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Loud humming noise in 52-500

Started by Greg G., August 04, 2012, 11:55:04 PM

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Greg G.

This is the black 500 I got recently (http://tinyurl.com/8qjxskc).  I was going to rotate this as my desk phone, but it has a loud humming noise in the receiver element that can't be heard on the other end.  I tried swapping out the receiver element with a known good one, but still get the same noise.  I have this rigged to my PBX, and the humming only starts when I dial 9 for an outside line.
The idea that a four-year degree is the only path to worthwhile knowledge is insane.
- Mike Row
e

Phonesrfun

Is it possible that there is a modular plug and cord that has either or both of the yellow or black wires connected inside the 500?

In the Panasonic PBX, the second pair (Yellow and black) are used for the digital phones and have power and digital signals on them.  If there is a yellow and black wire in the line cord to the 500, disconnect both and tape each end separately and just let them stay unconnected.

If that is not the problem, it sounds like one side of the outside line or even one side of the extension off the pbx has become grounded. 

My money is on the first item.
-Bill G

Greg G.

#2
I checked the phone, the yellow and black were attached on the phone end, but were cut off on the jack end, but I taped them off anyway.  I plugged in another phone and got the same noise, and also plugged it in directly to a jack in another room with the same result.  The humming noise is in all the jacks, or rather, it's coming from the line.
The idea that a four-year degree is the only path to worthwhile knowledge is insane.
- Mike Row
e

poplar1

Do you get the same noise if you bypass the pbx and connect any phone directly to the outside line? If so, you will need to check the line by connecting a phone directly to the modular jack inside the phone company interface where the line comes to your house. If you have a hum there (with your inside wiring disconnected), then the problem needs to be repaired by the phone company. (I am assuming that you have a real phone line from Ma Bell.)
"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.

Greg G.

Quote from: poplar1 on August 05, 2012, 05:58:15 PM
Do you get the same noise if you bypass the pbx and connect any phone directly to the outside line?

Yes.

Quote from: poplar1 on August 05, 2012, 05:58:15 PM

If so, you will need to check the line by connecting a phone directly to the modular jack inside the phone company interface where the line comes to your house. If you have a hum there (with your inside wiring disconnected), then the problem needs to be repaired by the phone company. (I am assuming that you have a real phone line from Ma Bell.)

I hope that is easy to reach, but I'll check it.  No Ma Bell anymore, got Qwest/Centurylink.
The idea that a four-year degree is the only path to worthwhile knowledge is insane.
- Mike Row
e

LarryInMichigan

If you don't hear the noise when a phone is plugged into the network interface box outside, the noise is coming from somewhere in the house.  See if it goes away when various electrical things, like lights and appliances, are turned off.

Larry

Greg G.

Quote from: LarryInMichigan on August 06, 2012, 12:49:46 PM
If you don't hear the noise when a phone is plugged into the network interface box outside, the noise is coming from somewhere in the house.  See if it goes away when various electrical things, like lights and appliances, are turned off.

Larry

I found the box on the outside of the house, humming noise still there.  I'll let the phone company trouble-shoot it, just don't have time to try your suggestion. 

Now that I think of it, and I don't know if it's related, but my computer or printer started making a funny noise at random but frequent times, right about the same time I noticed the humming noise.  It kinda sounds like a fax or an old 2400 baud modem connection.  I thought it was the computer, but with it powered off, I was still hearing it.  It was coming from somewhere around where my computer and printer are, which are on the other side of the wall from where the phone box is.
The idea that a four-year degree is the only path to worthwhile knowledge is insane.
- Mike Row
e

poplar1

As long as the noise is still there when you unplug the pigtail that goes to your inside wiring, then it is their responsibility to fix the problem at no charge.
"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.

Greg G.

Quote from: poplar1 on August 06, 2012, 02:43:38 PM
As long as the noise is still there when you unplug the pigtail that goes to your inside wiring, then it is their responsibility to fix the problem at no charge.

Pigtail - ?  There were two modular connections inside the box, one I got no dial tone, so I plugged it into the other which gave me a dial tone.
The idea that a four-year degree is the only path to worthwhile knowledge is insane.
- Mike Row
e

LarryInMichigan

Quote from: Brinybay on August 06, 2012, 03:13:37 PM
Quote from: poplar1 on August 06, 2012, 02:43:38 PM
As long as the noise is still there when you unplug the pigtail that goes to your inside wiring, then it is their responsibility to fix the problem at no charge.

Pigtail - ?  There were two modular connections inside the box, one I got no dial tone, so I plugged it into the other which gave me a dial tone.

There should be a plug plugged into a modular connector.  You are supposed to disconnect that plug, which will disconnect the line from your house, and plug a phone into that jack.  That way, you isolate the phone company's line from your inside wiring, and you can then determine on which side of the interface the problem lies.

Larry

jsowers

#10
Here's a YouTube video explaining everything you'd ever want to know about your network interface box except how to kill the yellow jackets that nested in my mom's when I was trying to take it apart. Yeeow!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNaNQEMKNmc&feature=related

Greg, your second jack may be for a second line you don't have. Sometimes they come with two jacks like that. I think my mom's did. She had a hum on the line similar to yours and it was water in the phone line at the road. I had a similar thing happen once and the phone tech said ANTS had eaten the insulation in the wire overhead. He ran a new wire and it's been fine ever since.

Good luck!
Jonathan

twocvbloke

It's like the NTE5 mater sockets we use over here in the UK, except we generally keep it all indoors, though BT are putting in a similar device on new installations (e.g. new houses or adding lines to buildings that didn't have one) to that NID, but for now the NTE5 is king, until BT enter the 21st century... :D

AE_Collector

#12
We have some network interface devices that just have a phone jack in them that disconnect the inside wire when you plug a phone directly into them. They are like an alarm jack with shorting bars on the back of them.

Terry

Greg G.

Quote from: jsowers on August 06, 2012, 04:35:22 PM
Here's a YouTube video explaining everything you'd ever want to know about your network interface box except how to kill the yellow jackets that nested in my mom's when I was trying to take it apart. Yeeow!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNaNQEMKNmc&feature=related

Greg, your second jack may be for a second line you don't have. Sometimes they come with two jacks like that. I think my mom's did. She had a hum on the line similar to yours and it was water in the phone line at the road. I had a similar thing happen once and the phone tech said ANTS had eaten the insulation in the wire overhead. He ran a new wire and it's been fine ever since.

Good luck!

Eww, I detest those phony-baloney replicas they used in the video!  I have a dial tone, but there's a hum in the line too, and it was still there when I plugged a phone into the outside "NID".
The idea that a four-year degree is the only path to worthwhile knowledge is insane.
- Mike Row
e

DavePEI

#14
Quote from: Brinybay on August 07, 2012, 03:50:55 AM
Eww, I detest those phony-baloney replicas they used in the video!  I have a dial tone, but there's a hum in the line too, and it was still there when I plugged a phone into the outside "NID".
Sounds like it will be a free repair job to me... If it persists while plugged into the NID, it is the company's responsibility.

Imagine how much they are saving by abandoning the inside wire and making the home owner responsible for it - now all they have to look after are their lines. 90% of the time, it is the house's wiring. What do people who can't fix it themselves ever do! Ok if you have only one phone, but if you have a complex system such as us phone nuts do, it can be a pain!Last time I had Bell-Aliant down, their tech just nodded as I explained what everything was for. The problem was however on their side of the NID (And he found the problem using my test equipment  ;) ).

Let us know how you make out with them!

Dave
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