Choices in an Home Auto system

[english_1969]

mike,

Thanks a bunch!

All of this is programmable via a USB or serial connection to the PBX?

Do you have a voice mail module and/or a music on hold module? Do those work okay well?

I am also needing to buy a phone system for my wife's business and I am thinking about a used 624. I need to get that soon so I could play around with that a little before buying the one for the house.

Have you used or seen the wireless sets that panasonic is now offering?

Using one of the systems should work fine with a service like vonage?? Right?

Sorry for all the quetions!

Anyone else know if the CAV6.6 paging mechanism mutes on audio sense or does it need a trigger?


W

 

[upstatemike]

mike,

Thanks a bunch!

All of this is programmable via a USB or serial connection to the PBX?

The 824 can be programmed via either USB or serial connection and the software is included with the system. The 624 does not have a PC programming interface and must be programmed from the main system phone.

Do you have a voice mail module and/or a music on hold module?  Do those work okay well?

I currently have a TVS50 voicemail unit. It works fine but the serial poert got fried by lightning so I can't change the programming on it. I will be replacing it with the newer TVA50 unit as part of my November upgrades. I like the way my existing unit works with the message waiting lights on the phones and also look forward to the additional features on the new system such as email forwarding of voicemails.

You can use internal chip based music or an external source for music on hold. works fine.



I am also needing to buy a phone system for my wife's business and I am thinking about a used 624.  I need to get that soon so I could play around with that a little before buying the one for the house.

The two systems program differently (system phone vs PC) so you might want to get the same system for both places. The 824 is pretty inexpensive so you would have to be getting a pretty good deal on the used 624 for it to be worth going that route.

Have you used or seen the wireless sets that panasonic is now offering?

I have one on order but there has been a delay so I may not have it for another week or so. I am very interested that they accept "all-call" paging through the wireless unit. Looking forward to trying one out.

Using one of the systems should work fine with a service like vonage?? Right?

The inputs to the system look just like a regular phone to the phone line. I don't know of any reason why vonage would not work.
Sorry for all the quetions!

Anyone else know if the CAV6.6 paging mechanism mutes on audio sense or does it need a trigger?


W

 

[rbroders]

Hey Mike,

I've been looking at this system as well. I'm anxious to hear about the cordless system phones. It looks like you have to have a full cordless system for each extension (i.e. phone, and base station). If you have several, wouldn't they interfere with each other? If you get the TAW848, you only need one cordless base station for up to 28 handsets (8 simultaneous). The TAW848 doesn't have a "residential" version though.

My November upgrades will add loop sense relays to each extension to allow for muting the local music.

How do the loop sense relays work? I noticed the 824 has "SMDR over RS-232C". I think this is a data logging protocol of some sort, but I don't know if it could be used to see if a particular line is off hook, or the system is in paging mode or not.

--Bob

 

[thewireguy]

English 1969 you should check out ELAN Home Systems for your whole house audio......

here is there phone interface that does everything you want

Elan Z600

and here is a link to all of there systems

Elan Home Systems

 

[upstatemike]

Hey Mike,

I've been looking at this system as well. I'm anxious to hear about the cordless system phones. It looks like you have to have a full cordless system for each extension (i.e. phone, and base station). If you have several, wouldn't they interfere with each other? If you get the TAW848, you only need one cordless base station for up to 28 handsets (8 simultaneous). The TAW848 doesn't have a "residential" version though.

My November upgrades will add loop sense relays to each extension to allow for muting the local music.

How do the loop sense relays work? I noticed the 824 has "SMDR over RS-232C". I think this is a data logging protocol of some sort, but I don't know if it could be used to see if a particular line is off hook, or the system is in paging mode or not.

--Bob

Bob-

Yes each cordless sytem needs it's own base. I will have to do some research to see if there is a limit to the number you can have without interference. Once mine comes in I will also be able to comment on usability of cordless vs wired system phones.

I looked at the TAW848 and the feature set is actually less user friendly in a home environment than the 824. The 848's "cell phone" architecture is the only real distinguishing feature and it comes at a cost in other important features.

Loop sense relays are wired in series with ring side of the phone wire going to an extension. It is a current sensing relay designed to activate when a phone goes off hook without impacting the phone circuit. It is a handy way to mute music in an area where you want to use the phone without muting other music zones.

I have heard that somebody did a link between the panasonic serial logging port and Homeseer but I cannot find any details on how it was done or what info is exposed. If extension "off hook" could be detected that way it could make for a great interface! Maybe a search of the Homeseer site would turn up something? If you do locate any more info on this possibility please be sure to share it!

Also be sure if you are buying system phones to go with the KX-T7736 units. They have full speakerphones and nice backlit displays and you will be disappointed if you skimp and go with the cheaper models. There is also a phone that speaks caller ID info. All reports say to avoid this unit as it is impossible to understand the voice and it is generally just annoying.

 

[upstatemike]

English 1969 you should check out ELAN Home Systems for your whole house audio......

here is there phone interface that does everything you want

Elan Z600

and here is a link to all of there systems

Elan Home Systems

Stuff you don't get with Elan is the ability to mute single zones instead of the whole system. Lights to show the phone line is in use, on hold, etc. You will still need a phone system or multi-line phones (and multiple Elan units) if you have more than one phone line.

 

[rbroders]

Loop sense relays are wired in series with ring side of the phone wire going to an extension. It is a current sensing relay designed to activate when a phone goes off hook without impacting the phone circuit. It is a handy way to mute music in an area where you want to use the phone without muting other music zones.

Sounds really interesting. Can you give me a part number? Apparently this technique doesn't work on all systems because the analog portion of the extension is not used. Obviously it couldn't be used for cordless handsets of a TAW848.

I have heard that somebody did a link between the panasonic serial logging port and Homeseer but I cannot find any details on how it was done or what info is exposed. If extension "off hook" could be detected that way it could make for a great interface! Maybe a search of the Homeseer site would turn up something? If you do locate any more info on this possibility please be sure to share it!

I found a couple threads about this on the HS forums. They were regarding the DBS576HD system though, and apparently the SMDR records were for CO trunk line logging. In order to have duration, nothing gets logged until the call is over. The data couldn't be used for off hook music muting. I'll keep looking, but the panasonic site is pretty lame.

Bob

 

[mustangcoupe]

Sounds really interesting. Can you give me a part number? Apparently this technique doesn't work on all systems because the analog portion of the extension is not used. Obviously it couldn't be used for cordless handsets of a TAW848.

why couldn' tit be used on the TAW848? I thought Mike said they each need theit own base?, you could program it to mute the zone where the phone is "home" but yea you couldn't walk around and have it mute those ones as you walk into and out of them .....

 

[upstatemike]

why couldn' tit be used on the TAW848? I thought Mike said they each need theit own base?, you could program it to mute the zone where the phone is "home" but yea you couldn't walk around and have it mute those ones as you walk into and out of them .....

The TAW848 is a digital sytem which means the lines between the KSU and the phones (or cordless bases) cary digitized audio instead of analog so there is no "loop circuit" to detect the current on.

 

[upstatemike]

Sounds really interesting. Can you give me a part number? Apparently this technique doesn't work on all systems because the analog portion of the extension is not used. Obviously it couldn't be used for cordless handsets of a TAW848.

Hookup details are here.

Part number is MON4A and the price is $20.99

Description is here.

 

[english_1969]

I had a thought now based on some further research.

What if I put a small touchscreen (of unknown brand at this point) in all locations where I would normally have some kind of control.

Seems like this would allow future flexibility and allow full control (or limited in some way) at every zone of the house.

Seems like HAI, Elk, Elan, Control4 and others could fit this model.

Thoughts on this?

This would mean using the telephone/paging model from upstatemike.

 

[fleetz]

ELK Products, Inc. is introducing the M1 and new ELKRM Remote Management software that runs on a PC, PDA, and Touchscreen that integrates to the Russound CAV6.6 at the CEDIA Show next week in Denver, CO. The video and IP camera version of ELKRM is about to release.

Hello Spanky,

Are you able to give us folks that were not fortunate enough to get to CEDIA in Denver more information on the Russound interface that you showed.

Is the interface going to also control the Russound VM1 series of matrix switchers or just the CAV6.6?

Opie took some snaps of the TS-07 at CEDIA showing control of a tuner what model/s have you done the interface for or is it simply controlled via a Ocelot and IR?

Any update on the release timing of the video and IP camera version of ELKRM?

Hope things a good for you!

Regards,

Fleetz