What does it mean if the red “power” LED is lit on the controller, but none of the source LED’s is lit?
This condition indicates that the controller is “muted”. Press the “mute” button to turn off the mute in that zone at which point one of the source LED’s should light. If this doesn’t solve the problem, and you are using the paging and or doorbell hook-ups on the back of the MDS-6, disconnect these. If the page audio inputs are causing the muting then try adjusting the page sensitivity pot in the inside of the MDS-6 (see the owners manual). Sometimes it is necessary to “reset” the MCS-2 controller by pressing the “reset” button on the controller.
When I am installing the MCS-2 controller, do I have to program each one individually?
No. The MCS-2 are equipped with a unique cloning feature. Once you have programmed one controller, you then go to the other controllers in the house and press the “Clone RX” button. Then go back to the programmed controller and press the “clone TX” button. The process then occurs automatically, but you need to make sure that you are pressing the “clone TX” button before the others have timed out, or reverted back to normal operation. In a large house, it may be necessary to do smaller groups of controllers at one time. Future runs of the controllers will have an increased time out of 15 minutes.
Once I have programmed my MCS-2 controller, why does some of the source equipment not work?
It is possible that the MCS-2 did not store all the commands properly. Try repeating IR commands with the source remote through the IR window of the controller. If the commands pass through the system, then go back to the controller and reenter the desired functions. If the source remote does not work through the systems IR repeater, then you could have a defective emitter. If a different emitter does not solve the problem, then possibly the modulation frequency of the source’s IR is well above 40kHz or well below 40kHz. Either scenario is fixable by adjusting the IR frequency trim pot (see the owner’s manual p.9).
I am not using the page or doorbell functions of the MDS-6, but my system has a tendency to mute.
The MDS-6 amplifier is equipped with a sensitivity adjustment for the page mute function. It is located on the page /doorbell board inside the unit (see the owner’s manual p. 9). This trim pot could be set sensitive enough that external noise is triggering the audio sensing circuit. This can be remedied by turning the sensitivity pot completely counter clockwise. An external solution is to place a short wire jumper across the “Audio input” signal and ground on the 12 pin input located on the back of the unit, thereby disabling the audio sensing circuit of the MDS-6 amplifier.
