sundance-communications.com/forum Forums TDM Business Telephone Systems Comdial Telephones & Systems dx80 expansion card limits

I have a dx80 with one dig. expansion card installed. It's configured as a 4 X 16 X 4 right now. Cust. wants to add a few more SL phones. They have 4 now. Will another SL card go into system without adding a 2nd Cabinet?

Nope. Must have expansion cabinet.

No. They are APM's (analog port modules)
Only 4 analog ports per cabinet on the 80 and the 120.

Mark and Rather, not true. The DX-80 will support 3 analog cards in the main cabinet and 3 analog cards in the expansion. You either need to make a cable for the card or order the APM from Vertical. Replacement cards come with the cable. Ribbon cable and connectors may be ordered from an electronic supply house.

The DX-120 on the other hand will only support the APM in the dedicated position in each cabinet. I have a DX-80 installed with 24 single lines. Believe it or not you can ring all 24 S/L ports in a UCD group without power supply issues.

Bogaard, I would suggest not doing this if the cabinet is installed in a warm area. I usually install the cabinet sideways with the power supply at the top of the cabinet if it's fully loaded with voice mail and using 2 or more APMs. The APM card puts an additional heat load in the cabinet. A good work around is to screw a card standoff in all four corners of the cabinet and then put the cover on. This increases ventilation in hot areas because there's a gap all the way around.

--Bill.

Are you saying that the APM card will work when plugged into the J3 slot on the motherboard.? That's the slot just to the right of the one I have the dig. card plugged into.

Deltron is absolutely correct. Bogaard, in your configuration, you can use J3 to plug the APM4 card into. By default your new analog extensions will come up as 117 thru 120. The existing analog extensions should be 149 thru 152 (by default). Your digital extensions should be 101 thru 108 (on main board) and 109 thru 116 (on DPM8 plugged into J2.

Keep in mind that adding the second APM4 will max out this KSU from a station perspective. If you want any more stations (analog or digital) you will have to add an expansion cabinet. Expansion cabinets for the DX-80 are almost impossible to find (and very expensive). A DX-120 expansion cabinet will not work with the DX-80 KSU.

Per the DX80 install documentation....

One APM4 (Analog Port Module, 4-port) can be added to KSU1 and two APM4’s can be added to KSU2. These
modules expand the DX-80 system extension capacity to a maximum of 8 analog ports in each KSU (16 total analog
ports when used in both KSU 1 & 2).
When adding an APM4 to KSU1, it is installed by connection to the 408M via an available Extension Expansion
module connector (either “J2” or “J3” but not both).

Not saying it won't work as I have never tried it but with the warnings of get cables from another source and beware of heat buildup I'd bet you would have gotten ZERO factory support. I have installed 100s of DX80s and 120s and have never heard of anyone doing this. That being said...I'll be trying it tomorrow.

I never had an application for this either and I looked at the 120 documentation, it specifies one APM in the main cabinet. What Deltron said sounds like it works, he knows his stuff, I'd take his word and go fer it.

I agree if Bill says it works it works...trying to think of an application for that many single line sets. Maybe a bed and breakfast that doesn't require full hospitality features. Maybe a small private school. Definitely not a situation you run into everyday.

Rather, the cables are provided when you purchase the card. I made my own since I probably have well over 50 unused APMs I've pulled out of systems. It's a lot cheaper to make a cable for $.50 than buy the card for $165.

Keep in mind if you install extra APMs with the standoffs provided the cards will be slightly taller than the cabinet. This may be why the documentation says this.

My fix was to take a set of standoffs and use them as spacers when installing the cover.