I seem to be having an issue with the Carbide since it has been installed and cannot figure it out. I currently have the Carbide with the rotary knob Control Head properly installed in a vehicle which has 4 Ion Duos in the grille, 2 Microns on the side of the front license plate holder, 2 Microns in the fog light area, 2 Mirror Beam V-series & 2 LINSV2's underneath them, XLP Inner Edge WeCan Duo in the front, Inner Edge RTX Trio in the rear deck, 2 Microns on the rear license plate bracket, 2 Vertexes on the trunk liner, 3 SSFPOS used to flash the rear taillight assembly (using a few diodes as well), and a Howler. The CANEM16 (16 Output Expansion Module) was used in addition to the Outputs from the Carbide since we needed over 20 outputs for how it was configured.
Here is the quirky thing. All of the equipment I mentioned works great with no issues at all. Everything was programmed correctly through the Carbide software as needed. The issue I keep having is a Single Red Flashing light at the WeCan port in the rear of the Carbide unit which indicates a Communication Error and advises "Bad CenCom connection, check lightbar I/O or interface box for proper operation". There is no issue with the XLP Inner Edge or the CANEM16 since those 2 devices are wired into the WeCan port. Everything works fine with the Inner Edge and all of the lights that are attached to the CANEM16 Outputs.
I have been in contact with Whelen Tech Support numerous times with regards to this issue and they could not figure this out either. I had sent the Carbide unit along with the CANEM16 back to Whelen to get bench tested off of my Carbide profile I e-mailed them and they told me they could not get the issue to duplicate at all and everything seemed fine. The Carbide unit originally had Rev. B firmware and was even upgraded to the latest Rev. E firmware. Even after getting both units back and putting them back in the car, I still get the Single Red Flash error.
Whelen Tech Support tried everything possible to figure this out but couldn't. I tried multiple troubleshooting methods to determine where the issue was and still no good. I had even generated a blank Carbide profile in the software and wrote it to the Carbide unit and it still gave the error. I had plugged the Control Head directly into the Carbide unit itself instead of using the extension cable and still had the issue. The Green (CAN A) and Gray (CAN B) wires from the Inner Edge and the CANEM16 are both spliced correctly to the Green and Gray wires to the Connector of the WeCan port. Even the middle wire of the connector, Pin 2 (White/Black wire) is connected to the bare shield from the Inner Edge, which is used to protect against any EM interference. I was even sent a new pigtail connector for the Control Head in thought that there was a wiring issue and that proved to be negative.
Here is what I was able to narrow down. When the car is turned on, or ignition set to Accessory or Run, I get the Communication Error. While the vehicle is still on or there is power on from the ignition, I pulled out the power wire harness from the back of the Carbide then plugged it back in and the Single Red Flash disappears and there is no error light. As soon as I shut down the car then turn it back on, the error indicator comes back. This same scenario occurs if I pull the WeCan Connector out while the car is on then plug it back in, the error light disappears. It also re-appears when I shut the car down then turn it back on. I don't seem to get what is going on. I had an electrical engineer run diagnostics on the vehicle's Power Distribution Center and claims there is nothing wrong and everything is working the way it is supposed to. Whelen Tech Support is claiming there has to be an issue somewhere with the vehicle, the wiring, or there is interference of some sort. I was thinking there has to be some kind of delay with how the Carbide communicates to the WeCan devices upon ignition power up and that it is probably a delay within the unit itself which would could be corrected in a future firmware update. Does anyone have any idea what this may be?
Here is the quirky thing. All of the equipment I mentioned works great with no issues at all. Everything was programmed correctly through the Carbide software as needed. The issue I keep having is a Single Red Flashing light at the WeCan port in the rear of the Carbide unit which indicates a Communication Error and advises "Bad CenCom connection, check lightbar I/O or interface box for proper operation". There is no issue with the XLP Inner Edge or the CANEM16 since those 2 devices are wired into the WeCan port. Everything works fine with the Inner Edge and all of the lights that are attached to the CANEM16 Outputs.
I have been in contact with Whelen Tech Support numerous times with regards to this issue and they could not figure this out either. I had sent the Carbide unit along with the CANEM16 back to Whelen to get bench tested off of my Carbide profile I e-mailed them and they told me they could not get the issue to duplicate at all and everything seemed fine. The Carbide unit originally had Rev. B firmware and was even upgraded to the latest Rev. E firmware. Even after getting both units back and putting them back in the car, I still get the Single Red Flash error.
Whelen Tech Support tried everything possible to figure this out but couldn't. I tried multiple troubleshooting methods to determine where the issue was and still no good. I had even generated a blank Carbide profile in the software and wrote it to the Carbide unit and it still gave the error. I had plugged the Control Head directly into the Carbide unit itself instead of using the extension cable and still had the issue. The Green (CAN A) and Gray (CAN B) wires from the Inner Edge and the CANEM16 are both spliced correctly to the Green and Gray wires to the Connector of the WeCan port. Even the middle wire of the connector, Pin 2 (White/Black wire) is connected to the bare shield from the Inner Edge, which is used to protect against any EM interference. I was even sent a new pigtail connector for the Control Head in thought that there was a wiring issue and that proved to be negative.
Here is what I was able to narrow down. When the car is turned on, or ignition set to Accessory or Run, I get the Communication Error. While the vehicle is still on or there is power on from the ignition, I pulled out the power wire harness from the back of the Carbide then plugged it back in and the Single Red Flash disappears and there is no error light. As soon as I shut down the car then turn it back on, the error indicator comes back. This same scenario occurs if I pull the WeCan Connector out while the car is on then plug it back in, the error light disappears. It also re-appears when I shut the car down then turn it back on. I don't seem to get what is going on. I had an electrical engineer run diagnostics on the vehicle's Power Distribution Center and claims there is nothing wrong and everything is working the way it is supposed to. Whelen Tech Support is claiming there has to be an issue somewhere with the vehicle, the wiring, or there is interference of some sort. I was thinking there has to be some kind of delay with how the Carbide communicates to the WeCan devices upon ignition power up and that it is probably a delay within the unit itself which would could be corrected in a future firmware update. Does anyone have any idea what this may be?
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