Customer ServiceCD8080 Alarm.com Module Wiring for the DSC PowerSeries NEO
How to wire in an CD8080 Alarm.com module into a DSC PowerSeries NEO panel
Hi. I'm Jason with Alarmsystemstore.com. Today's video is part two in our series for the Alarm.com communicators on the DSC PowerSeries NEO. Part one went over the programming. Go check that out if you need to do that still. This portion we're going to go over the wiring for the communicator. So let's go to the panel and we'll get started.
The first step for wiring up the alarm.com communicator is going to be to mount the PC Link board on the side of the cabinet. And you'll wanna put it right here. I mean, you can put it other places but we're going to be connecting from the PC Link2 here to the PC Link here. Our cables are not that long. I mean, we can put it in other locations and still reach but this is kind of the most out of the way closest location.
So, we'll start by putting our standoffs through the cabinet in the holes that we'll be using to mount the board. It's these three holes here. And then we'll line up the holes on the board with those, and they only line up in one direction, so you can't mount it in the wrong direction. So, there you have it snapped into place, it's not going anywhere.
So the PC link cable will go from, again, PC Link2. So you have PC Link1, PC Link2. I'll try to get the camera as close as possible so you can see there. So we're going to use PC Link2. And on the board, right there in white ink, it says, "Red." So you can see we have the one red wire here. So we're going to want to put that red wire closest to the red, press it on the board. So you just push that in place all the way just like that. And now on the PC Link board, try to get a good angle on it here. You have M1 right there. So M1 is actually where the red wire will go on the PC Link board. Again you just line up the red wire with that pin and there you have it. So that's all there is for that.
Next, we will be wiring up our six wires on these terminals here. So the first ones are easy, and those are going to be the power wires. So I'm using 2/4 conductor wires. The wire that I'm going to be using, I've kind of marked on both ends, the one I'm using for power just by folding back the two extra. So I'm just using red and black, it's like that on the same end or on the other end over there. So red will go to positive 12 and black will go to ground. So +12 volt right here, ground, right next to it. Just like that. And usually, these would be going through the cabinet, through the back of the wall, but just so it's easier and easier to see, I'm not doing that in this case.
So now we have four more wires that we're going to use on TX+, TX-, RX+, and RX-. So it doesn't really matter which wire you use for which, but make sure you keep track of what, how you're doing it. So the way I'm going to be doing it is I'm going to be using red on TX+, black on TX-, green on RX+, and white on RX-. So we'll wire that up. Now, the reason you wanna keep this straight is pretty obvious, because you wanna make sure that each wire is going to the correct terminal on the communicator. Now, I'll go over it again at the communicator, but one of our biggest mistakes is that people will wire TX to TX and RX to RX. It's actually crossed over, so TX will actually go to RX on the other end. So T stands for transmit, R stands for receive. So we're transmitting from the board to the receive of the communicator and vice versa, and then positive to positive, negative to negative. So TX+ goes to RX+, TX- to RX- and vice versa.
So we got those wired up. PC Links in place, keeping the red wire in the proper position. So by red on PC Link2 and the M1 on the PCL422. And that's the only wiring that we need to do in the cabinet. The interface module makes it pretty easy, you don't have to add any additional wires. Sometimes it can get pretty crowded in here, key buts and things like that. So it's nice having something like this, kind of keeps everything out of the way.
So now we'll go to the communicator and do the wiring there. All right, so here we are at the communicator itself. So let's start by opening it up. There's a couple tabs on the side here where you pry it open. Okay, so here is the terminals that we're going to be connecting to. TX+/-, RX+/-, ground, and 12 volts. And to get the wire there, there's a couple slots to run your wires through and some breakouts on the side here so that it lays flat against the wall. You know, you just run it through following the arrows. Just helps keep the wire locked in place. You can run it straight through the back if you have a hole in the wall, however, you need to do it. In this case, I'm just gonna run it straight through the back since I'm not too worried about it laying flat for the video here. Okay. So I'm using two wires again. I've already got the power wire marked just by folding these two wires back. And then here's gonna be my communication wires here, the TX and RX wires.
So let's start with the power wires, these are simple. Black wire goes to ground and the red wire goes to 12-volt plus. All right. Now we got our red and black, and our green and white or yellow as it usually will be. So red was going to TX+ on the PCL422. So this is where the most common mistake comes in. You don't wire TX to TX, you wire TX to RX. So TX+ which was the red wire on the PCL 422 will actually go to RX+. So let's wire that in. And then our black wire was TX-, so we're going to wire that RX-. Green wire was RX+, so it goes to TX+, and the white wire was RX- so it'll go to TX-. If I can get those lined up. All right, we can pull the excess wire out. Check to make sure that nothing's shorted, everything's snug. And then from there, just put the cover back on. That's all there is to that. Next step will be powering up the alarm system.
All right. So I've powered up the alarm system and it'll usually happen pretty quick that it will initialize. I like to give it about 10 minutes so just to make sure. To check that it worked, first, you wanna make sure that all your LEDs are as expected. So I've got a few flashing here which means various things. My signal level, of course, we're in a metal building, kinda in the middle of it, so not an ideal location to place this communicator. So we have a pretty bad signal strength but probably enough for our purposes for this video.
So, easiest way to check to see if it's worked is to enter *8, followed by an installer code, and then go to section 851. So, as you can see, it says, "Alarm.com Module Status." So if it says this, then you know that the panel and the communicator are talking to each other. Now, communicator may not be talking to Alarm.com yet, but at least the two are initialized together properly. If you just get here, enter subsection, when you go to 851, that means that it did not work right, so it could be a wiring issue. Usually, that's the case. It could be that you wired it up before you did the programming and you just didn't initialize properly.
So from here, once you've done that, it's supposed to go to communications test and it will actually force the communicator to try to talk to Alarm.com. So you see, "Test signal OK," and then, "Check central station report." So, that's good, that means that communicator is talking to Alarm.com. And once you've reached this point, you should be able to then, if you've got gotten with us to get your Alarm.com account set up. At that point, you should be able to log in using the welcome email that you would have received.
So one last thing I'm going to show you is how to get the serial number. So, generally, people will send us the serial numbers as soon as they open the box and get it off the back of the communicator. It's on a sticker right there. Says SN and then it'll have the 10-digit number there. If you already got it mounted on the wall though, you got to this point, didn't send it to us, communicator's mounted, you could pop it open and it's printed on the communicator as well, on the actual circuit board. But a really easy way is to actually go into programming, to 851, and then you're going to go to Alarm.com Module Status and then just scroll over a couple times and you'll get to SN, and here's the serial number for you.
So, if you get to this point, still didn't send us the serial number, it's pretty easy to get right off the keypad. The wiring for the communicator is a little bit more difficult than the programming was, but it's still not that hard. Just make sure you keep straight all your wires, that you are doing the crossing from TX to RX, and make sure you know where the red wire on your PC Link cables are going. As long as you keep that straight, you should be good to go.
If you liked the video, make sure you hit the like button, subscribe to our channel. Thanks for watching, and I'll see you in the next video.