sundance-communications.com Forums Telephony Discussion Phone & VoIP Systems Nortel Telephones & Systems CICS Aux Ringer Relay

Customer has a CICS with 7.1 software. The auxillary ringer contacts are connected to a paging amp so loud ringing is heard via the page horns. This has recently stopped working.

If I connect my ohm meter across the contacts, I can see the contact closure when ringing is present. The strange thing is that before I connected my meter, the page horn ringing wasn't working. As soon as I connected my meter, with a ringing call, the horns started ringing, as they should. But the horns didn't ring until I connected my meter. If I immediately made a test call, the horns would ring. But if I waited a few minutes before calling, they wouldn't ring until I connected my meter.

Is there something my meter is doing to "kick start" the ringing? Has the relay in the CICS become weak enough that is can operate the contacts but won't operate with the amp's load on it? Why does it start when I connect an ohm meter?

Thanks.
Jim

There's a limit to what those contacts can handle. I'm at the cottage so I don't have he specs here in front of me...but check it out snd check the output of your amp.

Those contacts are NOT for running volts or amps through.
That is ONLY for a signal.
Basically it is for completing a small circuit that would trigger a relay. Then that relay which is in other equipment would then be able to run the amps and volts through it.

If you ran amps through the CICS you probably burnt them up.

Your contacts are shot! You're providing a path of least resistance for the circuit to operate through the meter when read across the contacts on ohmic scale. Try reading voltage. You should read full line voltage and it should drop to zero when the relay operates.

Aren't the contacts a dry closure set of contacts? If I simply short the contacts, the paging amp is triggered to sound a warble tone thru the page horns. There is no volts or amps going thru the aux ringer contacts.

I'm not on-site today, but if I try to read voltage acrosss these contacts, I don't think I'll see any voltage. If there was ringing voltage, it should be zero except during the ring cycle. But I believe it's only contact closure, to function like a spst switch.

And, are you saying the voltage from an ohm meter is enough to damage dry contact relay connections?

Thanks.
Jim

The contacts are only supposed to do something like close a relay, a "dry contact" not have "substantial voltage or amperage" go through them.

I have used them to close one side of a twelve volt relay coil (the tiny current at the bottom of the relay) while a half amp goes through the bigger arms at the top.

In this case, twelve volts at maybe one hundredth of any amp goes through the contacts and that is fine.

You don't put a half amp at 24 volts AC through the relay contacts, that would be ding dong dumb and burn them out. You use the relay contacts to CLOSE some other relay and put the power through those replaceable contacts.

Also, they are used to switch between music and page out. You run music to the normally closed contacts of a double pole double throw relay.

You run paging output to the normally open contacts of a double pole double throw relay.

You run the common contacts to the speaker horns.

You run one side of the power for the relay coil to the relay coil and the other side of the power for the relay coil through the auxiliary contacts.

When you page, the music shuts up because the common arm swings to the paging output.

Easy? Facile? I thought so.