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Old 04-16-2012, 11:54 PM   #1
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Default Tips on troubleshooting intercom system

Tomorrow I will be going to a cold storage facility where 3 out of 4 warehouse intercom speakers stopped working. They are tied into an Avaya phone system, and the phone/data room is a mess. It's been a while since working with these, any quick tips would be appreciated.

I know the wires were toned and are ok from the speakers to the point they enter the concrete wall heading to the data room. I will tone them again to be sure. They are above forklift height which was my first thought, thats really all I know about it right now.

All the other speakers (about 16 total between dry storage, loading, receiving, etc...) are working properly.

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Old 04-17-2012, 12:07 AM   #2
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Default Cold storage.....

Speakers failed. Bring speakers. devices failed. Wires good. devices bad.

cold does funny things to things. bring speakers.

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Old 04-17-2012, 12:21 AM   #3
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Speakers failed. Bring speakers. devices failed. Wires good. devices bad.

cold does funny things to things. bring speakers.
The manager I spoke with does not think it is the speakers because all three went down at the same time, he would not even listen and said it is something with the system...

I will test the speakers as well though, thanks
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Old 04-17-2012, 12:27 AM   #4
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The manager I spoke with does not think it is the speakers because all three went down at the same time, he would not even listen and said it is something with the system...

I will test the speakers as well though, thanks

The manager I spoke with.

Is not a technician. he is a money man.

4 out of 16 went bad/ all on the same ckt? (all 16).

It may be a ckt issue, grounded out. humidity. frozen. it happens.
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Old 04-17-2012, 01:06 AM   #5
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The manager I spoke with.

Is not a technician. he is a money man.

4 out of 16 went bad/ all on the same ckt? (all 16).

It may be a ckt issue, grounded out. humidity. frozen. it happens.
I know the area with the issue has 4 loudspeakers (3 of which are not working) and a ceiling mounted speaker in the lunch room and 1 office...


Thats really all I know. Thanks for your suggestions
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Old 04-17-2012, 07:47 AM   #6
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ugghhhh... good morning mess







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Old 04-17-2012, 08:59 AM   #7
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Is this at a Walmart by chance?

Anyways, i would recommend starting at one of the dead speakers and working down the line checking all connections, and speakers/volume controls. An analog tone generator hooked to the speaker should be able to tell you if the speaker it's good or not. Intercom systems are a PITA to troubleshoot. Good luck!
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Old 04-17-2012, 09:36 AM   #8
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ugghhhh... good morning mess


Remember, electricity does not care how neat or messy the room is and the system did work. You are not there to make it pretty just make it work.

Not trying to be an ass here, you just strike me as kind of a neat freak that would get sidetracked by the mess.

We service sound systems as well and a common issue is a shorted cable due to some over aggressive tie wrapping.
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Old 04-17-2012, 09:40 AM   #9
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that is a cluster****, but typical.
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Old 04-17-2012, 10:30 AM   #10
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Weird, that Avaya paging amp looks IDENTICAL to the several Bogen amps I've installed. Did those outfits merge or anything?

And that system is easy enough to troubleshoot assuming access isn't too terribly difficult. Find the last device that works and check connections in it. It's hard to say how they wired the system (daisy chain vs. random T-tapping) but if it's the former it shouldn't be hard to isolate the bad spot(s).
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Old 04-17-2012, 11:20 AM   #11
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I am pretty sure they are just private labeled by Bogen for Avaya.
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Old 04-17-2012, 12:07 PM   #12
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Our client uses Peavey and TOA amps, they also seem to be the same thing. We have used TOA input cards in the Peavey amps with no issues.

http://aa.peavey.com/products/index....677/MMA%20800T

http://www.toaelectronics.com/amp0001.asp

http://www.toaelectronics.com/mod0004.asp
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Old 04-17-2012, 02:59 PM   #13
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Remember, electricity does not care how neat or messy the room is and the system did work. You are not there to make it pretty just make it work.

Not trying to be an ass here, you just strike me as kind of a neat freak that would get sidetracked by the mess.

We service sound systems as well and a common issue is a shorted cable due to some over aggressive tie wrapping.
No that is a freakin abortion that looks like it was done by some old ex govt telco worker who got a sweet gig as an inhouse technician. Jesus is killing puppys everytime he sees looms of more than 24 cables coming down into a panel not supported by cable tray or in some kind of trunking, everytime he sees unpainted plywood for backing boards. When I think about the price of the gear we install then see installations like that, its like driving an aston martin into a swamp.
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Old 04-17-2012, 03:20 PM   #14
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Amen!
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Old 04-17-2012, 04:28 PM   #15
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looms ? aston martins ?

put some shrimp on the barbie and call me in the morning.
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Old 04-17-2012, 08:45 PM   #16
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Remember, electricity does not care how neat or messy the room is and the system did work. You are not there to make it pretty just make it work.

Not trying to be an ass here, you just strike me as kind of a neat freak that would get sidetracked by the mess.

We service sound systems as well and a common issue is a shorted cable due to some over aggressive tie wrapping.
I'll be the first to admit I tend to be a neat freak, but I'm only distracted by it the first minute or 2 when I see something like this then it's time to start workin.

Now when I get to do my own installs, I tend to get a little to picky but I'm working on that
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Old 04-17-2012, 11:30 PM   #17
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I can't imagine that install if it was done with 66 blocks instead.
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Old 04-18-2012, 12:16 AM   #18
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I can't imagine that install if it was done with 66 blocks instead.
You would need more plywood...
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Old 04-18-2012, 01:44 AM   #19
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looms ? aston martins ?

put some shrimp on the barbie and call me in the morning.
Yes, 24 port panels, the cables should be "loomed" into their groups before being pulled into the comms closet or data centre ie - 1 - 24, 25 - 48, 49 - 72 etc then labelled Loom 1, Loom 2 and Loom 3 etc. Looming is making sure the cables all flow nicely so there are no visible crossovers and velcroed or zip tied depending on specs at the appropriate intervals. The looms should also go down to the rack or cabinet in a way that they are not crossing over each other like a spaghetti mess.

http://www.astonmartin.com/

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Old 04-18-2012, 04:22 AM   #20
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No that is a freakin abortion that looks like it was done by some old ex govt telco worker who got a sweet gig as an inhouse technician. Jesus is killing puppys everytime he sees looms of more than 24 cables coming down into a panel not supported by cable tray or in some kind of trunking, everytime he sees unpainted plywood for backing boards. When I think about the price of the gear we install then see installations like that, its like driving an aston martin into a swamp.
Not disagreeing with you just pointing out the realitys of it.

If it looks like that the customer is not going to pay him to make it pretty because that type of customer just wants it to work.

And it did work so don't get distracted by the ugly.

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