Echo Room Controllers and Contact Wiring

This Article does not apply to the Echo Room Controller-Gen 2 (ERMC4-G2 or ERMC8-G2) product.  This article only applies to the first generation of the Echo Room Controller (ERMC4 of ERMC8).

The Echo Room Controller is a listed UL924 device. It will accept a dry contact for triggering emergency lighting, and can be configured for a Normally Open (NO) or Normally Closed (NC) contact. The Room Controller also accommodates a dry contact for Demand Response, which can be used to limit the available output for each relay, as well as for A/V Input, which by default will fire Preset 4.

When wiring a contact closure into the Echo Room Controller, it is important to know that you cannot chain multiple Room Controllers off a single contact closure. The Room Controllers interact with each other and can cause strange behavior, such as relays chattering in and out of the contact state. Aside from the physical relays chattering between open and closed states, the LED indicators near the bottom of the PCB will also flicker between on and off states. This is the case for both wiring in series as well as wiring in parallel; neither configuration is allowed. This is true for the Echo Room Controller only. This does not apply to any other ETC products.

If using ETC equipment to wire in emergency contacts, the preferred method is to wire each Echo Room Controller to its own contact in an ETC Emergency Bypass Detection Kit (EBDK). The EBDK has 3 contacts, so one unit will accommodate up to three individual Echo Room Controllers for UL924 emergency needs.

If you have any questions or concerns about this information, please contact ETC Technical Support.