Elk-M1 Control

The Elk-M1 Control integrationIntegrations connect and integrate Home Assistant with your devices, services, and more. [Learn more] lets you connect your Elk-M1 Gold and EZ8 alarm panels to Home Assistant. These advanced home security and automation controllers offer robust alarm control panel capabilities, along with a wide range of automation features to help you manage and protect your home.

The Elk-M1 controller is manufactured by Elk Products.

Configuration

To add the Elk-M1 Control integration to your Home Assistant instance, use this My button:

Elk-M1 Control can be auto-discovered by Home Assistant. If an instance was found, it will be shown as Discovered. You can then set it up right away.

Supported functionality

There is currently support for the following device types within Home Assistant:

• Alarm control panel - Elk-M1 areas (also known as partitions) are represented as alarm_control_panel entities
• Binary sensor - Elk-M1 zones with 4 states (non-analog zones) are represented as binary_sensor entities. Normal state is off and any other state is on
• Climate - Elk-M1 thermostats are represented as climate entities
• Light - Elk-M1 lights (X10, Insteon, UPB) are represented as light entities
• Scene - Elk-M1 tasks are represented as scene entities
• Sensor - Elk-M1 counters, keypads, panel status, settings, and zones are represented as sensor entities
• Switch - Elk-M1 outputs are represented as switch entities

The implementation follows the Elk Products ElkM1 “ASCII Protocol & Interface Specification, Revision 1.84” document. This document can be found on the Internet.

Prerequisites

Before setting up the Elk-M1 integration, ensure your system meets these requirements:

ElkM1 version

ElkM1 should be running:

• Version 4.6.8, or
• Version 5.2.0 or higher

Force arm away and stay are available in 5.3.0 or higher.

Many features will work with lower versions of the ElkM1. Check the “ElkM1 RS232 Protocol” manual for details.

ELK-M1XEP version

The ELK-M1XEP is the Ethernet controller board for the ElkM1. If connecting the integration in secure mode, the version of the ELK-M1XEP determines which secure protocol is supported.

• ELK-M1XEP versions less than 2.0.46 support TLS 1.0 (use secure in the UI)
• ELK-M1XEP version 2.0.46 and above support TLS 1.2 (use TLS 1.2 in the UI)

ElkM1 configuration and setup

Required global settings

For optimal functionality, configure the following global settings on your ElkM1 panel:

Global Setting 35 - Transmit Event Log

The ElkM1 integration tracks the user number and name of the last user to arm or disarm the panel. The changed_by and changed_by_id attributes of the alarm_control_panel entities hold this information.

Global Settings 36-40 - Feature-specific settings

Enable these settings based on the features you want to use:

System Trouble Status

The ElkM1 is able to report general system trouble statuses. This is reported using the system_trouble_status attribute of the panel sensor (often named sensor.elkm1) in Home Assistant.

The format of the system_trouble_status attribute is a comma separated list of the active troubles. Only active trouble statuses are in the list. If the trouble is for a zone then zone <number> is appended to the trouble name.

For example, if zone 42 wireless sensor lost communication with the panel then system_trouble_status would be “Lost Transmitter zone 42”. If in addition there was an AC failure then system_trouble_status would be the string “AC Fail, Lost Transmitter zone 42”.

The complete list of trouble statuses are:

• AC Fail
• Box Tamper (zone is part of status)
• Fail To Communicate
• EEProm Memory Error
• Low Battery Control
• Transmitter Low Battery (zone is part of status)
• Over Current
• Telephone Fault
• Output 2
• Missing Keypad
• Zone Expander
• Output Expander
• ELKRP Remote Access
• Common Area Not Armed
• Flash Memory Error
• Security Alert (zone is part of status)
• Serial Port Expander
• Lost Transmitter (zone is part of status)
• GE Smoke CleanMe
• Ethernet
• Display Message In Keypad Line 1
• Display Message In Keypad Line 2
• Fire (zone is part of status)

Configuration

To add the Elk-M1 Control integration to your Home Assistant instance, use this My button:

Elk-M1 Control can be auto-discovered by Home Assistant. If an instance was found, it will be shown as Discovered. You can then set it up right away.

Manual configuration

Alternatively, you can configure the integration through the configuration.yamlThe configuration.yaml file is the main configuration file for Home Assistant. It lists the integrations to be loaded and their specific configurations. In some cases, the configuration needs to be edited manually directly in the configuration.yaml file. Most integrations can be configured in the UI. [Learn more] file for advanced setups.

Both configuration methods support auto configuration, which automatically discovers and adds only elements that have a “Name” configured on your ElkM1 panel. For example, if counter #11 on the panel is configured with the name “Test counter”, it will appear in Home Assistant. Elements without names will not appear unless auto configuration is disabled.

# Example configuration.yaml entry
elkm1:
  - host: elk://IP_ADDRESS_1
  ...
  - host: elk://IP_ADDRESS_2
    prefix: gh  # for guest house controller

Example configuration of the above:

elkm1:
  host: elks://IP_ADDRESS
  username: USERNAME
  password: PASSWORD
  area:
    exclude: [5-8]
  zone:
    exclude: [11-16, 19-192, 199-208]
  plc:
    include: [a1-d16, 192]
    exclude: [b12-d5]

Example configuration using auto_configure:

elkm1:
  host: elks://IP_ADDRESS
  username: USERNAME
  password: PASSWORD
  auto_configure: true

Example for a serial port instance on /dev/ttyUSB0 at 115200 baud:

elkm1:
  - host: serial:///dev/ttyUSB0:115200
    # Elk doesn't know which areas/zones/etc are unused, so it can generate
    # many unwanted Home Assistant Entities.  Be liberal in excluding them:
    area:
      exclude: [2-8]
    zone:
      exclude: [17-192, 195-208]
    plc:
      enabled: false
    task:
      enabled: false
    counter:
      exclude: [1-64]
    keypad:
      exclude: [3-16]
    setting:
      exclude: [1-20]
    output:
      enabled: false
    thermostat:
      enabled: false

Events

The ElkM1 integration supports the following event: elkm1.keypad_key_pressed. The event is generated whenever a key is pressed on an ElkM1 keypad. The event_data contains the following:

• keypad_id: The number of the keypad that reported the keypress.
• key_name: The name of the key that was pressed.
• key: The number of the key that was pressed.

Actions

The ElkM1 integration provides additional actions beyond the standard Home Assistant actions for alarm control panels, climate, lights, scenes, sensors, and switches.

Alarm actions

Arm modes

• elkm1.alarm_arm_home_instant - Arms the area in “home instant” mode
• elkm1.alarm_arm_night_instant - Arms the area in “night instant” mode
• elkm1.alarm_arm_vacation - Arms the area in “vacation” mode

Zone management

• elkm1.alarm_bypass - Bypasses all zones associated with the specified alarm panel
• elkm1.alarm_clear_bypass - Clears bypass for all zones associated with the specified alarm panel

Display message

• elkm1.alarm_display_message - Display text on an area’s keypads

Sensor actions

Counter management

• elkm1.sensor_counter_refresh - Refresh the value of a counter
• elkm1.sensor_counter_set - Set counter to a specific value

Zone management

• elkm1.sensor_zone_bypass - Bypass a zone
• elkm1.sensor_zone_trigger - Trigger a zone virtually

System actions

Time synchronization

• elkm1.set_time - Set the time on the panel to match Home Assistant’s current time

Voice announcements

• elkm1.speak_phrase - Speak a predefined phrase
• elkm1.speak_word - Speak a predefined word

Debugging

If you encounter issues with the ElkM1 integration, debug logs can help identify the problem. For detailed instructions on enabling debug logging, see Enabling debug logging.

Alternatively, you can manually enable debug logging in your configuration.yamlThe configuration.yaml file is the main configuration file for Home Assistant. It lists the integrations to be loaded and their specific configurations. In some cases, the configuration needs to be edited manually directly in the configuration.yaml file. Most integrations can be configured in the UI. [Learn more] file:

1. Add the following to your configuration.yamlThe configuration.yaml file is the main configuration file for Home Assistant. It lists the integrations to be loaded and their specific configurations. In some cases, the configuration needs to be edited manually directly in the configuration.yaml file. Most integrations can be configured in the UI. [Learn more] file:

   logger:
     logs:
       elkm1_lib: debug
       homeassistant.components.elkm1: debug
   

2. Restart Home Assistant.

3. Check the debug logs in the homeassistant.log file in your Home Assistant config directory.

Removing the integration

This integration follows standard integration removal. No extra steps are required.

To remove an integration instance from Home Assistant

1. Go to Settings > Devices & services and select the integration card.
2. From the list of devices, select the integration instance you want to remove.
3. Next to the entry, select the three dots menu. Then, select Delete.