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| Thread ID: 46507 | 2004-06-26 02:42:00 | Modem, House Wiring, or Gremlins | B.M. (505) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 247704 | 2004-06-28 03:50:00 | Sneaky fix: leave all the sockets connected as 2-wire. Swap the master box (the one with the capacitor in it) and the garage one. Don't connect the third wire. It will ring the 410 phone plugged into it. Of course, this is very naughty if they are paying for internal wiring maintenance.:D |
Graham L (2) | ||
| 247705 | 2004-06-29 23:42:00 | Well back to the problem in hand after a lay day to try and regain some composure after a run of incredibly stupid problems . The mother-in-laws stove proved to be as tricky as the neighbours computer and telephone setup, boy am I being punished for past sins! How about this? I ask the mother-in-law what sort of stove she has? An Atlas dear comes the reply, so, off to Hamilton I go with a boot full of Atlas parts . Walk into the kitchen and here confronting me is the Atlas stove with Shacklock scrolled across the front of it . I’d completely overlooked the fact that to this rising centurion a stove is an Atlas, shoe polish is Nugget, soap powder is Rinso and so on . I wonder who will service her Westinghouse, Trans-Rail possibly . :D Anyway, if that wasn’t a bad enough start, investigation shows the oven fuse completely vaporised, they probably registered the event at Benmore and every power station in-between . Ha, I think this is easy, typical blown element just a matter of which one, usually the one with a hole in the side . Nope no holes, ok, we’ll get scientific and out with the multi-meter . What the, all elements read correct resistance and none breaking down to earth . Out with the heavy artillery, the 500v meggar . Nope, insulation fine, replace the fuse, power on and everything is good as gold, made a cuppa, left stove going everything fine working 100%, so, left Hamilton with the immortal words of Arnold Schwarzenegger ringing in my ears . “I’ll be back” . :( I can’t for the love of me think what the hell caused the problem, there’s not an arc mark to be found anywhere and looking at the fuse there has to be as I seen enough of them to tell the difference between one that has aged and finally blown and one that has been vaporised whilst doing its duty . Anyway, back to the Neighbours computer and telephones . I like your thinking Graham, that’ll be my next move as Dick Smith is now charging $28 for a 2 wire jackpoint . I was thinking of swapping the innards, as it were, but at the price I think we’ll try some other tricks first . ]:) |
B.M. (505) | ||
| 247706 | 2004-07-05 06:31:00 | Just thought I’d update this saga for those who helped out. In the end I converted all the three wire aux jacks to two wire by cutting the wire (Blue in this case) on pin 3 and hanging a 1.0uf 250v capacitor between pins 2 & 3. The 3 wire main jackpoint got dispatched to the garage (good thinking Graham) and the test termination became redundant. Believe it or not the computer connects at 56k and all the phones work. Thing is, I’m still none the wiser as to what was bugging the modem with the three wire system. Anyway, thanks everyone for your input and I hope none of you inherit the same problem. Bob PS the mother in laws stove is still going! Repent Bob repent!!! |
B.M. (505) | ||
| 247707 | 2004-07-05 12:38:00 | I'd put my money on the modem somehow connecting to more than 2 wires and shorting the capacitor. This would only matter if there was the 3rd wire connecting to another phone. 2 wire only phone cords avoid this. Your solution is practical but the Telecom design 2 wire jacks have changes to the layout of the circuit board and the contact plating to reduce corrosion problems inevitable when you have a dc potential across 2 points. Sooner or later all jacks have insulation problems causing failure. |
PaulD (232) | ||
| 247708 | 2004-07-05 22:37:00 | Paul you make a good point. I’ve just checked out a selection of Modem –Phone leads I have and some are four wire and some are two wire. Now, it is perfectly possible that the leads got swapped when the neighbour brought his computer to my place and it previously worked because he had a two wire lead on a three wire system. Somehow, I replaced the lead with a four wire and the trouble started. Hmmmmmmm, certainly a possibility and we have no others so you may well have solved the mystery. In future I will stick to 2-wire leads for modems and that may save rewiring houses! :D | B.M. (505) | ||
| 247709 | 2004-07-06 02:34:00 | The extra capacitors won't do any harm as long as they only use "modern" 2-wire phones. :D But they could cause a bit of loading if they plug in too many phones which need three wires. If they move the garage one, that would be fine as long as it's the only one. The reason for the Master jack (or internal wiring of the traditional phones which preceded jacks) and the 3 wires is that you should have only one capacitor for all the bells. The capacitor in the first phone, or the Master jack went to the extra wire to the other bells. More than one connected ringer/capacitor could load the line down too much. Real bells worked on 90V AC and used the capacitor to avoid shorting the DC used for dial-dialing and talking. Two-wire does away with the capacitors. Electronic bells don't need the hefty current to make a hammer hit bells from the 90V AC -- they just detect it and generate electronic noises. You need either an internal capacitor in any (one !) traditional phone which you plug into the two-wire system, or a master socket for it. (But you don't connect it out to other sockets. or you'll be back to a 3-wire system). The layout change on the 2-wire sockets just commons pins 1,2,3 on one side, and 4,5,6 on the other. This allows you to daisychain them with only one wire per contact, and even have a spare pair of contacts for the test unit. :D You're unlikely to get problems the way you've done it B.M, but You could always move before they get some retro HB670s and plug them in. :D |
Graham L (2) | ||
| 247710 | 2004-07-06 02:58:00 | Those HB670’s you refer to Graham must have a landfill of there own somewhere. When you think about it there must have been millions of them and it took some grunt to make them ring. 70 volt AC at 16.66 hz as I recall. I also recall getting tangled up between a buss bar carrying the ringing and a buss bar carrying +130v plate voltage, that got my attention. :D | B.M. (505) | ||
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