rixride

Is your fax line connected to the PBX or to a dedicated analog line?

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Dtu

Is it power to the FAX or the line/PABX that is the problem?

A PABX/PBX should always have battery backup anyway - in my opinion.

What about a UPS for the FAX? It would at least buy you some time while the mains power was off.

Or if it just voice calls you want to be able to make and receive you could just parallel an analogue phone with the FAX (Having the FAX set to auto-answer).

Chas2002

Not that I know of. As DTU suggested an UPS would help.

What I normally do is program the Analog number to FDN (Forward No Answer) (not HUNT) to another fax machine on property and set the Ring Cycle high before FDN takes effect. Thus if Fax: 2222 (Fax A) is powerless, then the incoming call would ring 6 times - if not answered, it fowards to another fax: 3333 (Fax B) in a different part of the building.

Of course if the entire building is out of power - this is of little use.

This also helps on those Saturday mornings when the Fax A has run out of toner and they forgot to order a new toner cartridge and want you to come in and forward their fax - just tell them to turn it off and let FDN take effect...

Chas2002

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paul144

just put a ups on the fax.

Janus

Thanks people.

The fax, which does have its own UPS, is connected to a stand-alone analogue line, which doubles up as an emergency outgoing line in the event of the failure of the switch which does not carry analogue lines.

We have been keeping one or two spare analogue phones in a cupboard but these tend to go missing. We can't leave a phone permanently connected because it tends to be used for voice calls which blocks faxes.

No problem while we have power, but a couple of weekends ago, the power lines came down on a friday night. By monday morning, the phone system was down and the fax UPS was dead, and the janitor could not find a phone to plug into the fax socket.

So, how can we make a voice call from a fax when there is no power supply available and no alternative instrument?

Janus

paul144

I have never heard of a fax machine that does not need external power to make calls. I really think that the answer to your problem is to have a S/L phone somewhere that it won't "walk away".
I supose that someone might make a fax with the option of being able to use the phone to place calls in the event of a power failure, but I doubt it.

Chas2002

Ah - what you need then is a Power Fail unit...

Specifically a unit that routes calls to the fax when powered and routes calls to an analog set when power fails. When powered, the analog set is not connected to the dedicated CO (so it can't be used by those just wanting an outside line) -- When the power fails, the circuit is completed and the analog set is connected.

Take a look at: http://www.dees.com/html/154_8_154A_8.html

Chas2002

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bobmay

Most of the fax machines I have dealt with have an analog telephone jack right next to the telephone line input. Just plug an analog phone set in, and it will work with or without power.

Dtu

I agree with Chas a PowerFail unit is the way to go.
I have 32 Powerfail circuits - currently they are setup as normal analogue extensions (Not FAXs) but in the case of Powerfail (including loss of battery backup to PABX) they switch over to PSTN lines.

We also have the 32 PSTNs setup in a trunk group so they can be used as ISDN overflow.