How To Setup and Wire CX2 Area Sensors from Micro Detectors

In this HOW TO video, we will cover the basics of wiring and setting up one of AutomationDirects Advanced Area Sensors from the brand Micro Detectors. I am currently using model number shown: CX2E0RP-10-016V with PNP output and 0 to 10 volt analog output. These come as a pair with an emitter and a receiver. The Micro Detector area sensors we sell at AutomationDirect all require a connecting cable. Make sure you select the correct cable with correct number of pins in either a straight or a ninety degree connector. The sensors I am using require a 4 pin 12mm connector cable for the Emitter and an 8 pin 12mm connector cable for the receiver, I am using the part numbers listed on the screen. Keep in mind; we sell many cables that will work depending on your application and environment. We have 90 degree connectors, straight connectors; harsh environment insulation, shielded cables and they all come in many different lengths. Just make sure you select the correct number of poles or pins for your sensors. If you have questions, use a multi meter and check the pinout or call our free technical support here at AutomationDirect. I follow the wiring diagrams for these sensors, it can be found in the documentation that comes with the sensor, or you can find it on our website. The emitter has 4 connections. Brown for positive voltage and Blue for negative voltage or common to power the sensor. White should be connected to the Orange wire on the Receiver. Black is a test wire and is not required but if needed, connect it to positive voltage and it will interrupt the emission. In this example, I left the black wire disconnected. Now let's wire the receiver. The receiver has 8 connections! 8 connections on a sensor is quite a bit, so please pay close attention when wiring to avoid mistakes and frustrations. Brown for positive voltage and Blue for negative voltage or common to power the sensor. The Black wire on the receiver should be connected to your output device and wired as PNP. In this example I have the black wire connected to the positive input on a WERMA Stacklight that we sell here at AutomationDirect. Make sure you check the specs of your device: I am using an LED indicator because the Incandescent light required more current than the sensor supplied, so we would not see an indication. Next, the White wire is connected to my analog device. In this example I am using a Pro Sense panel meter model DMP1 with 0-10 volt input. Our Gray wire should be wired to a switch or device to select Normally Open or Normally Closed outputs. In this example I have all of our selectable inputs wired to 3 way selector switches. Pink is wired to a switch for Teach Gross or Fine. Violet is wired to a selector switch for Blanking. Last, Orange should be connected to the White wire on the Emitter. Now that our Emitter and Receiver are both wired, we need to check for alignment. The user manual describes how to properly align the emitter and receiver and what errors to detect if they are out of alignment. The manual also explains which LEDs you will see if your system is not wired properly. We can now power the sensors and check for operation. Once we power up, there is a time delay or "time delay before availability". Once powered up and ready we can setup the sensor. When the sensor is first powered up, we should only see a Blue LED on the Receiver and a Yellow and Green LED on the Emitter. Right now we have no power applied to the NO/NC feature, so the sensor defaults to normally open meaning there is no output until the sensor detects a part. As you can see, when the sensor detects my screwdriver, our WERMA stacklight Blue light turns on and I see a yellow and red LED indication in the Receiver. Making changes to the NO/NC only takes place on power up. If I attempt to change the setup after the sensor is powered up, nothing will change. I must power down, select NC and repower the system and now my Blue light stays on and I also see a Blue and Yellow LED in the Receiver when no part is detected. Once a part is detected, the Blue stacklight turns off and we see a Blue and Red LED in the Receiver. When the sensor detects an object, depending on its physical size, the sensor will send an analog output value to our panel meter. If the sensor detects the metal shaft of my screwdriver, we can see the analog output is a smaller value than if the sensor detects the handle side of my screwdriver. If we have a large object like a box, you can see the value is even greater. The analog out feature on these models are excellent for detecting correct parts or defective parts. Now let's discuss the Teach function. This was where we wired the Pink wire on the Emitter to a switch with either positive or negative input to the sensor. Teach allows us to adjust for fine or gross sensing. As you see, when I select Fine or Gross, the yellow LEDs on the Emitter turns on until the sensor has calibrated, then turn off. Let's discuss quickly what Fine and Gross settings are: Gross Teach is used to detect opaque objects and semitransparent objects with textured or corrugated surfaces. Fine Teach is used when detecting small objects, or transparent smooth objects like glass. How you setup your sensors will be determined on your environment and what type of objects you are detecting. Our last selection on setup is Blanking. This is a function that can be selected if the sensors may be partially blocked by say a conveyor. For example, the sensors are mounted and the lower 1/3 of the sensor is blocked by the conveyor that will bring in products to detect. We wouldn't want the sensor to detect the conveyor or its motion, so we would select Blanking to tell the sensor NOT to use the lower portion of the sensor. As you can see I can demonstrate this with a simple post it note to tell the sensor not to detect in this lower region. Once Blanking is configured, the sensors will ignore the lower area. Blanking like NO/NC is only read on Power Up. Now our sensors are mounted, wired, setup, aligned and programmed and is ready to start detecting product. Now, what should we detect?? I hope this how to video was useful. Please follow us to other how to videos on our Micro Detector area sensors. Thanks and have a great day. If you have any questions about using our sensors, please contact AutomationDirects free award winning technical support team during regular business hours. They will be happy to help. Click on this short video to learn more about AutomationDirects support options and click here to learn more or see more videos on enclosure products. And be sure to click here to subscribe to our YouTube channel to be notified of new Videos.