Danny,

I don’t know if you have seen this or not or if you can use it but this may be even more useful than the Cartell CP-2…

http://www.james.lipsit.com/smart_car_sensor.htm

This will allow your home automation system to “know” exactly who is home. And as you already know you can then create events based on who is home.

I just remembered seeing the project and thought you might be interested…

Thanks,
David

Hi,

Like you, I have a (two actually) CP-2 driveway sensor that hooks into my Omni-Pro II HAI system. Something strange has started happening and I’m not sure how to troubleshoot the problem.

One of my CP-2 driveway sensors keeps triggering its assigned event and it is not related to cars going up or down my driveway. I live very rural and on a private road so traffic is minimal. In the past, I’ve had an occasional ‘false alarm’ (my systems announces when someone drives up my driveway or calls me if security is on). The lower sensor has started ‘going off’ for no apparent reason both day and in the middle of the night. I have not changed anything in my HAI programming so I suspect either the sensor is failing or the wiring leading into the house is bad. Only the lower sensor is doing this - the upper is fine.

I have been trying to trace the wiring from the sensors and into my house. Unfortunately, I didn’t install the system and after it runs under my cement driveway, I can’t trace it any further.

Any suggestions why my sensor might be randomly being triggered?

Thanks,

Angela

Hi Angela,

I’m sorry to hear you’re having some issues… be sure to check that all connections to the HAI OMNIPRO II are good. They might have become loose if someone was messing in the panel. Also, when did this start happening? Did you recently upgrade firmware on the HAI? Rule out that it’s not the programming or controller first. Maybe change zones to be sure.

If everything looks fine and nothing has changed then I would call up Cartell and ask them what’s up. You might need to replace the unit. I’m guessing you can cut and splice the new unit in. Not sure how/when/if these units go bad.

Please let me know what you end up doing!

Thanks,
Danny

Angela,

You might want to “reboot” the CP-2. The manual explains how to do that, just remove the power and wait 1-2 minutes. Then power it back up.

Hopefully, that will do the trick.

Danny

Danny,

Thanks so much for your help.

Excellent advice to reboot, however, I’ve rebooted many times with no success. Unfortunately, the builder did not leave the Cartell manual but I work in technology and understand basics.

Last weekend I took your advice and focused on the OmniProII aspects (with no results). I checked programming, replaced the zone resistors where connected to the expansion board, checked connections, etc. with no success. I did not change zones.

This weekend I focused on locating and digging up the sensor, which was buried in conduit under dirt and cement. I checked all cabling (where I could) and it looks fine - no damage. Upon finally locating the sensor, I discovered when it’s moved, jiggled, it creates the programmed trigger, which it should not be doing. I called the distributor and they agree it’s bad, so it will be going in for warranty repair once the builder provides paperwork for an RMA. I still need to fully extract the sensor from under my driveway (more digging).

If you’d like me to keep you posted on how this progresses, please email me at the address I provided above.

Thanks!

-Angela