OBi1000e Sidecar w/ OBI1062 - Not Found

[vsc1062]

Perhaps I'm not finding the information in the OBI manuals, but simply put I connected the OBi1000e sidecar to a OBI1062 phone without doing anything else and the sidecar is shown as not found. I have rebooted the phone, etc and it still isn't found.

Is there a configuration option I need to change for the phone to recognize the sidecar?

[drgeoff]

I've never seen the back of a sidecar.  Does it have a captive cable that plugs into the phone or does it have a socket?  If the latter, I assume a suitable cable with plug at each end came with it.  Are you using that cable or some other one?

Do any of the sidecar buttons light up at all?

[vsc1062]

Is has a pair of RJ9 sockets labeled in and out where they include a short cable. Up to two sidecars are permitted where out is the daisy chain connector to the second sidecar.

Nothing lights up on the sidecar.

The phone's setting menu shows sidecars 1 and 2 not connected. The phone's web page shows the same.

I looked through the documentation for the phone and it says nothing about configuration. The web portal shows nothing. The phone's web page would indicate if it was found but it doesn't and provides 16 slots to setup each button's function.

I'm at a loss at this juncture. Likely it's DOA or the phone's aux port. Or they stopped supporting it via a firmware upgrade but the sidecars are sill on Amazon. I still have a bad taste about dropping Bluetooth on 1062.

[drgeoff]

To me it would be equally logical to label the sockets the other way to what you describe.  ie

Sidecar Out:  Connect to Phone's AUX
Sidecar In: Connect to 2nd Sidecar Out.

Unless you have a Quick Start Guide which has definitive instructions or you have seen anything which says that under no circumstances should you connect as I show above, try it.

[vsc1062]

I tried swapping the cable to the other connector without success.

[vsc1062]

In the end I opened a support ticket with Poly, but I strongly suspect I'm just going to have to return the sidecar to Amazon. One thing I noticed is that there is a "twist" in the connecting cable swapping the wires on the respective connectors. I don't have a straight through cable to try, but maybe the cable was misassembled by the manufacture.

[drgeoff]

In the end I opened a support ticket with Poly, but I strongly suspect I'm just going to have to return the sidecar to Amazon. One thing I noticed is that there is a "twist" in the connecting cable swapping the wires on the respective connectors. I don't have a straight through cable to try, but maybe the cable was misassembled by the manufacture.

I did find some photos of the sidecar.  One included a clear view of the cable.  With the cable flat and straight the retaining lugs on the plugs both point up (or down).  Is that what you mean by a twist?

[vsc1062]

The cable is flat, but if you look at the connectors on one the left wire is white (color) where on the opposite connector the right hand wire is white. Thus they have reversed the wires between the two connectors. This could happen if the connector is flipped when then attached them. Deliberate? Or accidentally wrong? No idea. I don't have a straight through cable to test with.

Poly has yet to respond to my query for help. Perhaps in the next day they will respond.

[drgeoff]

https://www.amazon.com/Obihai-OBi1000e-Key-Expansion-Module/dp/B00TSR52JK has a photo which shows the cable as I described and also tallies with yours.

[vsc1062]

I received a response from Poly this morning asking for the OBI number of the 1062. I responded and then they told me to look in expert. That said I had removed the sidecar, but reattached it. It immediately was functional. But I reconnected it no different than several prior attempts.

Did they push something to the phone? Unknown but it is shown as connected and the buttons work.

That said I believe a limitation is that a pause cannot be programmed say for a conference call (e.g. phone number, pause, participant code).

[drgeoff]

I received a response from Poly this morning asking for the OBI number of the 1062. I responded and then they told me to look in expert. That said I had removed the sidecar, but reattached it. It immediately was functional. But I reconnected it no different than several prior attempts.

Did they push something to the phone? Unknown but it is shown as connected and the buttons work.

That said I believe a limitation is that a pause cannot be programmed say for a conference call (e.g. phone number, pause, participant code).

I have a vague memory that perhaps it can.  But it is more than a pause.  The phone number digits are sent as a data packet to your ITSP.  They use that to route the call.  When the call is answered by the conferencing system it expects DTMF digits (aka "Touch Tone") so the OBi has to change the way the digits are handled.

My vague memory is that one of the firmware upgrades for the OBi ATAs added that feature.  I would expect that would have been carried into the OBiphones.  I'll try to find the forum thread about it.

[drgeoff]

My memory was not just vague but muddled too.  See http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=10342.0, especially the final post by ianobi.