[A*UG] How to wire Asterisk to stations?

[Lindsay Haisley]

Thus spake Lindsay Haisley on Fri, Oct 21, 2005 at 03:44:55PM CDT
> I believe the IP phones use regular cat5 ethernet lines, yes?  Treat them on
> the network as if they were computers connected through a hub.  You'll need
> to address the appropriate traffic to the interface on your Asterisk box.
> 
> POTS phones, of course, use single twisted pairs, and if you use cat5 you
> can get 4 phone lines in a single cat5 cable and wire them any way you wish. 
> There's no magic there.

The one caveat here is that the number of POTS phones you can drive from a
single FXS depends on the capabilities of the card or device providing the
FXS interface, and the requirements of your phones.  Each FXS has to provide
ringing voltage and current, conventional audio, and a nominal steady
voltage to the connected conventional POTS phones.  There's obviously an
electrical limit to the amount of current that the FXS interface can
provide.
 
> Thus spake Larry Alkoff on Fri, Oct 21, 2005 at 03:39:22PM CDT
> > I've just finished the O-Reilly book on Asterisk and setup a separate 
> > computer with Asterisk at Home.
> > 
> > The book has a lot of good information but for some reason does not 
> > discuss the physical wiring that goes to stations (FXS) and FXOs.
> > 
> > I understand that cat5 type wire would be used.
> > What commonly used standards, if any, are used on the various colored 
> > wires?  What signals and voltages to they carry?
> > 
> > Presently I have a lot of POTS telephones all wired in 'home run' with a 
> > single cat5 from line 1 of a station RJ-11 station block to type 66 
> > blocks where the Asterisk equipment will live.
> > 
> > Can I do the same with Asterisk station lines - that is each extension 
> > would be a single pair or two from Asterisk that carries power, ringing 
> > current and voice.
> > 
> > What equipment do I need at the Asterisk end to connect multiple analog 
> > POTS phone each station?
> > 
> > I also need to know how many wire pairs are needed for non-POTS phones 
> > and what those wire carry.
> > 
> > If feasable the easiest wiring method is to end up with all POTS phones 
> > on the default inner pair line 1 (blue) and non-POTS phones on line 2 
> > (orange) and if necessary, 3 (green) leaving 4 (extra pair possibly used 
> > for direct connection to CO line for emergencies).  That way any single 
> > (not double) line POTS phone can be safely plugged in as they are all on 
> > line 1.  Could this be done?
> > 
> > My mnemonic for telephone wire color coding is "BOG Brown".
> > 
> > I'm interested in any comments on physical wiring.
> > 
> > Larry
> > -- 
> > Larry Alkoff N2LA - Austin TX
> > Using Thunderbird on Slackware Linux
> > _______________________________________________
> > Austin-Asterisk-Users-Group mailing list
> > Austin-Asterisk-Users-Group at bybent.com
> > http://buzzard.onr.com/mailman/listinfo/austin-asterisk-users-group
> 
> -- 
> Lindsay Haisley       | "Fighting against human |     PGP public key
> FMP Computer Services |    creativity is like   |      available at
> 512-259-1190          |    trying to eradicate  | <http://pubkeys.fmp.com>
> http://www.fmp.com    |        dandelions"      |
>                       |      (Pamela Jones)     |
> _______________________________________________
> Austin-Asterisk-Users-Group mailing list
> Austin-Asterisk-Users-Group at bybent.com
> http://buzzard.onr.com/mailman/listinfo/austin-asterisk-users-group

-- 
Lindsay Haisley       | "Fighting against human |     PGP public key
FMP Computer Services |    creativity is like   |      available at
512-259-1190          |    trying to eradicate  | <http://pubkeys.fmp.com>
http://www.fmp.com    |        dandelions"      |
                      |      (Pamela Jones)     |