Not enough volts for hardwire!

Posts: 4 · New Forum Member Joined: Sep 15, 2005 Posts: 4

I'm using a Lynksys Model PAP2 phone adapter and have the following problem.

I have a huge home with structured wiring and cat5. I tried hard wiring the adapter to the line in, but could not receive a dialtone. All I could do was hardwire one line to my office. Lucky the network closet is close by so I was able to achieve this at least.

My question is, is there a line booster of some kind available? I would love to hardwire the whole house so that I can receive calls on line 2 throughout the home. Wireless is not an option. I'm using that now, but when I go from one end of the home to the other, I lose signal (5.8GHz). Like I said, this is a very large home. In fact I have a DC video signal booster or I couldn't watch cable in the bedroom either. Using the network in the middle of the home and then a wireless base phone would work, but I need the base in the office. Any ideas?

Thanks,
Rico

Posts: 1424 · Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2005 8:31 am Post subject:

Yes boosters are available. You have to deal with a couple of issues. You may need to boost the loop current and or the ring voltage.

Sandman has some technical info. This is not a recommendation, I have not used the products.

If you haven't yet done so, I would confirm that your wiring for line 2 is not connected to an external source. I would also attempt adding in extensions 1 at a time just to make sure that there isn't a short that is causing your problem.

Posts: 282 · Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2005 1:18 pm Post subject: 48V from PAP2

I have a similar house wiring - structured wiring to alarm and 11 outlets with cat5 home-runs. My PAP2 is putting out 46v at the structured wiring demarc with no problem with dial tone on any of the 4 phones currently running from it (including phones ringing normally - REN adds up to 3.4 for the phones connected).

You should be able to do what you want - it sounds to me like there might be a problem with your PAP2. What is the voltage your getting?

Posts: 4 · New Forum Member Joined: Sep 15, 2005 Posts: 4

I haven't checked the voltage on the PAP2, but when ever I hard wire to the box, I can't get a dialtone. However when I connect my landline it works with no problem. Of course you might think the wire I was using on the PAP2 might be bad, but it's the same wire I hardwired to a line to the office. I have about 1,000 feet of CAT5 wire in the house and that's why I thought it was "not enough power" problem. I have a line tester and the line tester checks out OK. I guess I'll have to attach a voltage tester to the PAP2 and see what I get compared to the land line.

Thanks!

Posts: 282 · Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2005 6:09 pm Post subject:

You probably already know this, but just in case (or if this could help anyone else) you should have nominal 48V DC across tip and ring from the telco- when not in a ringing state - be careful because ring voltage can give you an unpleasant shock!. Depending on how far you are from the CO or the loop carrier that serves you, you may see as little as 36V, although I measure exactly 48V from the telco at my demarc. I'm seeing 46.5V from the PAP2 at my demarc connection , which is about 200 feet away, connected with Cat5.

I hope you can find a solution to your problem.