Cartell CP2 and Elk

[standon]

I think I've managed to confuse myself here. I've had a CP-2-50 for quite a while and I can't seem to get it hooked up to my Elk M1 Gold.

The version I have has a shielded wire, black, red, blue and green wire. I'm not using it to control any gates, I just wanted to know when a car pulls up the driveway.

I have the shielded wire and black wire going to negative on the distributed power supply (12V) and the red going to the positive. Then I took the green and the blue and put it in the zone input (- and + respectively) and put and EOL resistor right at the zone inputs. No matter what I do, I don't get any change in status from the Elk. I've tried taking the resistor off, but again no change. I mostly followed the directions I found online for an OmniPro hookup (here).

I'd be happy to have some new ideas on what to do, I feel like I keep repeating myself on the troubleshooting end.

 

[fabriziojoe]

I think I've managed to confuse myself here. I've had a CP-2-50 for quite a while and I can't seem to get it hooked up to my Elk M1 Gold.

The version I have has a shielded wire, black, red, blue and green wire. I'm not using it to control any gates, I just wanted to know when a car pulls up the driveway.

I have the shielded wire and black wire going to negative on the distributed power supply (12V) and the red going to the positive. Then I took the green and the blue and put it in the zone input (- and + respectively) and put and EOL resistor right at the zone inputs. No matter what I do, I don't get any change in status from the Elk. I've tried taking the resistor off, but again no change. I mostly followed the directions I found online for an OmniPro hookup (here).

I'd be happy to have some new ideas on what to do, I feel like I keep repeating myself on the troubleshooting end.

I found this on Cartell's site:

 

[CDC]

"No matter what I do, I don't get any change in status from the Elk. I've tried taking the resistor off, but again no change."

Have you defined the zone? If you have "RP", look at the zone voltage when you have the zone normal and when it is faulted. The voltage should go from 7.0v to 0.0v when shorted (faulted). With no resistor, the voltage will go from 12.0v to 0.0.
It almost sounds like the contacts are not closing when the drive way sensor is tripped. Are you sure you are tripping the sensor? Put an ohm meter on the contacts to confirm you are actually tripping the sensor. Good luck.

 

[standon]

"No matter what I do, I don't get any change in status from the Elk. I've tried taking the resistor off, but again no change."

Have you defined the zone? If you have "RP", look at the zone voltage when you have the zone normal and when it is faulted. The voltage should go from 7.0v to 0.0v when shorted (faulted). With no resistor, the voltage will go from 12.0v to 0.0.
It almost sounds like the contacts are not closing when the drive way sensor is tripped. Are you sure you are tripping the sensor? Put an ohm meter on the contacts to confirm you are actually tripping the sensor. Good luck.

I'm not positive about how to use a multimeter, but I tried ever setting possible on them and didn't get any readings. I also tried the benchmark test from the manual and received no reading. At this point, I'm not sure if I should contact the manufacturer, or try to figure out if i broke the wire somewhere when I buried it. If it's a break and I send it to Cartell, I feel like I'll be wasting money sending it back and forth for something they won't fix anyway. If it's a defect, I doubt they'll want to cover it if it is cut somewhere for testing. Ugh. I wish I would have tested it before...

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

standon, first take your multimeter and place the selector on "DC Volts". Measure the voltage between the red and black/shield combination to insure 12 volts is getting to that cable.

Then place your multimeter on the 'diode' symbol or continuity testing position. You can tell when you have this correct because when you touch the meter tips together, you should be an audible signal. If your meter doesn't have this option, then simply place it in the "Ohms" position (horseshoe symbol). Touch the leads of the meter together and see if it changes. You should get 'infinity' when the probes are not touching and a near zero reading when they are touching. Make sure your fingers do not touch the meter tip's probes while measuring resistance as they will influence the readings.

Now disconnect the blue and green wires (from your Elk panel) and wire each one to a meter probe tip. Make sure you have a good connection (wrap the wire around the meter probes or use a jumper clip wire). Make sure the probes are not touching any metal. This will let you measure resistance without having to touch the probe ends. Do not use any type of EOL resistor for this test.

In a case where no vehicle is present you should get an infinite resistance. Now move a vehicle near the sensor and the meter should measure near zero, but I'm not sure how long this reading will last (as it's just used as a trigger). This is why I suggested using the continuity "sound" option of the meter as someone could listen to it while a vehicle drove near the sensor.

 

[standon]

standon, first take your multimeter and place the selector on "DC Volts". Measure the voltage between the red and black/shield combination to insure 12 volts is getting to that cable.

Then place your multimeter on the 'diode' symbol or continuity testing position. You can tell when you have this correct because when you touch the meter tips together, you should be an audible signal. If your meter doesn't have this option, then simply place it in the "Ohms" position (horseshoe symbol). Touch the leads of the meter together and see if it changes. You should get 'infinity' when the probes are not touching and a near zero reading when they are touching. Make sure your fingers do not touch the meter tip's probes while measuring resistance as they will influence the readings.

Now disconnect the blue and green wires (from your Elk panel) and wire each one to a meter probe tip. Make sure you have a good connection (wrap the wire around the meter probes or use a jumper clip wire). Make sure the probes are not touching any metal. This will let you measure resistance without having to touch the probe ends. Do not use any type of EOL resistor for this test.

In a case where no vehicle is present you should get an infinite resistance. Now move a vehicle near the sensor and the meter should measure near zero, but I'm not sure how long this reading will last (as it's just used as a trigger). This is why I suggested using the continuity "sound" option of the meter as someone could listen to it while a vehicle drove near the sensor.

Thanks for the step by step, it helped a lot!

So, I know for sure something isn't working. I did get 12v from the power supply. Going to the diode setting (I checked the manual) one multimeter didn't do anything when I touched tips. I followed the instructions to check diodes. So moving on, I moved it to ohms and again no infiinity symbol - unless the default display of 0.000v meant infinity but I don't think so. So on to the cheap multimeter I got for free. That one seems to work. Putting the black probe to the green wire and red probe to the blue (I think they indicate thats the right way to do it in the directions) I get no change from the default of 1 (which is different than when I touch tips). I moved to a mini fridge, I think there should be enough metal to set it off and nothing changes.

I'm thinking I'll call Cartell - I feel a little more confident that it could just be defective. I'm going to pull the car up tomorrow and try it tere again just to be sure.

I also did their test from the manual - powering it on while touching the black to the shield and red to the black wire. Quite the feat since black and shield twist together to the NEG on the power supply. I just stripped a lot more black insulation off and twisted the far end, I got no results on that either.

 

[standon]

standon, first take your multimeter and place the selector on "DC Volts". Measure the voltage between the red and black/shield combination to insure 12 volts is getting to that cable.

Then place your multimeter on the 'diode' symbol or continuity testing position. You can tell when you have this correct because when you touch the meter tips together, you should be an audible signal. If your meter doesn't have this option, then simply place it in the "Ohms" position (horseshoe symbol). Touch the leads of the meter together and see if it changes. You should get 'infinity' when the probes are not touching and a near zero reading when they are touching. Make sure your fingers do not touch the meter tip's probes while measuring resistance as they will influence the readings.

Now disconnect the blue and green wires (from your Elk panel) and wire each one to a meter probe tip. Make sure you have a good connection (wrap the wire around the meter probes or use a jumper clip wire). Make sure the probes are not touching any metal. This will let you measure resistance without having to touch the probe ends. Do not use any type of EOL resistor for this test.

In a case where no vehicle is present you should get an infinite resistance. Now move a vehicle near the sensor and the meter should measure near zero, but I'm not sure how long this reading will last (as it's just used as a trigger). This is why I suggested using the continuity "sound" option of the meter as someone could listen to it while a vehicle drove near the sensor.

Thanks for the step by step, it helped a lot!

So, I know for sure something isn't working. I did get 12v from the power supply. Going to the diode setting (I checked the manual) one multimeter didn't do anything when I touched tips. I followed the instructions to check diodes. So moving on, I moved it to ohms and again no infiinity symbol - unless the default display of 0.000v meant infinity but I don't think so. So on to the cheap multimeter I got for free. That one seems to work. Putting the black probe to the green wire and red probe to the blue (I think they indicate thats the right way to do it in the directions) I get no change from the default of 1 (which is different than when I touch tips). I moved to a mini fridge, I think there should be enough metal to set it off and nothing changes.

I'm thinking I'll call Cartell - I feel a little more confident that it could just be defective. I'm going to pull the car up tomorrow and try it tere again just to be sure.

I also did their test from the manual - powering it on while touching the black to the shield and red to the black wire. Quite the feat since black and shield twist together to the NEG on the power supply. I just stripped a lot more black insulation off and twisted the far end, I got no results on that either.

Okay, just in case anyone else runs into this problem - I had a break in my wire. I snipped it off near the probe and got some better testing directions from Cartell. Apparently you have to wait about 30 seconds for it to boot up. The black and the shield should be twisted together to the common on the dc power supply. Red to positive. Continuity between the blue and green (polarity doesn't matter in any case) should be infinite when you move the probe. It doesn't actually have to be near metal or anything, just from still to moving is enough to set it off. I can hear a clicking when it moves and when it returns to it's normally open state. Now I need some 3m Scotchcast 82-A1 splicing kits (I believe these are the same that Cartell sells for 60 dollars) to repair all my cuts Hope it helps someone down the line.