atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Other TDM Phone Systems 1A2 and Comkey Telephones & Systems Chaining 66 blocks with AMP connectors

I have a bunch of 66 blocks with dual 50 pin female Amphenol connectors, where there's one on each side.

For a project I'm doing, it'd sure make my life easier if I had a few of these, but with 4 connectors (two on each side), where I assume the pair on each side is wired in parallel, where the two sides can be bused together with bridge clips.

Even 3 AMP connectors would work, if two of the three were wired in parallel. This would at least provide a way to chain blocks together easily, while leaving the third AMP connector available for "programming" with bridge clips.

A 66 block with 3 or more AMP connectors wired up seem to be rare beasts to acquire, but I know I've seen them before, both in the wild, and in scrap yards.

So two questions:

A) Is there a good source for these, or if recommending particular suppliers is bad, perhaps the proper search terminology for these. I've tried "66 block 4 amphenol connectors", and variations for the connectors, including "rj21", "telco", "50 pin", etc. There seems to be no standard way for distributors to name these connections.

B) Is there a clever way to "easily" use what I have (66 blocks with dual AMP connectors), but without having to punch a lot of wires between blocks. I'd prefer to use cables with the 50 pin connectors to "chain" the blocks together, instead of punching a lot of wires.

PS. If curious what this is for, it's for R&D and debugging a 1A2 circuit board I've been working on, a single board that can do most of what e.g. a 511A KSU can do; 2 RJ11 connectors in, 4 AMP connectors out. Features include an intercom and touchtone extension buzzing. Fun project, spent a few years on-and-off on it. Trying to wrap it up.

Greg:

By far, the most supportive manufacturers are either Siemon Company or Ortronics, Inc. I have to tell you that a pre-wired block with four connectors isn't going to be cheap. Here's a link to the page in Siemon's catalog that you're seeking in order to get part numbers.

SIEMON PREWIRED M4 SERIES BLOCKS

Ah, perfect.. much thanks, Ed!
With that I found a source that sells new ones for around $100, which which given the time it saves me to not punch it down, is probably worth it.

A vendor titled it a SIEMON 50PR BLOCK 66 BRIDGED, so I'm good.

And in fact, the 66 blocks I have are Siemon's too; they have the nice velcro straps to retain the connector.

You should be able to punch down 1 25 pair cable in 5 minutes , the time you spent searching took longer than that .

BTW, here's a preview of the 1a2 board I've been working on, the reason I needed the described 66 block.. a small electronics project gone out of control



Basically a "single board" KSU. Basically does what a 511a KSU does, but small, light, and with some added features.
Makes it "easy" to hook up a bunch of 1a2 phones for use with the usual features (Hold, call transfer, lamps, intercom, bells, buzzers, programmable ringing). Just add a 12v supply, some 1a2 phones, and some US style POTS compatible lines.

Still working on finishing touches, but it's pretty close to being done. Will probably make a webpage for it to "open source" the schematics, circuit description, board layout, manual.

Questions welcome.

> Basically does what a 511a KSU does
*551a*

That's a neat idea, I was wondering if anyone was doing something like this. All sorts of great features you could add without a wall board full of relays and boxes
Cool....

You can tell that it is a factory made circuit board. Very few people use 1a2 or 1a1 anymore except as an at home hobby . You can hardly find one used in a business . So what is the point? Please explain why I would one?

I have a pair of the yellow handle cutters you can see in the picture . I use the to trim my toe nails , they work really well for that .

In fact those yellow handles work so well trimming my toe nails I rarely have to use my burnishing tool to smooth them out .