low battery if the actual voltage is close to 13 V. I forget the actual voltage level that the M1 goes into low battery.

I run panels for weeks at a time with a 12 vdc power supply feeding the battery terminals.

 

[gatchel]

Maybe you could tie the battery positive to the positive of the Elk Supply (12vdc). I don't know how the unit would work when the panel goes to check the battery, though. Spanky would have to confirm. Disabling the battery notification might be a UL violation, therefore it might not be able to be turned off, just guessing here also...

Isn't the Elk power supply 16VAC? That'd be a quick way to silence the warning, and the rest of the alarm panel...

I'd worry about how the charging circuit would be affected too...

Just to clarify, I was refering to the DC side of the AUX Elk power. Don't connect either leg of the 16vac supply to the battery wiring. That would probably be bad :-(

 

[gatchel]

I forget the actual voltage level that the M1 goes into low battery.

I was curious too so I grabbed this from the M1 manual:

If the battery voltage falls below 11.2 VDC a Low Battery Trouble condition will occur. The communicator can be programmed to report Low Battery to the Central Station. The battery will continue to run the control until its voltage drops below 10.2 VDC, at which time the control will disconnect and shut down to prevent a false alarm and damage to the battery. The AC Fail trouble display will clear if the AC restores. However, the Low Battery Trouble requires a manual or automatic battery load test before it will clear. An automatic battery load test is performed every 24 hours.

 

[Digger]

I forget the actual voltage level that the M1 goes into low battery.

I was curious too so I grabbed this from the M1 manual:

If the battery voltage falls below 11.2 VDC a Low Battery Trouble condition will occur. The communicator can be programmed to report Low Battery to the Central Station. The battery will continue to run the control until its voltage drops below 10.2 VDC, at which time the control will disconnect and shut down to prevent a false alarm and damage to the battery. The AC Fail trouble display will clear if the AC restores. However, the Low Battery Trouble requires a manual or automatic battery load test before it will clear. An automatic battery load test is performed every 24 hours.

That sounds right. It looks like the 12 vdc wall wart would do the trick.

 

[Kevin L]

You can use a 12 vdc wall wart plugged into the UPS to keep the panel from going into low battery if the actual voltage is close to 13 V. I forget the actual voltage level that the M1 goes into low battery.

I run panels for weeks at a time with a 12 vdc power supply feeding the battery terminals.

Hmmm, that's a thought if there isn't a way to turn the monitoring off. Hopefully Spanky will chime in with a way to do it so I don't have to have another wart around.

Thanks,

Kevin

 

[Spanky]

We have a request in the works to power the M1 through the AC input with a DC voltage and not get AC failure.

Right now as mentioned above, use a DC power supply on the battery leads to satisfy the low battery test. The power supply will have to be able to power the M1 during the dynamic battery load test. During the test at powerup and every 24 hours, the M1's power supply drops to 10.5 volts and the battery input voltage can not drop below 11.2 volts.

 

[Kevin L]

Thanks for the info, Spanky. Looks like Digger had the solution for now. Time to add another wall wart.

Thanks to all that responded,

Kevin

 

[3d0g]

Did anything become of that request?
 

We have a request in the works to power the M1 through the AC input with a DC voltage and not get AC failure.

Right now as mentioned above, use a DC power supply on the battery leads to satisfy the low battery test. The power supply will have to be able to power the M1 during the dynamic battery load test. During the test at powerup and every 24 hours, the M1's power supply drops to 10.5 volts and the battery input voltage can not drop below 11.2 volts.

 

[RAL]

Did anything become of that request?

From the M1 5.2.10 et al  Release Notes (July 9, 2012):
 
Feb 23, 2009 - M1 new application firmware (4.5.14 and 5.1.14)
...
14. Added ability to power the M1 Board from a 16 to 18 VDC power supply in lieu of an AC transformer. NOT AVAILABLE FOR
M1EZ8! On the M1, simply connect 16-18 VDC to AC input terminals, no polarity need be observed. The DC voltage
MUST be a minimum of 16 Volts in order for the switching power supply to work properly. This capability was added as a
result of some areas of the world outlawing AC transformers due to their inefficiency.
 
 
Jan 18, 2010 - M1 new application firmware (4.5.24 and 5.1.24)
...
4. Added a feature to “Ignore AC fail” whenever a battery test occurs. This allows an M1 to be operated from a DC ONLY
power supply. This is becoming more popular overseas due to strict energy efficient limits on AC transformers.
 
I haven't tried running my M1 on DC only, but if you are at a current software level, it should be supported.