atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Other TDM Phone Systems 1A2 and Comkey Telephones & Systems My 1A2 project

ttyjoe, the comment about dismal connection from earth/waterpipe ground to electrical ground is a concern. The resistance between the 2 should be under 1 ohm and better under 0.1 ohm! If it isn't and the electrical has been 'gone through', it's time to ask the electrician WHY!! Among other things , if the ground connection in the KSU's outlet actually does go to the 'ground/nuetral' buss in the electrical box, AND the ground lead in the KSU power cord is good and connected to the KSU's ground, YOU have now created 1; A ground loop (BAD) and 2; The ksu is now house ground (REALLY BAD). Things like 'shocking results' and KSU on fire, come to mind! OH, and GFI's throughout the house probably WON'T gfi. (Ground Fault Interrupt)

Hi Lightninghorse,

The ground problem is in the current house, the new house that we are moving into has an excellent ground system. The entire (new) house was rewired last year, there is a whole house EMI filter system and all outlets are properly grounded. Here at my current home, I do not keep the KSU plugged in at this location except to work on it.

As far as the electrical system in this house, about four years ago, we had the bathroom and kitchen remodeled, and about half of the wiring in the house was replaced with good quality stuff. The other half is early 40's vintage and is horrible.

I am very anxious to move (Feb 1st!) and when I take the last box out if this place, lock the door, hand the key to the realator and kick the dust off of my shoes, I will be a happy man indeed!

Joe

Hi all,

I continued to wire my cross-connects, and every thing seems to be working. I followed Arthur's instructions above, and connected the second line to the station block by connecting the five wires and wrapping the Orange/white around the bundle.

When I plugged the unit it, I was able to bring up each KTU with the appropriate key, the light came on, it worked when connected to the CO, and all is happy.

The only thing that I am concerned about Arthur is that you instructed me to disconnect the A1 leads inside the keyset and insulate them. I did not do that as I want to study the keyset BSP a little bit more, but do I need to do that for the remaining four keys even though I am only going to have two CO lines? (I will use the other three keys for a 415KTU, intercom and a spare for future functionality, maybe overhead paging. (Yes, I plan on installing house wide ceiling speakers and piping in elevator music... at least when my A-unit is not home :-)

I am too tired tonight to take apart my keyset, as I want to be quite alert so that I do not screw anything up inside there.

One a related note, I just scored another moss green keyset, and I have my eye on a Northern Electric keyset that has amber keys as well as two white keys and a red hold key.

Thank you again for all of the support!

Joe

Joe-

No need to disco the A-1 leads in the set. Depending on the type of set, they may already be disconnected, but I don't believe there's any need for you to do so.

You will want to open the set to install a buzzer or other signaling device for your intercom.

Sam

Joe -

Another option you might want to consider - depending on the layout of your house is a door answering/signaling system on one of the unused keys.

Someone goes to the door, rings the bell and PU key X flashes and the phone rings - on every phone in the house. You pick up the ringing line and speak handsfree to the guest. Push a signal button or unused key and open the door.

Just another common option.

Sam

Question. Didn't we disconnect and chain the A1, A2,A3,A4,A5 leads inside the sets only when we needed extra leads for extra buzzers because there weren't enough spare leads inside the set?

I will explain what I meant.

I was DESCRIBING the A1 leads, not PRESCRIBING what you should do.

The A1 leads are "insulated and stored" at the factory in 6-button sets. You do not have to do anything to them.

You will see the symbol † in BSP diagrams. That symbol is always used to indicate a lead that is "insulated & stored." Sometimes the installer does it, but most times the factory did it.

Exactly. There is only ONE legitimate A1 lead. All of the other 'would-be' A1 leads for subsequent line keys served no purpose and were insulated and stored. After all, where else would they go?

Of course, there is always the possibility with a non-factory refurb that these leads may have been used for some field modification. I guess that with this being said, it is worth it to make sure that none of them were used for something else.

I seriously doubt that any 1A2 sets are being refurbished these days by anyone who truly knows how they should be wired, so anything can happen.

Well since mine seems to be working fine, I will leave well enough alone. It does have a buzzer (the low voltage round one) mounted on the dial mount thing. Believe it or not, I remember seeing a rectangular buzzer that ran on 100 volts ring voltage in an old set that my uncle decided to "fix" years ago, then gave to me to put on my desk (not hooked up) as it never worked right after he "fixed" it.

I am very excited as next week is the big move, and shortly thereafter I will be installing my 1A2 unit. I will take and post photos. I have one moss green keyset that I have polished (except the dial face) and works fine as I said above. I have another moss green unit on the way that I am sure that will need the same treatment (green seems to oxidize more than the cream or black ones). Once I get the basic phone system installed, I will start on the intercom feature, then try to get a MOH unit and get that working.

Last thing on the agenda is to get my out-building (no, not an outhouse) built, where I will set up my teletypes, phones and radios, and I will attempt to use 415A cards to link the house 1A2 to the outbuilding 1A2 unit.

Making progress!

Thanks again for all of the help!

Joe

One other little tidbit of info...

We are moving as I said above, but get this...

The new place will be in the countryside in North Western Missouri, outside of a defunct little town known as Roosterville. There is indeed a Roosterville airport that even has a paved runway and taxi-way!

Anyway, I am thinking when I get my outbuilding built and have my phone collection up and running, calling my display the Southwestern Roosterville Phone Co. :rolleyes: (SRP for short...)

I guess that I can then generate a bunch of RSP's... you know... Roosterville System Practices :rofl:

Sorry about the bad attempt at humor!

Joe