Panasonic 616 PBX problems

[Tribune]

Good to be back on the forum again.
Been way to overloaded with work that I haven't been here for a couple of months  Life of a   professor is never an easy one 
Haven't even had time to work on my phones!
Did manage to pick up a couple of very nice early '70s Phonemate reel-to-reel answermachines though. Will post some pics soon.

Anyway, having trouble with the Panasonic 616 PBX I installed about two and a half months ago. It was working fine at first (downloaded the instruction manual from this forum) but in the last couple of days it started playing up. It became impossible to dial in to the system from an external number. The phones would ring once and then the system would hang up. On my cell phone I could call my home number, hear the ringing tone once, and then silence. When next to the PBX wall unit you could here is desperately clicking about six to eight time and then stop.
Strangely, I can still dial internally on all extensions and it works fine - just incoming calls from the central office line. Tested it with my butt set as well as the phones on each extension.
Tested all my phones and lines using my ringing voltage generator - they were fine.

So . . .
1) pressed the reset button - no joy
2) disconnected the back-up battery and switched the unit of for 5 minutes - still no joy
3) disconnected my propriety Panasonic programming phone and repeated steps 1) and 2) - still bad
4) unplugged from mains and repeated all steps - still only rings once and hangs up
5) tried connecting the central office line to the other incoming ports (1 through to 6) - still the same problem.
6) have not tested the unit with my ringing voltage generator yet, partly because I don't know how it would have reacted to a constant ringing voltage when it was working properly and I don't want to damage it further.

So now I'm at a loss. Any suggestions short of hurling the thing from a high window? Wife is getting a little POed saying "We used to have just one crappy touch tone phone and that worked just fine". Help!
Mark

[Phonesrfun]

Here is one thing you might try:

The 616 and other electronic phones are meant to work with POTS type phones that have the talk pair (Red and green) on pair 1, which is the inside pair on the modular line cord.  The outer pair (Yellow and black) are reserved for the DC and the other signals for the proprietary digital phones.  What I found once is that a phone I had used a 4 conductor line cord which had the black and yellow pair simply tied together and was shorting out the DC pair when that particular phone was plugged into the 616.  This rendered the 616 inoperable and caused problems similar to what you are experiencing.

Try disconnecting any phones that may have a 4 conductor line cord, or any that has a 3-conductor cord with the yellow wire tied to a red or green.  You want to only have a red and green connected.

See if this might be the cause.

If you have a phone that has a yellow wire connected to the green for older style party line ringing, you do not want to use it that way on the 616.  Instead, modify the wiring inside the phone so that the black ringer wire is connected to L1 instead of G so the ringer is bridged across L1 and L2.

[Tribune]

Right, I'll give that a try tomorrow.
Thanks for the advice. I'll let you know if I have any success.

[Tribune]

Thanks Bill - she's working again now 
For the prop phone I had wired in a 6-conductor line. Seems that was where the fault was. Appears that after installing, the central 4 conductors (red, green, black, and yellow) had worked loose inside the RJ11 connector. Didn't seem to be shorting when I tested it now, but certainly not working though! Unplugged the 6-conductor line from extension 11 and the unit is working like a dream again.
Thanks for the advice.

[gpo706]

Tribune, glad this happened to you (if you get my drift) as I'll never forget what to do if mine ever started acting up!

[Tribune]

Question:
Do I even need a 6-conductor line cord for the Panasonic KX-T7130 prop phone or will a 4-conductor cord suffice? The unit I got from eBay had no line cord.

[Phonesrfun]

I believe it is 4.  Looking into the socket on the back of the phone, how many little contacts are inside?  Should be 4.

[JorgeAmely]

Four. The inner two are tip and ring, the outer two are for communications between the phone and the PBX.

[Tribune]

I believe it is 4.  Looking into the socket on the back of the phone, how many little contacts are inside?  Should be 4.

On the KX-T7130 that I have, there are 6, not 4 contacts. Now, I'm note sure if the unit uses the outer two (white and blue) or if that was just the standard socket Panasonic constructed these units with. But there certainly is 6, that's why I used 6 conductor line cord initially. Sure, I'll give it a try with a 4 conductor and see what happens

[JorgeAmely]

I believe it is 4.  Looking into the socket on the back of the phone, how many little contacts are inside?  Should be 4.

On the KX-T7130 that I have, there are 6, not 4 contacts. Now, I'm note sure if the unit uses the outer two (white and blue) or if that was just the standard socket Panasonic constructed these units with. But there certainly is 6, that's why I used 6 conductor line cord initially. Sure, I'll give it a try with a 4 conductor and see what happens

I will double check tonite.

[gpo706]

Mine runs fine off a 4 core, 2 outside pins blanked.

[Tribune]

Hmmmm . . . "Curiouser and curiouser" said Alice

My KX-T7130 prop phone is definitely 6 pin. But, looking at the 616, the extension 11 socket is 4 pin.
Initially when I connected my prop phone it worked OK and I could program my PBX - that must have been connected with a 6 conductor line into the 4 pin ext 11 socket.

Now when I connect the prop phone to the 616, I get nothing - no dial tone, no LCD etc. Interestingly, the only time I get any life out of it is when I switch off the 616 and let it reset before starting it up again. Then I get a strong dial tone in the prop phone for a few seconds until the 616 sorts it self out and settles down to normal. Then the dial tone of the KX-T7130 fades away to nothing.

The KX-T7130 should work as the 616 manual includes an updated section for this prop phone on how to program it.
May be I shouldn't have a phone in the adjacent extension 12 socket. I've heard that can cause mishaps.  I'll go down to the basement and try that.

[Tribune]

Aggghhhh this is driving me insane! 

So, disconnected the ext 12 socket.
And it works! Power to the prop phone. The extensions all work.
OK, let's test with a call into the network from my cell phone.
And guess what - were back to the original problem again!!! The 616 rings the phones on the network once, and then hangs up!!!
Remove the prop phone, remove the 616's battery, switch the unit off, and wait.

So, what do I know . . .
1) The six pin KX-T7130 prop phone does get power when connected to the ext 11 (4 pin) socket as long as the ext 12 socket is empty
2) The PBX works fine with all phones attached as long as the prop phone is not connected
3) When the prop phone is connected the 616 only works for internal calls
4) The 616 should start operating normally again after disconnecting the prop phone, disconnecting the battery, switching the unit off and waiting a yet-to-be-determined time before rebooting the system. I cross my fingers . . .

What I don't know . . .
1) Is the problem in the KX-T7130 prop phone?
2) Is the problem a short in one of my phones on the network (ring or tip shorting with the black or yellow conductor)?
3) Is the problem a short in my house phone wiring?
4) Why is it only a problem when the prop phone is connected and then only with incoming calls?
5) AM I about to loose my mind?
6) How annoyed will the missus be when she discovers I've been doing this all day rather than sorting out the garage?

[gpo706]

It was recommended that I use my "DSS" console on ext 22 (your 12?) but I assume you don't have one to use on 12/22?

Remember though I'm running a UK version of the 616, if thats any help.

My extensions run from 21 to 36.

[Tribune]

No DSS.
I think it may be shorting issue when using a 4 conductor line cord.
But right now the dog has come into the house covered in something foul and evil-smelling. Looks like I'm bathing the dog and not wrestling with the PBX!