Where to start? Intercom fault finding.

[th_walking_dude]

Hi All

Hoping one of you kind people could give me a few pointers with a job I am going to look at next week.

It's basically fault finding on an intercom system, a tenant in an apartment can't hear when people are buzzing up to them, that's about all I know so far.

I'm afraid to say I don't know much about intercom systems, the job is part of a maintenance contract I have with a property management company so it's not really something I can easily avoid and to be honest as it's a weakness I would rather get stuck in, get good at it and make it a strength but ideally without making a fool of myself in the process!!!

Having lived in an apartment myself I know how crap handsets can be so it is quite likely a dud handset but it would go against the grain to go around blindly changing parts without knowing why.

So if any one has any faultfinding tips or hints would be really appreciated.

Can't find any good resources online.

Also I don't suppose there are really any books which touch on this too much but if anyone could recommend anything that would be great.

 

[trev]

Don't have a great deal of experience with these things but surely the place to start would be belling out the cables from the door to the flat in question.
Eliminate things one by one and what you're left with has to be where the problem lies

 

[ruston]

And corrosion and weakness on the contacts. The cable is easily snapped.

PS , check the transformer output if the fualty one is on the long run.

 

[Leesparkykent]

If it's not ringing the phone in the flat, the 1st thing I would check would be the button for that particular flat whilst checking for loose broken contacts.

 

[th_walking_dude]

And corrosion and weakness on the contacts. The cable is easily snapped.

PS , check the transformer output if the fualty one is on the long run.

I like the transformer idea, that would be fairly straight forward. If there's a break in continuity that sounds like it is going to be a pig! I wish I knew what handset it was so I could swap that over first to rule that out. I'm probably making a mountain out of a molehill in my head about this but I don't like not knowing what I'm doing, Thanks for your advice so far gents.

 

[trev]

Borrow a handset from an adjacent flat and swap the handset from the flat with the fault for that one. That will rule out one thing right away

 

[ruston]

If the rest are working the fault is usually local to the failed one.

 

[th_walking_dude]

If it's not ringing the phone in the flat, the 1st thing I would check would be the button for that particular flat whilst checking for loose broken contacts.

Thank you, the button was what I thought about when the lady was telling me about it. Are these generally interchangeable parts or would you swap the panel over? Thanks to the wonders of google maps I can see the panel is only small, maybe 5 or 6 buttons on it and the flat number is low so probably ground floor and hopefully near the panel!

 

[trev]

Mate, apply the same methodology that you would when diagnosing any other type of fault. You'll be fine man

 

[th_walking_dude]

I know your right, just have to start with what I know for sure and fill in the blanks! best way to learn that's for sure.

 

[Leesparkykent]

I know your right, just have to start with what I know for sure and fill in the blanks! best way to learn that's for sure.

I haven't fitted loads of them, but when I put them in small blocks of new build flats I'm doing I use a make called bell systems

probably a far cry from the best but all the parts are changeable speech unit, buttons, etc. They are also easy to fit.

 

[th_walking_dude]

I haven't fitted loads of them, but when I put them in small blocks of new build flats I'm doing I use a make called bell systems

probably a far cry from the best but all the parts are changeable speech unit, buttons, etc. They are also easy to fit.

That's awesome you've (all) been a massive help. I have seen those online. sods law they have an install from the 90s and I won't be able to get parts although having looked at those systems I don't imagine changing the whole panel wouldn't be too terrible.

 

[ruston]

As long as all cables ok ,it's a gift

 

[Leesparkykent]

Make sure you take a set of these with you.

51 PIECE SECURITY / TAMPERPROOF SCREWDRIVER BIT SET | eBay

 

[th_walking_dude]

I have some spare time tomorrow so spend a bit of it looking at those Bell manuals, should give me a solid understanding of how they work, even if it's not a Bell brand I'm sure it will be a similar set up.

Thanks again

 

[Dcf]

That's awesome you've (all) been a massive help. I have seen those online. sods law they have an install from the 90s and I won't be able to get parts although having looked at those systems I don't imagine changing the whole panel wouldn't be too terrible.

As recent as the 90s... You will be doing well!
some of the older ones have some weird and wonderful methods of operation.
start at the panel to check the push.
If it's not right short across the push to make double sure.
if ok check the handset
watch out for common wires that are sometimes looped from flat to flat
the likes of videx and bpt have tech support who are quite good tbh.
check out intercomsrus who have an excellent handset finder bit on their site which has got me out of a spot on a few occasions
the hardest part of fixing a door entry is getting the full picture about what the problem is
is everyone else's working ? Oh yeah. Then after you've spent a bit getting a handset and the like the neighbour says his isn't working either and it's the lock that's faulty!
you get the drift I'm sure

 

[simpson93]

I would check to see if the volume is up
some people knock it down without realising it's even there

before it all gets too complicated.

 

[th_walking_dude]

Just a quick update, went to this job the buzzer was working when calling the effected flat but not ringing the phone upstairs so, either a lose connection, dodgy handset or break in continuity I thought. Opened up the handset checked all was ok and from what I could see it was, closed it back up and went downstairs to have a look in the control panel but thought I'd try the buzzer again and it worked right away, tried it a few times and it was fine. I asked the tenant if it was an intermittent fault and he said it has never worked, not even once so it looks like a loose connection in the handset (i did tighten them) or a break in a wire in the handset that is now sitting pretty. Either way the jobs a good un (for now at least!)

Just wanted to post an update and say thanks for everyones help and advice, I spent a few hours reading up on these and looking at wiring diagrams so feel a lot more comfortable doing these in future.

 

[ruston]

Just a quick update, went to this job the buzzer was working when calling the effected flat but not ringing the phone upstairs so, either a lose connection, dodgy handset or break in continuity I thought. Opened up the handset checked all was ok and from what I could see it was, closed it back up and went downstairs to have a look in the control panel but thought I'd try the buzzer again and it worked right away, tried it a few times and it was fine. I asked the tenant if it was an intermittent fault and he said it has never worked, not even once so it looks like a loose connection in the handset (i did tighten them) or a break in a wire in the handset that is now sitting pretty. Either way the jobs a good un (for now at least!)

Just wanted to post an update and say thanks for everyones help and advice, I spent a few hours reading up on these and looking at wiring diagrams so feel a lot more comfortable doing these in future.

Nice for someone to actually come back and give the result , and a thank you at the same time.

Well done for that.

 

[Dcf]

My thoughts exactly Ruston.
the way it should work on a forum of any type in the ideal world.