# Tips on troubleshooting intercom system



## zwodubber

Tomorrow I will be going to a cold storage facility where 3 out of 4 warehouse intercom speakers stopped working. They are tied into an Avaya phone system, and the phone/data room is a mess. It's been a while since working with these, any quick tips would be appreciated.

I know the wires were toned and are ok from the speakers to the point they enter the concrete wall heading to the data room. I will tone them again to be sure. They are above forklift height which was my first thought, thats really all I know about it right now. 

All the other speakers (about 16 total between dry storage, loading, receiving, etc...) are working properly.


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## leland

*Cold storage.....*

Speakers failed. Bring speakers. devices failed. Wires good. devices bad.

cold does funny things to things. bring speakers.:thumbsup:


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## zwodubber

leland said:


> Speakers failed. Bring speakers. devices failed. Wires good. devices bad.
> 
> cold does funny things to things. bring speakers.:thumbsup:


The manager I spoke with does not think it is the speakers because all three went down at the same time, he would not even listen and said it is something with the system... :whistling2:

I will test the speakers as well though, thanks :thumbsup:


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## leland

zwodubber said:


> The manager I spoke with does not think it is the speakers because all three went down at the same time, he would not even listen and said it is something with the system... :whistling2:
> 
> I will test the speakers as well though, thanks :thumbsup:



The manager I spoke with. 

Is not a technician. he is a money man.

4 out of 16 went bad/ all on the same ckt? (all 16).

It may be a ckt issue, grounded out. humidity. frozen. it happens.


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## zwodubber

leland said:


> The manager I spoke with.
> 
> Is not a technician. he is a money man.
> 
> 4 out of 16 went bad/ all on the same ckt? (all 16).
> 
> It may be a ckt issue, grounded out. humidity. frozen. it happens.


I know the area with the issue has 4 loudspeakers (3 of which are not working) and a ceiling mounted speaker in the lunch room and 1 office...


Thats really all I know. Thanks for your suggestions :thumbup:


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## zwodubber

ugghhhh... good morning mess


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## Dawizman

Is this at a Walmart by chance?

Anyways, i would recommend starting at one of the dead speakers and working down the line checking all connections, and speakers/volume controls. An analog tone generator hooked to the speaker should be able to tell you if the speaker it's good or not. Intercom systems are a PITA to troubleshoot. Good luck!


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## BBQ

zwodubber said:


> ugghhhh... good morning mess


Remember, electricity does not care how neat or messy the room is and the system did work. You are not there to make it pretty just make it work.

Not trying to be an ass here, you just strike me as kind of a neat freak that would get sidetracked by the mess.

We service sound systems as well and a common issue is a shorted cable due to some over aggressive tie wrapping.


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## jeffmoss26

that is a cluster****, but typical.


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## erics37

Weird, that Avaya paging amp looks IDENTICAL to the several Bogen amps I've installed. Did those outfits merge or anything?

And that system is easy enough to troubleshoot assuming access isn't too terribly difficult. Find the last device that works and check connections in it. It's hard to say how they wired the system (daisy chain vs. random T-tapping) but if it's the former it shouldn't be hard to isolate the bad spot(s).


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## jeffmoss26

I am pretty sure they are just private labeled by Bogen for Avaya.


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## BBQ

Our client uses Peavey and TOA amps, they also seem to be the same thing. We have used TOA input cards in the Peavey amps with no issues.

http://aa.peavey.com/products/index.cfm/item/117677/MMA 800T

http://www.toaelectronics.com/amp0001.asp

http://www.toaelectronics.com/mod0004.asp


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## chewy

BBQ said:


> Remember, electricity does not care how neat or messy the room is and the system did work. You are not there to make it pretty just make it work.
> 
> Not trying to be an ass here, you just strike me as kind of a neat freak that would get sidetracked by the mess.
> 
> We service sound systems as well and a common issue is a shorted cable due to some over aggressive tie wrapping.


No that is a freakin abortion that looks like it was done by some old ex govt telco worker who got a sweet gig as an inhouse technician. Jesus is killing puppys everytime he sees looms of more than 24 cables coming down into a panel not supported by cable tray or in some kind of trunking, everytime he sees unpainted plywood for backing boards. When I think about the price of the gear we install then see installations like that, its like driving an aston martin into a swamp.


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## jeffmoss26

Amen!


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## wildleg

looms ? aston martins ?

put some shrimp on the barbie and call me in the morning.


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## zwodubber

BBQ said:


> Remember, electricity does not care how neat or messy the room is and the system did work. You are not there to make it pretty just make it work.
> 
> Not trying to be an ass here, you just strike me as kind of a neat freak that would get sidetracked by the mess.
> 
> We service sound systems as well and a common issue is a shorted cable due to some over aggressive tie wrapping.


I'll be the first to admit I tend to be a neat freak, but I'm only distracted by it the first minute or 2 when I see something like this then it's time to start workin.

Now when I get to do my own installs, I tend to get a little to picky but I'm working on that :thumbsup:


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## sarness

I can't imagine that install if it was done with 66 blocks instead.


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## Ty Wrapp

sarness said:


> I can't imagine that install if it was done with 66 blocks instead.


You would need more plywood...:blink:


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## chewy

wildleg said:


> looms ? aston martins ?
> 
> put some shrimp on the barbie and call me in the morning.


Yes, 24 port panels, the cables should be "loomed" into their groups before being pulled into the comms closet or data centre ie - 1 - 24, 25 - 48, 49 - 72 etc then labelled Loom 1, Loom 2 and Loom 3 etc. Looming is making sure the cables all flow nicely so there are no visible crossovers and velcroed or zip tied depending on specs at the appropriate intervals. The looms should also go down to the rack or cabinet in a way that they are not crossing over each other like a spaghetti mess.

http://www.astonmartin.com/

I'm not lighting a BBQ for anything less than Angus Beef. :laughing:


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## BBQ

chewy said:


> No that is a freakin abortion that looks like it was done by some old ex govt telco worker who got a sweet gig as an inhouse technician. Jesus is killing puppys everytime he sees looms of more than 24 cables coming down into a panel not supported by cable tray or in some kind of trunking, everytime he sees unpainted plywood for backing boards. When I think about the price of the gear we install then see installations like that, its like driving an aston martin into a swamp.


Not disagreeing with you just pointing out the realitys of it. 

If it looks like that the customer is not going to pay him to make it pretty because that type of customer just wants it to work. 

And it did work so don't get distracted by the ugly.


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## mikeylikesit5805

Get this working?


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## zwodubber

mikeylikesit5805 said:


> Get this working?


yeah, I forgot to get back to this thread. Traced it to a splice that was broken in a block wall. I'm not sure why they spliced the line but I just ran a new line from the amplifier to the first speaker.


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