Using Panasonic PBX for pulse to tone converter question

[brenthyatt]

I recently found a Panasonic KX-TD816 in a thrift shop. Can I use this as a pulse to tone converter? I have no interest in using it as an actual PBX. All my phones are looped together in 1 circuit and I want to leave them that way. Can I just connect the VOIP unit to a CO port and use one extension plugged into a house jack for this purpose? All I am trying to do is have rotary dialing capability and have the old ringers function. I looked into a dialgizmo, but it seems they discourage using multiple phones on one unit.

[unbeldi]

Yes, that should work in principle.
However, to get an outside line user will always have to dial 9 or 81, 82, ..., first.  9 selects the first unused CO line, while 8x selects the specific port.

Also the specifications I have seen of any of the Panasonic systems call for a maximum REN load on each station port of three standard 500-type telephones, which is less than what the telephone company permits.  You have to experiment to see how many can be rung, this depends heavily on how old your phones are.  Old candlesticks for example with a 534-type subset have a REN between 2 and 3 alone.

[brenthyatt]

Thanks Unbeldi. I'm only using 3 phones with ringers currently, so that may not be a problem. I wish I could find an inline pulse/tone converter that handles multiple rotary phones without resorting to using a pbx. As I said, dialgizmo seems to discourage their product for that use. Using 1 dialgizmo per phone is expensive and a rather cheezy solution.

[paul-f]

Although you may not be looking for the PBX functions now, there are several other advantages to having them.

For example, these come quickly to mind.

   
• it's handy to be able to plug a newly acquired phone into its own PBX line and test it.
• You can give great demos of your growing phone collection
• Your house wiring may already have two pairs to each jack, so you could have two groups of phones around the house and use some of them as intercoms, with no additional wiring.

You'll find other benefits in other topics and I'm sure in follow on posts.

[unbeldi]

Thanks Unbeldi. I'm only using 3 phones with ringers currently, so that may not be a problem. I wish I could find an inline pulse/tone converter that handles multiple rotary phones without resorting to using a pbx. As I said, dialgizmo seems to discourage their product for that use. Using 1 dialgizmo per phone is expensive and a rather cheezy solution.

The problem with using these devices is that they draw their power from the line and this can be tricky depending on how the rotary dial is wired in the phone.  In some telephones this leaves one winding of the induction coil in the circuit during dialing, but other telephones completely shunt the telephone during dialing.  It now depends on the power circuit in the gizmo handles that. Other devices use a so-called supercap, which stores enough power by trickle charging, when the phone is not in use.   In theory, if you can assure that only one telephone will have its handset off hook during dialing it may be ok.  But I have heard some reports where the gizmo didn't work at all with a particular phone.

I have built one myself actually and it had separate power input from a USB port, or from a cell phone charger, and so the power issues weren't important.

[Owain]

Yes, that should work in principle.
However, to get an outside line user will always have to dial 9 or 81, 82, ..., first.  9 selects the first unused CO line, while 8x selects the specific port.

Most of the recent Panasonics can be set so that the phone will automatically seize an outside line rather than intercom, if programmed. Or use Pickup Dialling to dial the 9 ...

This feature may not be programmable from a pulse phone unless the pulse phone is substituted with a tone phone temporarily, or the access code for pickup dialling is reprogrammed in flexible numbering.