DATA CHECK Operation & Maintenance Manuals (OMM) are

currently available at:

The LED lights on the PL542 are designed to verify the data
types that are coming from the machine prior to installation. www.cat.com/en_US/support/operations/technolog
The lights are listed in order as they appear from left to right on y/product-link-owners-manuals.html
the device.

CAN/CDL

For mobile equipment or equipment that is located

in areas where direct internet access is not
available while the product is in use, a paper copy
ORANGE LIGHT: This light should remain solid within a few of the OMM must be printed and kept with
minutes of installation. This indicates that the device has the product.
received a good GPS signal. For more information or for a paper copy of the
YELLOW LIGHT: This light should remain solid within a few OMM please contact your nearest Cat Dealer:
minutes of installation. This indicates that the device has made www.cat.com/en_US/support/dealer-locator.html
a good connection to the internet.
WHITE LIGHT: This light indicates usage of the WIFI antenna.
BLUE LIGHT: The blue LED light assists the installer in
determining what data is provided by the machine over its data
links. Most Cat machines provide the data elements necessary
to enable the PL542 to transmit hours and fuel information.
However, the data provided by machines manufactured by This telematics device transmits information to
other OEMs will vary. You should follow the steps below to Caterpillar, such as data relating to the condition and
determine if the machine will provide enough data on the data operation of the equipment upon which the device is
links to support the desired features. installed. For more information about how Caterpillar
collects, processes, uses and shares information
Cat ® Product Link ™ PL542
THE BLUE LIGHT SHOULD BE MONITORED WITH THE
ENGINE RUNNING.
BLUE LED OFF: No data link traffic.
transmitted by this device, visit Caterpillar’s Data
Governance Statement located at CELLULAR RADIO
www.cat.com/data_governance_statement.
BLUE LED FLASHING EVERY 4 SECONDS: Data link traffic The PL542 is a cellular telematics device
may be present, but not the parameters that the PL542 that records data from your equipment and
requires. PL542 installation not recommended on the asset.
transmits it to Caterpillar for easy viewing
BLUE LED FLASHING EVERY SECOND: Engine Speed in a Product Link ™ user interface, such as
present (critical for start stops)
the VisionLink ® web application. These
BLUE LED FLASHING 4 TIMES PER SECOND: Engine speed instructions provide you with a few simple
+ total fuel present
steps to follow in order to quickly and
SOLID BLUE LED: Engine speed + total fuel + fuel level easily install and register your PL542. For
present (required information for a Cat Essentials subscription) UENR7940-01 further assistance, please contact your
© 2017 Caterpillar. All Rights Reserved. CAT, CATERPILLAR, BUILT FOR IT,
their respective logos, "Caterpillar Yellow", the "Power Edge" trade dress as
local Cat ® dealer.
well as corporate and product identity used herein, are trademarks of
Caterpillar and may not be used without permission.

VisionLink is a trademark of Trimble Navigation Limited, registered in the

United States and in other countries.
INSTALLATION REGISTRATION
This kit includes the PL542 itself, along with the required mounting The PL542 can be registered either with the phone application Cat
hardware, and warning labels necessary for this installation. There Activate, or by Contacting your local dealer. Cat Activate is available
are 5 wiring harnesses that can be used for your installation, for use by both dealer, and customer’s with CWS IDs.
depending on the machine you are installing on. Please note, that
these harnesses must be ordered separately from the PL542 kit. Cat Activate is available for download from the Google Play Store,
along with the Apple App store. Cat Activate

CATERPILLAR MACHINES: The PL542 can take between 5 and 10 minutes from the time it is
installed, and powered on in order to register in the Caterpillar
510-4065 : This harness is used for installing on Caterpillar machines databases. Once it has registered, it is possible to find the device in
with the standard 9 pin, grey service port. Cat Activate in order to set the Product ID, or Machine Serial
510-4063 : This harness is used for installing on the newer Caterpillar Number.
machines, that have the 14 pin service port.
The PL542 can be found in Cat Activate in one of 3 methods.

SEARCH EQUIPMENT: This option allows

OEM MACHINES: you to type in the serial number of the
523-5668 : This harness has a 12 pin deutsch connector on the PL542, and search for it.
machine side. This is for some OEM machines, including Komatsu.
QR SCANNER: This option allows you to
523-5669 : This has a black 9 pin, standard service port connector.
use the camera on your phone to scan the
This is for many OEM machines, including John Deere, Case,
2D Bar Code. This is the recommended
Hitachi, Kawasaki, and JCB.
way to find a PL542, as it takes out the
525-4950 : This has an OBDII connector on the machine connector
human element of potentially making a
side for some OEM Machines that do not have one of the common
typo, or choosing the wrong device.
service ports from the other harnesses.
Ensure that you have scanned the proper WHEN DEVICE IS FOUND
device that you just installed on the
First find the service port, or other connector on the machine that Once the device is found in Cat Activate, use the “Add Serial” Plus
machine.
you plan to install on. Next, verify that the connector you are using (+) button in order to add the serial number of the machine.
on the machine matches the wiring on the harness. Caterpillar EQUIPMENT LOCATOR: This option will
cannot guarantee that all machine Service Ports on every OEM are show you a map of the potential Product *NOTE: For Caterpillar machines, ensure that the “Make Code” is
wired the same. It is up to the installer to verify that the wiring Link devices around you that could be CAT. Also, the Product ID must be set to follow the Caterpillar Serial
matches on both the connector, and the PL542 harness. Investigate registered. Number convention. The Product ID must be 8 digits long. The first 3
mounting locations that the harness will easily reach to that the being numbers or letters (alpha numeric), and the remaining 5 digits
PL542 can be mounted on. Please use the following considerations *NOTE: If the device has been powered on for more than 15 can only be numbers (numeric).
when considering where to mount the device: minutes, and cannot be found using the Cat Activate app, contact
your local dealer for assistance. *NOTE: For OEM machines, the “Make Code” will appear as Z99.
° The mounting location must be clean of dirt and debris The Machine Serial Number that can be set for this can be up to 17
° The device must be mounted horizontally to the sky. Any deviation digits long. It can contain any combination of letters and numbers.
from this can cause inaccurate GPS locations. The only special character that is allowed is the hyphen (-).
° The PL542 must be mounted with clear line of site to the sky in
order to receive GPS Location. If a cover is blocking the device, it Once the device is registered to the Product ID of the Caterpillar
must be a non-metallic cover. machine, or the Machine Serial Number of the OEM machine, the
° The PL542 must be located more than 200mm (7.87 inches) from installation process is complete.
the machine operator to comply with FCC regulations for RF
human body safety Cat Activate can also be used to set up the subscription into
VisionLink. For most Caterpillar machines, and Equipment Data (ED)
record is probably already present. However, for most OEM
machines, you may need to contact your servicing dealer in order to
*Use Dual Lock in the pattern above to mount the device. create an ED record prior to setting the subscription.