(npn) switch not able to detect limits

Hello All,
First time poster here.
I am building a RatRig stronghold pro for my workshop and as I move from assembly to electronics I am hitting a few snags (predictable for a woodworker).
All seems good with the setup and it powers on fine, Blackbox x32is up, switches light up and machine is connecting and jogging fine via Openbuilds Control.
The problem I am having is that no matter what I do the switches don´t seem to trigger. I also don´t get the unlock alarm that at any time.
I´ve played with the $5 parametre from 7 to 0 and anything in between and it goes from OFF (on 7) to TRIGGERED (on 0) and a combination of both through the Y, Z , X when the numbers are between 0-5. I cannot action them on the troubleshoot panel in any circunstance and am out of ideas. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
below is a dump of my config and some images in case it helps illustrate where I am at.


$$ ] $0=10.0 ;Step pulse time, microseconds

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $1=255 ;Step idle delay, milliseconds

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $2=0 ;Step pulse invert, mask

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $3=4 ;Step direction invert, mask

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $4=0 ;Invert step enable pin, boolean

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $5=7 ;Invert limit pins, boolean/mask

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $6=1 ;Invert probe pin, boolean

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $8=0 ;Ganged axes direction invert as bitfield

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $9=1 ;PWM Spindle as bitfield where setting bit 0 enables the rest

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $10=511 ;Status report options, mask

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $11=0.010 ;Junction deviation, millimeters

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $12=0.002 ;Arc tolerance, millimeters

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $13=0 ;Report in inches, boolean

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $14=0 ;Limit pins invert, mask

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $15=0 ;Coolant pins invert, mask

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $16=0 ;Spindle pins invert, mask

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $17=0 ;Control pins pullup disable, mask

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $18=0 ;Limit pins pullup disable, mask

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $19=0 ;Probe pin pullup disable, boolean

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $20=0 ;Soft limits enable, boolean

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $21=1 ;Hard limits enable, boolean

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $22=1 ;Homing cycle enable, boolean (Grbl) / mask (GrblHAL)

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $23=3 ;Homing direction invert, mask

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $24=100.0 ;Homing locate feed rate, mm/min

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $25=1000.0 ;Homing search seek rate, mm/min

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $26=250 ;Homing switch debounce delay, milliseconds

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $27=5.000 ;Homing switch pull-off distance, millimeters

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $28=0.100 ;G73 retract distance, in mm

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $29=5.0 ;Step pulse delay (ms)

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $30=1000.000 ;Maximum spindle speed, RPM

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $31=0.000 ;Minimum spindle speed, RPM

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $32=0 ;Laser-mode enable, boolean

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $33=5000.0 ;Spindle PWM frequency

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $34=0.0 ;Spindle off Value

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $35=0.0 ;Spindle min value

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $36=100.0 ;Spindle max value

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $37=0 ;Stepper deenergize mask

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $39=1 ;Enable printable realtime command characters, boolean

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $40=0 ;Apply soft limits for jog commands, boolean

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $43=1 ;Homing passes

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $44=4 ;Homing cycle 1

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $45=3 ;Homing cycle 2

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $46=0 ;Homing cycle 3

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $62=0 ;Sleep Enable

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $63=2 ;Feed Hold Actions

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $64=0 ;Force Init Alarm

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $65=0 ;Require homing sequence to be executed at startup

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $70=7 ;Network Services

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $73=1 ;Wifi Mode

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $74= ;Wifi network SSID

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $75= ;Wifi network PSK

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $100=199.100 ;X-axis steps per millimeter

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $101=199.100 ;Y-axis steps per millimeter

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $102=199.100 ;Z-axis steps per millimeter

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $110=2500.000 ;X-axis maximum rate, mm/min

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $111=2500.000 ;Y-axis maximum rate, mm/min

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $112=2500.000 ;Z-axis maximum rate, mm/min

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $120=150.000 ;X-axis acceleration, mm/sec^2

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $121=150.000 ;Y-axis acceleration, mm/sec^2

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $122=150.000 ;Z-axis acceleration, mm/sec^2

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $130=1000.000 ;X-axis maximum travel, millimeters

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $131=1000.000 ;Y-axis maximum travel, millimeters

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $132=100.000 ;Z-axis maximum travel, millimeters

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $300=Grbl ;unknown

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $302=192.168.5.1 ;unknown

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $303=192.168.5.1 ;unknown

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $304=255.255.255.0 ;unknown

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $305=23 ;unknown

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $306=80 ;unknown

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $307=81 ;unknown

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $341=0 ;Tool Change Mode

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $342=30.0 ;Tool Change probing distance

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $343=25.0 ;Tool Change Locate Feed rate

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $344=200.0 ;Tool Change Search Seek rate

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $345=200.0 ;Tool Change Probe Pull Off rate

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $346=1 ;Restore position after M6 as boolean

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $370=0 ;Invert I/O Port Inputs (mask)

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $384=0 ;Disable G92 Persistence

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $396=30 ;WebUI timeout in minutes

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $397=0 ;WebUI auto report interval in milliseconds

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $398=35 ;Planner buffer blocks

[11:52:56] [ $$ ] $481=0 ;Autoreport interval in ms

(sorry, cannot seem to upload images at the mo)

Thanks in advance!

 

Oh yes, it is on 24v. I believe the sensors operate on 10~30v.
I´ve since swapped the wires as I had them coming into each slot of the x32 ( swapping signal and gnd - the two outside wires) but that did not do the trick. I´ve also managed to trigger the alarm on 2 of the 3 sensors by waving a metal screwdriver in front of them, so there is some communication.
I still can´t however force the alarm via troubleshooting nor trigger anything when the axis moves close to the sensor (as if they needed more detection range).

 

That was the reason I re-wired them. It seemed they were wired the wrong way around in the first place. I followed ratrig´s scheme (here) and found things weren´t quite matching. Hopefully not damaged anything - anyway I can check?

If by this you mean using the buttons to manually activate the inputs in the inputs/endstops panels, that is where I get stuck. the buttons for X,Y,Z limits don´t seem to do anything (stuck in green "off" with no effect when clicked) unlike what I see others do on setup videos, where the alarm triggers. Switching $5 to 0 makes them all go into "triggered".

Maybe I am missing documentation/instructions but what I found here only glances over the limiter setup: https://docs.openbuilds.com/doku.php?id=docs:blackbox-x32:connect-npn-inductive

Thanks again!

 

Hi Peter, just passing to leave a thank you and close off this topic on my side.
I managed to get them all detected after a bit of tinkering to reposition some and adding metal plates to other parts. all is good and the machine is working fine.
Thanks for your help and promptness!