On Line Warning Phone Circuit

Hi, Steve. You should start out by reading the phone system manuals, and also by getting in touch with the sales rep for the system. If you've got a multi-line system,

1) Home brew mods will void any warranty or service contract your company has on the system, and 2) I'll bet the device you want is available as an accessory, or as a different phone.

Good luck Chris

Well the service contract is long gone. Unfortunately the manual doesn't say much about this. Yes I suppose there is something you could buy. But Being a bit of a hobbyist I was looking forward to building something. Unfortunately, I suppose there are no general diagrams for this kind of thing.

Regards

=>I have a multiple line phone system....

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Steve--take a look at

where I'm sure you'll find something of interest!

Cheers-- Terry--WB4FXD Edenton, NC

Thanks Terry for your help.

I'm not advanced enough to know however which one would work on a digital line. I don't believe business phones use the same high voltages that a normal house phone uses? Interesting enough in my research I have found many people asking this same question and wanting a solution but no one with a solution. Can anyone point to ones that might work. Again I'm looking for something simple. Some of them look awfully complex. All I want is a light or something saying that someone is on the phone. right now our phones just have an liquid crystal little screen that just point to the line in use. This is impossible to see over someones shoulder or sitting accross the room.

Alternatively I was thinking of putting some sort of Induction device on the hand piece that would detect a small current and then light a light. However I have not seen any schematics for this.

Regards

The newer business phones that I've worked with use two pairs, one for voice, and the other for data. Does the phone have a station lamp on it to show wich phones are in use? If it does, mount a phototransistor or other photo detector over it and use it to switch your "Can't you see that I'm busy, you idiot? Go away!" sign. ;-)

--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I\'ve got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

Michael,

That is a great Idea, And I actually did think of it. Unfortunetely it doesn have an idiot light. It just has an lcd strip and it just points to the line that is being used. Its prety dim.

Any other thoughts ? Anyone.

Regards

Do you have the programming manual for the phone system? Some have interesting options that can be added to the system and programmed for interesting functions.

--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I\'ve got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

Yes I know what you mean. Often they can do more than anyone can imagine, or ever get used. But alas there is nothing there to really help in my situation.

Thanks.

Sounds like it s time for a new phone system. :( Where is an old 1A2 system when you need it?

--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I\'ve got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

Are you trying to go behind the PHB's back on this, or what? Ask the people who sold you the phone system if they have some kind of "on-line" indicator - there isn't anything you can do at a hobbyist level, and you'd void the warranty anyway. All of those office phone systems have some kind of central computer, and the phones aren't real phones, so without knowing that particular make and model's coding scheme, it's impossible to figure out how to make anything to interface with it.

Good Luck! Rich

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Apparently not.

Cheers! Rich

I posted a question about a "phone busy" circuit a couple of days ago (titled: "does this circuit use conventional current?") that may suit your needs. The LED flashes when the phone is in use. Pick up a copy of the March 2006 issue of Nuts & Volts if you want to know how it works. There's a short column on it.

--
Mike

He is using a business phone system. The gadgets that work on single line phones generally do not work with newer business phones.

--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I\'ve got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

Mike,

Interestingly enough I had already read your queries and answers. Had your diagram up on my screen.

However it is true that our phone system is a business phone system. As one person I think appropriately said, business phone systems aren't really phone systems. That is, they are proprietary hardware and sometimes software build by any number of companies. It seems in my research that this is a particularly hard nut to crack generically, in other words one solution will not fit all. I do have an answer however that Im trying to pursue. I alluded to it earlier in my response to one poster. I think an induction type device would work. The idea came to me when I saw various circuits for Inductive phone taps. (

) Of course I have no interest in taping anyones phone, and the way I would build this thing it would be pretty obvious on anyones phone. But I thought if I could simply put on the hand set wire an induction device to pick up voltage when the phone is on line. Possibly increase the voltage using transistors to a flashing led it would simply pick up the voltage, light a flashing led and voila there you have it. Its passive, and actually should work on any type of phone system. Alternatively you could do this and use a 9 volt battery to flash the light.

I'm a novice so anyone who would like to diagram such a things feel free to post some ascii art circuits.

Regards