Can you ID the Keptel Smart Block? 1

[ISDNman]

Just got a deal on a few punch blocks. They are Siemons S66M blocks with the wall mounts and covers, but there is also a circuit board with a bunch of compenents.

The Keptel sticker says Keptel Smart Block; 4 Wire; 9541; 90631.

The punch block is labelled

T1
R1
T
R
T2
R2
T
R
....
T12
R12
T
R
NC
NC

I bought these online assuming that they had surge suppression built in, but now that I have them in hand I can see the electronics are much more complex. My best guess is they are for use with DS1 circuits and the electronics monotro for loopback codes and switch a given line into loopback when requested.

This theory is supported by a few factors. The first 2 pins are not connected together and both pass through to the PC board. The third and 4 pins are common to eachother as with a typical split block.

My guess is "smart block" is analogous to "smart jack".

Anyone have any data or job aids on these? Looks like the need a power supply (screw terms are labelled E1 and E2).

Thank's in advance.

 

[Sphoneman]

I'm not familiar with that type but, Usually TR is in from telco , T1R1 is out to Public Domain.

I don't know what the T12 R12 is, but NC is usually No Contact.

Steve
tele-dataservices.com

 

[tievom]

Here's my guess..

What you have should be for T1 use. The T1-R1/T-R gives that away. I'm a bit puzzled as to the "electronics" portion though. Does the 66 block have an amphenol connector on the side or RJ45 jacks on the side? Some blocks incorporate an auto-loopback feature for when you remove the T1 cable that is terminated into the side mounted RJ45 jacks.

Otherwise, there shouldn't be much else built in to these blocks. I do not recall seeing surge supression built into 66 blocks.

 

[ISDNman]

Sphoneman - I guess my intention is not clear - there are 12 sets of terminals labelled TX, RX, T, and R. X ranges from 1 to 12

The T1/R1/T/R designations are quite typical for services using 2 pairs, as Tievom mentions

Tievom - there is an amphneol connector that connects to the right side terminal.

The left 2 terminals pass through the circuit board.

So it is a split split block.

Nowadays T1 smart jacks are actually HDSL or HDSL2 units.

But the original smart jacks were jacks that could be remotely put into loopback for testing purposes. In the old days the CSU would be used for loopback, since it was owned by the Telco. Under the consent degree breaking up the Bell System it was decreed that Network Channel Terminating Equipment would be provided by end users and therefore the Telco could no longer assume it was present for testing. Hence they began using so-called smart jacks that had remote loopback ability.

My educated guess is that these Smart Blocks are basically a 12 pair smart hjack terminating in a Amphenol connector (sort of like a RJ-21x). My guess is that if the T1 sends a specific loopback code down a given pair that that pair is looped back to the corresponding return pair.

Thanks for the input

 

[allisland]

If the memory sevres me correctly, they are a RJ21 type smart jack,(not Ti) used for pots lines, the co could send a tone to open or loop back for test purposes, they never made it out of the starting gate! I believe the reason was when the tone was sent it would open all 12 lines.

 

[ISDNman]

OK, thanks Allisland.

Maybe this was the version for 4-wire analog. I have found virtually nothing about them online so that would confirm they never made it out the gate.

I got them for cheep so I'll just use them as RJ21x blocks and consider them "dumb".

Thanks to all.