[JMan]

OK back for help for the ole swim and tennis club. We have an old Ranger alarm system on our pool house and I want to put a motion sensor in our new snack bar, but I can't figure it out. We use to have a motion sensor that was on the pool deck that would go off if any kids got in there after the pool closed, but it has not worked for years, so I tryied using the wiring that was already run. The old motion sensor had 4 wires going to it, red-pos, black for neg and green and white. The green wire was hooked up to the neg. with the black wire and the white wire was hooked up with the red wire to the pos. This new motion sensor has the following connections: NO,C,NC,12V and Gnd. I put the red wire that is going to the aux power source in the main box to the 12V and the black wire to Gnd which goes to the neg. in the main box. The green wire is hooked up to common in the main box and the white wire is hooked up to a zone in the main box. When I hook the motion sensor up like this, I get the lights to come on, but it will not trigger the alarm. ie. red to 12v, black to Gnd, white to No or Nc and green to C. What am I doing wrong anyone have any ideas or know anything about these systems. Sorry if I've confused you guys with my writing, let me know if you need more info.
Thanks,
JMan

[Skibum]

You sure no one fooled with the old MS wiring?

[JMan]

Yes I can track the wire back to the main box and the red goes to Aux power + the black goes to Aux power - and the white goes to zone 4 and green goes to C.

If I just hook the red up to the 12V and the black to GND the lights will turn on, on the MS. I tried a number of ways with the green and white wires hooked to the No,C,Ne on the MS with no luck. Not sure what No,C,Ne stand for on the MS.

[WayneW]

C = Common (aka ground)
NC = normally closed (a connection is made to C when there is no motion)
NO = normally open (no connection to C when there is no motion)

I would suggest to ignore the motion sensor for now. Play with the green and white wires manually and see what the alarm panel does. When you connect green to white, the panel should show one thing and when you disconnect them it should do something else. Ideally, when green and white are connected, the panel would show "secure" or something similar. when the green and white wire are not connected, the panel should show "violated" or "alarm" or something similar. Once this is working, then we know the panel and the wires are good and can shift focus to the motion sensor itself. If this fails, then ignore the wires and start testing by connecting zone 4 to C at the panel itself.

[Skibum]

What Wayne said....

[Skibum]

I doubt the white wire was supposed to go to +12

[JMan]

Alarm system and motion sensor is working fine now spent 4 hours down there today, and you guys were right on, it was the wiring. Had my 12 year old climb up through the attic and run new wires and all is good. If you don't have a kid that loves electronics as much as you do, I would highly recommend getting one. He was great helping out. Teenagers beware don't break in to our pool this summer... LOL Problem is when my kid gets old enough to raise some hell with his friends on long summer nights I will have to come up with a new plan, as he now knows the system better than I do.

[Skibum]

I'd like a lounger near the deep end, please....