Paging - degrades over usage

[AlphaMann]

Okay old school paging enthusiasts!
Have an old paging system snaking throughout a large building.

Recently I get calls that it stops working. Sometimes I head over and it is fine when I get there sometimes not.

Swapped amps (Bogen), changed out input to an Algo 8180 (which pages fine from itself all the time) removed old inputs into the amp so it is just the 8180 Audio output into the microphone port (tried the telephone port as well)

All will work for a time and then it "stops"

Determined today that it just seems to start getting quieter and then nothing. Almost like the lines are building up too much power or something and then there is no room on the frequencies for sound or something....

Any thoughts, or thoughts on troubleshooting - other than going speaker by speaker (no one even knows where they all are )

 

[AH64Armament]

It sounds like you might have too long of a loop that's dragging the power down.
I had a manufacturing plant that was a new install. The cabling folks were out of Houston and this site was in South Carolina, so they had me check it out while I was installing the phones.

They had about 8 paging horns on a large loop, and it circled back to the amplifier output - so both ends of this loop were connected.
The close in speakers were loud and clear, and the far out speakers were softer but also clear and usable. Throughout the day of use, the far out speakers would stop working entirely, and the closer speakers got quieter.

They would reset the amp and it would work for a while and do the same thing.

I ended up cutting the loop and only allowing a handful of speakers on each leg. I also used 3 pairs for the power connection and one pair for the audio.
I never got called for another issue with the paging. Even after my companies contract was over, and they transferred the contract to Horray telephone company, the techs that I ran into at Mitel SX2000 training said that the paging never had an issue.

 

[TheMitelGuy]

What's the basic config of the paging system? How many speakers/horns are we talking about? How big is the system? Just curious what we are dealing with.

 

[AlphaMann]

We did "find" the issue.
We traced the runs and found some going off to a construction area.
Once we disconnected that run it appears to be working normally.

Thanks all!