Obitalk and autodialer

[TerryaG]

Hi Folks,

I have a Control Products HS-700 Homesitter autodialer for notification of power failure, temperature, and water intrusion detection:

http://www.protectedhome.com/homesitter-p-118-l-en.html

This product has worked fine for a couple years with my existing Vonage setup, but it fails to dial out when I attempt to connected to my Obi200.  When I lift another phone after the dialout sequence I can hear the announcement, but there's just a dial tone in the background.  Otherwise my Obi works completely fine with Google Voice and my existing landline phones.  I have used it fairly extensively in order to test it.

Anyone know if there's anything I can do to get it to work?

Thanks!

Terry

[SteveInWA]

Hi Terry:

How, exactly, is the device connected to your OBi?  Did you wire the OBi into the home's telephone wiring, or is the Homesitter plugged directly into the OBi's phone port, or via a splitter jack?  It sounds like a wiring issue to me.  Try connecting nothing but the Homesitter, directly to the OBi's RJ-11 jack.

I didn't research the specs for the device, and this is just a crazy SWAG, but does the device have a pulse/tone dialing setting or switch?  If so, make sure is is using touch-tone dialing.

[drgeoff]

The device's manual states that it is touchtone only.

[TerryaG]

Hi Guys, thanks for the replies and sorry for my late response.  I thought I was set up for auto notification of posts, but apparently not.

It is connected via my home phone wiring.  It uses tone dialing.  I can move the main plug that goes to my house wiring from my Vonage to the Obi back and forth.  And as I said, the dialer works perfectly fine when connected to the Vonage box, but not the Obi.  There is virtually no difference between the Vonage and Obi configurations as far as wiring.  So that rules out any wiring issues. 

Control Products does not provide any support for troubleshooting VoIP issues.

Any other thoughts?  Is this something that Obi Tech Support could address?

TG

[drgeoff]

1. Are you sure it is dial tone that you hear in the background of the announcement?

2. Point your browser at the OBi's IP address on your LAN and log into its GUI. (admin and admin are the defaults.) Click on Status, then Call History. The right hand column shows the called numbers as sent to the Service Provider after any mangling by the digit maps in the OBi. Check that the one(s) from the autodialler are what you expect.

[TerryaG]

OK, I just did a re-test.  Answers your questions:

1. It is DEFINITELY dial tone.  I patched a real phone into it using a Y splitter.  I can simultaenously hear dial tone and the autodialer attempting to dial out.  But it doesn't try to detect whether connected or not.  It just assumes the call has been connected at some point and repeatedly announces the alarm for one min. (in test mode) with the dial tone also audible in the background.  (Foreground actually.)

2. I checked the Obi Call History Log per your instructions, and there are no entries for outgoing calls during this test.

I tried dialing out using from the same outlet using a regular phone and it worked fine, so connection there appears to be OK.  Also tried dialing in with my cell phone and that worked fine also.  Something funky with the autodialer obviously.  But like I said, works fine with the Vonage, so don't understand that.

Thanks!

Terry

[TerryaG]

Also, I tried opening a ticket with Obihai, and the following is the response I got.  I know we've been down this path before in a separate post and I discovered that it was better not using any port forwarding, but they seem to be implying that there are ports that need to be forwarded.  Any thoughts/opinions?

Hi,

We do not have the information and the OBi device is not compatible.  There is the option of opening certain port within your router.   Please click link:  http://www.obitalk.com/info/faq/Troubleshooting-sec/ports-to-keep-open-on-my-router


Best Regards,
Obihai Technology

[drgeoff]

Over the last weeks the responses I have seen people quote from Obihai tech support has caused my opinion of Obihai tech support to nosedive.

This has nothing to do with port forwarding.

If you are hearing dial tone after the dialler has gone off-hook and dialled digits it can only come from the OBi or elsewhere.  Wherever from, that source does not believe it has received any dialled digits.

It isn't clear to me if you have tried the autodialler connected directly into the OBi's PHONE jack with absolutely no other wiring involved. If you haven't please do that.

If still not working:

Log in to the Obi local web GUI, click on Physical Interfaces, click on Phone Port and ensure that under Port Settings the DTMFRxMode is set to Hardware.  (That is the default)

In the same section. ensure that Impedance is the default value.

Also in that section you can also try increasing the ChannelRxgain.

[TerryaG]

First of all, thanks for your continuing help drgeoff, I appreciate it!

I had not tried it directly attached to the Obi.  I have done that now with no change in results.  I checked the items you indicated, and they were all set to default values.  I tried changing the ChannelRxgain to +1, but no difference.

I realized that when having a handset connected simultaneously via Y cable that the autodialer won't dial if the handset is off-hook during the dialout sequence.  So this time I waited a few seconds to give the autodialer a chance to dial, then lifted the handset.  The autodialer dials and it rings once, then I hear a a fast busy and/or a message saying the call can't be completed.

Hope that helps.  Thanks again for your help!

Terry

[SteveInWA]

Perform all tests with the Homeseer device connected directly to the OBi via a telephone cord to the OBi's RJ-11 jack.  Do not test via the home's wiring.

The fact that you hear a dialtone on the OBi after the Homeseer dials means that the OBi isn't getting a sufficiently high enough audio level of DTMF from the Homeseer, or conversely, the signal is too high, and/or the signal is distorted, such that the OBi can't recognize the DTMF.  This is probably the Homeseer's fault.

Why don't you contact them for support?  Perhaps the gizmo has some settings in that regard.

You can experiment with the ChannelRxGain setting, both up and down, to see if you can find a "sweet spot".  This setting controls the amplifier gain on the OBi, when it is receiving a signal from the telephone, or in this case, from the Homeseer dialer.

Remove both check marks to the right of any setting to be able to edit that setting.

Do NOT listen into the audio from a telephone on a splitter.  That is significantly altering the impedance and gain of the signal.

[TerryaG]

SteveInWA:

I am doing that now, directly attached, and have removed the Y splitter.

I am trying tweeking the ChannelRxGain setting per drgeoff's previous suggestion, both up and down.  I am seeing some discrepancies in setting this value directly via the IP address of the device vs. the Advanced Config menu of Obitalk.com.  If I change the value on one page, they are not reflected on the other.  Looks like you have to initiate a reboot after changing values via the direct IP method?  Not clear.

If you read the previous threads you'd see that I tried contacting Control Products and they said that although it works with many/most VoIP methods, they don't provide support for it.  There are DIP switches, but none of them are in regards to dialing thresholds.


Thanks!

Terry

[SteveInWA]

SteveInWA:

I am doing that now, directly attached, and have removed the Y splitter.

I am trying tweeking the ChannelRxGain setting per drgeoff's previous suggestion, both up and down.  I am seeing some discrepancies in setting this value directly via the IP address of the device vs. the Advanced Config menu of Obitalk.com.  If I change the value on one page, they are not reflected on the other.  Looks like you have to initiate a reboot after changing values via the direct IP method?  Not clear.

If you read the previous threads you'd see that I tried contacting Control Products and they said that although it works with many/most VoIP methods, they don't provide support for it.  There are DIP switches, but none of them are in regards to dialing thresholds.


Thanks!

Terry

Make the changes from the OBiTALK portal page in expert mode.  Remove the check-marks from both of the two fields to edit the field, and then submit the change.  By default, the portal will overwrite the local configuration.  Don't try to edit it in both interfaces.

OBiTALK will initiate an automatic reboot of the device whenever a settings change necessitates a reboot to take effect.  Just wait a few minutes for it to happen.

[TerryaG]

OK thanks for the clarification.

Also, it is showing a red exclamation in the HVICPowerThreshold and ChannelRxGain field when I change the latter, but haven't changed the former.  Normal?  Maybe one affects the other?

HVICPowerThreshold   !         help
DTMFPlaybackLevel            help
DTMFRxMode            help
CallerIDMethod            help
CallerIDTrigger            help
ChannelTxGain         *   help
ChannelRxGain   !

Thanks,

TG