GRI 2600 sensor problems

[HKMAIL1]

Hello all,
I installed an M1G in my house about 6 months ago and am finally getting back to finishing it by adding HVAC controls and water sensors.

Weird issue:
I installed two 2600 sensors, using cat5e cable that I doubled up (both the orange and orange white wires to connect to power (red) and both brown and the brown white wires to the black etc.) When I connected it to the elk I set it to normally closed (says in the 2600 instructions that it is a normally closed sensor)

First if I set it to normally closed I get a violated status instantly, if I set it to normally open it is fine for a while but then sets off the system after a few minutes. If I watch the volts status, the sensor is jumping around from 8.1 to 13.8 volts. I have tried it with EOL resistor and without. Does anyone know what I did wrong here?

Question:
If I set the zone to "25 - water alarm" Why would it set off the siren when water hits it. It seems like it would just call in the alarm, annouce the water alarm, etc. Having the siren go off seems a bit over the top for a water sensor.
Am I missing something here too?

Thanks for your help.

HK

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

How exactly do you have this connected? You should not have to double up on the power lines as it only draws 10 milliamps. Also, I wouldn't think the power would fluctuate that much. What else (accessories) do you have connected to the AUX 12 volt power?

Before doing anything disconnect your Cat5 cable and do a "leakage" and "continuity" check to make sure the wiring is sound. If you need details go to my "Security System Install" How-To.

Then measure the 12 volt on the aux output on the Elk and make sure it is sound.

If all is well, connect the power to the red and black leads and just monitor the green and white leads with an ohmeter for testing. It should read shorted (closed) when dry and infinite ohms (open) with water present.

If this all checks out, something may be wrong with your setup. Remove the green/white wires from the Elk's zone input. Try shorting the screw terminals for the zone input (i.e. where the green and white wires go), then remove the short to check your setup. IF you have an EOL defined zone you will have to perform this test using a resistor instead of a short.

Of course I'm leaning more towards a hardware problem. Let's see what the Elk experts say about your other questions.

Oh, btw, welcome to CT.

 

[HKMAIL1]

Awesome info, thanks, only one of those I know the answer to now. These two water sensors are on their own Aux power from the Elk. I have a few motions on another Aux power, but the system is pretty small so far, just a bunch of doors and windows. I will check the rest of the things you mentioned tonight and report back.

Thanks again,

HK

 

[HKMAIL1]

I must be doing something wrong. I ordered two of these and both are bad? I tested the power and volts are constant, out of all the aux power ports from M1. I hooked up the sensor with different wire and it has a high pitch sound coming from it. Is that normal? Green and white wires are not yet hooked up.

I then test the omh reading across the green and white wires they just keep on bouncing around even when no water is present.

I don't know how, but maybe I fried both. Any ideas?

Thanks,

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

hmmm, I'm not sure. At this point you may want to try calling George Risk.

 

[alarmguy]

Hi

Just read the post and have this comment. We have a ElkM1G installed with 16 GRI2600's hooked up to it, and it works fine. No hum or high pitch sounds. Zones are set as 25 WATER ALARM closed circuit no resistor. With power hooked up to a 2600 in our shop the green/white show a dead short on a DVM. the second moisture is applied the circuit goes to a open. YOU may have gotten a couple of bad units!!

 

[HKMAIL1]

I called automatedoutlet and they thought I had serious interference from the sump pumps or something else down in the sump well that made the sensor open and close so fast that it made that noise and ruined it.

The weird part was neither one made that noise unless I zip tied them to the pipe. I tried to attach them to the pvc water pipe and the 4 inch black drain tile pipe. Either way the second I connected power and attached them they started to make that high pitched sound.

I am going to try a 2800 water sensor and see if they do the same thing. I am going to do one more test and unplug the power from the sump pump and put the sensor back in it. Don't really know what that will prove, because I really don't want to have to buy a new sump pump.

HK

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

Just for grins and giggles, take your multimeter and measure between that pipe and say an AC ground (from an outlet ground for instance) if you can. Measure both AC and DC volts.

 

[politics123]

I had the same problem with my water sensors because I wired the leads backwards. Switch the positive and negative and try again.