Elk-M1 Control

The Elk-M1 is a home security and automation controller that is capable of alarm control panel functions and automation.

The Elk-M1 controller is manufactured by Elk Products.

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

• Alarm - An ElkM1 area (also known as partition) is represented as an alarm_control_panel.
• Binary sensor - ElkM1 zones that have 4 states (i.e.: are not analog zones) are represented as binary_sensor entities. Normal is off and any of the other values is on.
• Climate - An ElkM1 thermostat is represented as a climate entity.
• Light - An ElkM1 light (which can be X10, Insteon, UPB) is represented as a light.
• Scene - ElkM1 tasks are represented as scene entities.
• Sensor - ElkM1 counters, keypads, panel, settings, and zones are represented as sensor entities.
• Switch - ElkM1 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.

ElkM1 configuration and version

In order for the ElkM1 integration to work to its fullest with Home Assistant the ElkM1 panel must be configured correctly. This section describes the configuration required on the ElkM1 panel.

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, while version 2.0.46 and above support TLS 1.2. When adding the ElkM1 integration in the user interface use secure for TLS 1.0 and use TLS 1.2 for TLS 1.2. Note that ELK-M1XEP does not support auto-negotiation of the version of the TLS protocol, the user must specify the TLS version to connect.

Global Setting 35

The ElkM1 integration tracks the user number and name of the last username to arm or disarm the panel. The changed_by and changed_by_id attributes of the alarm_control_panel hold those two attributes.

On the ElkM1 panel Global Setting 35, “Transmit Event Log” must be enabled for this to fully work.

Note that without Global Setting 35 set and in a single area system, changed_by and changed_by_id are updated when a user enters a valid code on a physical keypad.

Global Setting 36 — 40

If you are using the features below then these respective global options should be enabled:

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, configuration 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 is supported (example below).

Both methods of configuration support “auto configuration”. This works by reporting only elements on the ElkM1 that have a “Name” configured. So, for example, if counter #11 on the panel was configured with the name “Test counter” then this element would show up in Home Assistant. If an element is being used but does not have a name configured then it will not appear in Home Assistant through the auto-configuration feature.

# 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

Besides the standard Home Assistant actions for Alarm control panel, Climate, Light, Scene, Sensor, and Switch the ElkM1 integration offers these additional actions:

• elkm1.alarm_arm_home_instant
• elkm1.alarm_arm_night_instant
• elkm1.alarm_arm_vacation
• elkm1.alarm_bypass
• elkm1.alarm_clear_bypass
• elkm1.alarm_display_message
• elkm1.sensor_counter_refresh
• elkm1.sensor_counter_set
• elkm1.sensor_zone_bypass
• elkm1.sensor_zone_trigger
• elkm1.set_time
• elkm1.speak_phrase
• elkm1.speak_word

Actions elkm1.alarm_arm_home_instant, elkm1.alarm_arm_night_instant, and elkm1.alarm_arm_vacation

Arms the ElkM1 area in “home instant”, “night instant”, or “vacation” modes respectively.

Actions elkm1.alarm_bypass and elkm1.alarm_clear_bypass

For all zones associated with the specified alarm panel these actions respectively bypass or clear the bypass the zones.

Action elkm1.alarm_display_message

Display text on an area’s keypads.

Action elkm1.sensor_counter_refresh

Refresh the value of a counter. Note that under certain conditions the panel does not automatically send a new value under certain conditions. This action retrieves the current counter value.

Action elkm1.sensor_counter_set

Set counter to value.

Action elkm1.sensor_zone_bypass

Bypass a zone. Note that the only mechanism ElkM1 offers to clear the bypass is to clear all the bypassed zones in a given alarm panel (area).

Action elkm1.sensor_zone_trigger

Cause a zone on the panel to trigger. This command creates a virtual momentary open condition on the zone as if the EOL hardwired loop had been physically opened.

Action elkm1.set_time

Set the time on the panel. Uses the current time on the instance of Home Assistant.

Action elkm1.speak_phrase

Speak a phrase. The list of phrases is defined in the ElkM1 ASCII Protocol documentation.

Action elkm1.speak_word

Speak a word. The list of words is defined in the ElkM1 ASCII Protocol documentation.

Debugging

Debug logs are often required to solve an issue. Follow the instructions on Enabling debug logging.

Sometimes, for example, a problem can occur while starting Home Assistant. In this case, follow these instructions. 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 in your Home Assistant config directory:

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

After updating your configuration file, restart Home Assistant. The debug logs will be in the file homeassistant.log in the config directory.