sundance-communications.com/forum Forums TDM Business Telephone Systems Toshiba Telephones & Systems Toshiba Strata VIe Basic Question

Hi. I am new here and an basic end-user of a strata VIe.

We have an old Toshiba Strata VIe phone system with 5 incoming lines (and 8 handsets). We are no longer using as many phones and would like to reduce our outside lines to 3. Will we need to do any additional configuration on the Strata to handle this change, or will it suffice to just cancel the appropriate phone lines with the telephone company (with the Strata just handling the lines and making them accessible to the handsets)?

Thanks in advance!

If you have an appearance for each line on the phones, you shouldn't have to anything. When the dial tone goes away, you will just hear dead air on those lines.

You shouldn't have to reconfigure anything , unless you dial "9" to access an outside line or you want to use the buttons where the lines were for something else .

Thanks!

That is exactly what I hoped to hear (and thought might be the case). With a 20-year old phone system, I didn't want to take any chances

That system will survive the apocalypse. Cockroaches envy it's longevity!

This almost worked perfectly!

When requesting the removal of an unnecessary line, the phone company shut off the line that was being used as the default selection for the handsets. Now, when a phone is picked up to call out, we get the dead air.

Is there an easy way to fix this so that the outgoing number is one of the other lines? I have an old manual, but I'm having a hard time understanding.

Thanks again for everybody's responses!

You need to remove that line from outgoing slection in prog. 091 most likely.

Is that true? My parents have a Strata VIe system they are using at their house, but it died after a 2-day power outage a few months ago.

Does anyone have any ideas how it could be revived? I guess it's possible that there was a surge when power was restored that took something out, but we are working under the assumption that the outage itself caused the trouble.

Even if we could the system working again, would we have lost the programming?

Firstly, welcome to the board!


Tis true. I put a VIe in my parents house almost 10 years ago... it was an oldie then. It is still live, even though they no longer use it. I would guess your problem is the battery was taken out or died during the electrical problem. You have most likely lost all programming and or a power supply.

First and foremost, is there power to the outlet that it is plugged into?

We'll go from there.

Thanks. I was under the impression that there
was no battery. At least it has been the case
that during power interruptions (even short
ones) that the system was offline.

I'm pretty sure there is power to the outlet.
I haven't checked it myself, but my father
reports that there is and he is competent.

I'll go back over there with a flashlight and
an AC/DC voltmeter when I get the chance.
If I recall correctly, though, it's not obvious
even how to take the cover off the unit.

If I've lost the programming, then that could
be a problem. I'm a computer programmer
by trade and theoretically should be able to
figure out how to program it, I would think,
but I don't have a programming manual.

I was thinking about bidding on a DK16e sys-
tem to replace this one (hoping without doing
research that the wiring requirements would
be about the same and maybe even that the
two doorbell phones would be compatible) but
dismissed the idea early on because of the
programming problem.

As other's have mentioned, the manuals are obtainable. There is a link, which I have not used, to a site that sells all kinds of manuals.

If you wanted something from the 21st century, search for a CIX (or CTX) line. You can program those using a PC interface, if you can get the software, which would be right up your alley. It may be a bit more, since it isn't discontinued yet.

The CTX-28 is a compact system for up to 16 phones, 6 lines (fully expanded with card), which was replaced by the CIX-40. Make sure the CTX-28 has a GETS ethernet card for programming.

The CTX-100 is the next step up, which is capable of much more ports max(112), and even IP phones, depending on which cards are installed.

The nice thing about all these systems is you can have a SM or SD card to back up programming in case the battery fails.

...Strata VIe system died after a 2-day power outage a few months ago...

Well I went back over this afternoon. I removed
the power supply (HPSU 7120) from the rest of
the unit, opened it up, and noticed a blown 3A
125V fuse.

I replaced the fuse and plugged it back in
(without load, which may have been unwise)
and the fuse blew immediately. Not a good
sign, I don't think.

Suggestions, anyone?

Bad short somewhere in the system?

I think you'd be best to replace it with a new or even newer used system depending on budget. Either way, I wouldn't think it to be economical to invest in repair or replace of that old of a system, much like newtecky said.

What kind of a budget do you have to work with?

Well it's got to be in the power supply itself,
since it blew the fuse when it was disconnected
from the rest of the system.

My parents actually have another phone system
that is not Toshiba-branded (Harris, maybe?) but
is compatible with the same phones. They bought
it just for the phones and mothballed the brain.
But its power supply looks completely different.
I doubt it uses the same connector, but what do
I know. I guess I'll go check to be sure.

Perhaps it won't survive the apocalypse after all, then??

It would be nice to upgrade to a newer system,
I think, especially if I've lost the programming
in the current one anyway. I don't know much
about these systems, though, so I'm not sure
of my options.

A digital system might be nice, or at least
one with caller ID. But then would I lose the
two doorphones? (They are wired with only two
conductors each, while the regular extensions
have mostly six conductors, a few only four.)
The wiring is 1985 telco wire, maybe not even
good enough for digital for all I know.

I'm not sure about budget. That ebay auction
for the DK16e system I mentioned above would
have been $450 or so, which includes 18 phones
and some kind of doorphone interface thing.
That seems reasonable, but I don't think
they'd want to go much higher than that.
I'd have to discuss it with them.

Totally off topic...

Mr. Mull your pic seriously disturbs me..
No Really, I will not be able to sleep for a week.

I went to the prom with it's sister...trust me, she was way hotter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was able to replace the power supply ( thanks MooreTel ) and it
works fine now. We didn't even lose the programming: survive
the apocalypse indeed.

Is that what the coin-type battery is for, to keep the programming?
If so, I should replace it before I reattach the cover and such. Can
I do it while the system is in use?