atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums TDM Business Telephone Systems Panasonic Telephones & Systems KX-TD816 PC (comm) port not working.

I’m dealing with a KX-TD816. I do not know the revision of the unit but it was purchased in Jan. 2003 & the revision was current at that time.

I can no longer communicate via the “SMDR” (serial) port. The port does not output any voltage from the port (RS-232c spec). This leads me to believe either the UART, or power supply voltages to the UART are the issue.

The system is currently working with the only exception of the serial port issue. I've already tried a power clear. I don't want to try to "factory" the unit as it would render it to be useless.

I'd like to minimize downtime.

Anyone have suggestions to do any further checking, without a factory reset?

Any recommendations to where the KX-TD816 could be sent for repair?

OR

Is there a suitable replacement that would support the existing digital phones?

Panasonic's east coast repair facilities are located in the Atlanta (Suwannee, GA) and Philadelphia areas and both offer excellent turnaround times. The Pennsylvania location would be best for you:

Panasonic Factory Service
2221 Cabot Blvd West, #B
Langhorne, PA 19047
Phone: 215 741-0661.

I doubt that you will get the unit back without it having been defaulted though. When you send something to them, they check/fix everything. You won't be able to do a database backup if the serial port isn't working, so you should manually check any critical programming in advance prior to sending the unit in to them.

Remember that the KX-TD systems don't communicate unless all RS232C parameters are met, as in hardware flow control. If you are trying to just use TD, RD and SG, you won't get any output.

Thanks for the reply & the info. I’ll probably be sending the KSU out for repair unless I can find something that’s in production to replace it. I’m not worried about the configuration as I would be able to recreate it, once I have access to it.

I was hoping someone would be familiar with the internals of the 816, looking to see if I could replace whatever component is ailing this beast.
==========
John

IC's on the CPU board, 1488 and 1489, as usual! Changing them will probably negatively affect the program! (Of Course) If you have been previously acessing programming, what happened? That is a pretty robust port! Keep in mind that if SMDR is 'ON', you have to turn it 'OFF' through set progamming access. No programming allowed until you do, including turning 'OFF' SMDR. John C. (Not Garand)

Lightninghorse,

Thanks much! Now that I know what to look for I'm going to give it a shot. It'll be some time though, I do the service on this unit gratis.

As to what happened, I don't know. I simply went up to the unit with a laptop, plugged in & nothing. That was about a year ago but since the user didn't need any changes I left well enough alone. A TVS50 was bought at the time of original purchase (2003) but never put in service. It was powered & I ran through it's menu but it's been powered down since. Now I'd like to get the TVS50 online.

I agree. The RS232 interface is robust. I’m hoping it’s not the power supply in the 816 itself.

Thanks again.
John

We have 100's of the old KXTD816 & 1232's out there and never a bad RS232, normally a pc issue or interface cable (see below).
DB-25 to DB-9,
SD 2 - 2 RD,
RD 3 - 3 TD,
CTS 5 - 7 RTS,
DSR 6 - 4 DTR,
SG 7 - 5 GND,
DTR 20 - 6 DSR,

PS: a quick RS232 check, plug and have the pc ready running hyperterm or Procomm, then power up the KSU, after a few seconds you should see some characters, followed by SMDR once calls are made.

Comm program setup (Hyperterm or Procomm)
9600b, 8, 1, none VT-100.
Also in the Windows Comm Port setup, make sure flow control is set to NONE

Testing that has already been done:
• PC works with other devices (modem, other PC via x/o, etc.)
• Attached breakout box. Box shows no output from the 816 serial port.
• Measure voltages on 816 RS232 pins. Nothing out.

correction balley its 9600,mark 8,1 and no flow control vt100 by default( 9600,none ,8, and 1 is default for the tvs) for that test and i'dd make sure smdr is turned on through the keypad . a db 25 to db 9 and a radio shack null modem adapter works every time.and you don't have to power off but wont hurt to turn ksu on and off and if by some fluke you are using tapi tsp you'd want that turned to com port none in advanced options in control panel in phone and modem settings that and reboot the pc that'd stop your com port dead and make connecting impossible then just have hyperterminal set up properly and hit connect icon on hyperterm and plug in to the ksu you'll first see the modemm init string then a solid blue triangle pointing right and then in a few seconds you should start spiting lines of smdr information.if not go to below post if its a late model 816... and you have the belly pack modem for the 816

if this is a later model and you have a kx-td 198
in stock connect it up temporary you can tell it it's there through the keypad and do a backup
by connecting your laptop / pc modem directly to an panasonic analog ext and dial in through ext 299 and do a backup that way befor shiping it off for repair if you are worried about the database...then if you have a spare upload
it to your spare and you are a hero .lets face
it you can't have that much in that database to begin with unless your running ars and I have only set it up for other techs never used it my self.

If there is no way of shutting the output voltages from the rs232 port, it's "broken" ! The output leads of the port were measured in the ways described above. Multi meter, rs232 breakout box, etc.

So, if what I believe to be correct (output voltage can not be disabled) I have two choices.
1. Trouble shoot down to component level
or
2. Send in for repair.