Kitz Forum
Broadband Related => Telephony Wiring + Equipment => Topic started by: GaryW on April 10, 2018, 07:57:12 PM
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Hi all,
I have a single phone line into my house which is shared by phone/VDSL and an alarm system that uses Redcare. The alarm is pretty old, possibly late-90s vintage, so it was probably installed prior to ADSL being introduced or certainly before it reached the village where I live!
I have an NTE5C master socket with a mk4 filtered faceplate. Other than the incoming phone line, there's nothing connected to the master socket (i.e. no phone or data extensions). So I assume the alarm must be connected "directly" to the drop wire in some way, which I guess means I have star-wiring? (And I know the alarm is connected to the main phone line as I get the tell-tale chirping sometimes during phone calls). My VDSL is OK given the distance from the cabinet, but if there's scope for improvement...
What's the recommended way to wire the Redcare PSTN connection for alarms? Is it as a phone extension from the master socket or star-wired? Also, Redcare literature is very vague on whether or not an ADSL microfilter is needed - some saying one is needed, some saying that it's not (but that may be on newer versions of Redcare)...so does anyone know what happens if an older alarm is missing a microfilter.
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The recommended way, is to connect the redcare wiring to the A+B ports on the backplate of the NTE5C, where the incoming feed is connected also.
I have only recently become aware of this as for years now, I (and I suspect many, many other engineers) have removed the redcare wiring from the backplate, and reconnected to the extension wiring ports at the front, and fit the MK4 SSFP to 'isolate' the alarm.
This has proven to pay massive dividends, historically ..... but apparently the latest brief is that only non-redcare alarm dialling systems should be connected to the front-mounted ports, and that redcare should always be connected to the A+B ports at the rear ... along with a new filter that we have been given the item code for. In other words, we fit the filter in the NTE, as opposed to the alarm company fitting one within their panel.
My only caveat is that this is a very new process that I haven't used in anger, and am getting this info second-hand, albeit from a great source.
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@GaryW
Who fitted the NTE5C master socket with a mk4 filtered faceplate?
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@GaryW
Who fitted the NTE5C master socket with a mk4 filtered faceplate?
Ahem, it was obviously an Openreach engineer.... I may have a peek behind the master socket over the w/e to double-check there are no dodgy joins/splices.
Black Sheep - thanks for the info, much appreciated!