Customer has an old single source Russound A-BUS system with A-KP keypads. Outdoor keypad no longer functions, so unknown to me he purchased a Channel Vision AB-124 keypad. The new keypad lights up, volume indicators work, but no audio from the speaker. I positioned the jumper for single source and checked the speaker to make sure it works. Is there an incompatibility issue between the two brands of A-BUS?

Not that I am aware of...

Thanks Fred, I'll go back and check it out again.

Try taking the keypad and a sample speaker to the abus hub and bypassing the wire in the house...

Will do.

I suggest moving that wire run to a different port on the hub first.

A simple moving of the RJ45 to see if the problems follows. Could be a bad port on the hub.

I'll check that also.

If memory serves there was a period of time the Leisure tech allowed the patent to lapse and that caused a divergence in A-Bus. There are now some small differences in A-Bus between manufacturers.

Conversely I could be making that all up in my head.

I do wonder if there's a sight difference in the punch down wiring layout.

Possibly using different pairs for power on/off, IR and line level.

Could be the culprit?



Channel Vision does state that their keypads may not be compatible with others, although that seems to be related to remote programming codes. Maybe not just that?

Why would he buy a Fiat part to put on a Toyota? It's his own fault.
Matter of fact; why would he think the hub was the problem to begin with, if all the other zones worked fine. We know ports can go bad on those but he wouldn't have known that - and may not even be the problem. Customer seems pretty stupid.

I hate it when customers do that. All it would have taken was 1 phone call to ask a quick question. I would have given some advice and asked how he wanted to proceed.
Customers like that, it feels like they don't respect what you do at all. Like you are the garbage man that happens to also do A/V.

Be sure to give him the jack arse price per hour and round up.

To some fractions of the public all of this stuff is dirt simple, they are smarter than us, and we are a ripoff.

While it is sometimes hard, I try to keep my cool with these guys. I once had a big CEO (made the evening news for a while) come in and tell me how he wanted the A/V system for his new house laid out. I responded that this was not a good idea for the following reasons ... . He was a little stunned that I would push back and left. He was really a nice guy and could listen to good advice. A couple days later he returned and we got the contract to do it my way.