An Overview of Merlin P H One S Ys Tems

An Overview of Merlin P h one S ys tems R elea s e 5 J oh n L . S h elton (joh n@ js h elton.c om) 20 0 3.Oc tob er A B rief R eview of Merlin P h one S ys tems D is c la imers & C op yrig h ts Copyright © 2003 John L. Shelton; all rights reserved. This document may not be reproduced without permission, though small quotations for review purposes may be used without permission. The trademarks Merlin, Spirit, and Partner are owned by Avaya, the successor to AT&T & Lucent. Please send suggestions for enhancement to [email protected]. Ac k nowled g ements Thanks to Ethan O’Toole for edit suggestions and additional details (2003.June) © js h elton.c om ii A B rief R eview of Merlin P h one S ys tems T a b le of C ontents 1 INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................... 1 1.1 WHY THIS WAS WRITTEN ..................................................................................... 1 1.2 THE MERLIN CONCEPT ......................................................................................... 1 1.3 THE MANUFACTURERS ......................................................................................... 2 1.4 PREDECESSORS TO THE MERLIN SYSTEMS............................................................ 3 1.5 AVAILABLE DOCUMENTATION............................................................................. 5 2 COMPARISON AT A GLANCE: THE MERLIN SYSTEMS ............................ 6 3 THE ANALOG/HYBRID (CLASSIC) SYSTEMS................................................ 7 3.1 MERLIN 206......................................................................................................... 7 3.2 MERLIN 410......................................................................................................... 7 3.3 MERLIN 820......................................................................................................... 8 3.4 FEATURE MODULES FOR THE SMALLER SYSTEMS (206, 410, 820) ....................... 8 3.5 MERLIN 1030....................................................................................................... 9 3.6 MERLIN 3070....................................................................................................... 9 3.7 EXPANSION PARTS & FEATURE MODULES FOR 1070 & 3070 ............................ 10 3.8 MERLIN PLUS (820D) ........................................................................................ 11 4 DIGITAL SYSTEMS.............................................................................................. 13 4.1 MERLIN II .......................................................................................................... 13 4.2 MERLIN LEGEND................................................................................................ 22 4.3 MERLIN MAGIX ................................................................................................. 27 4.4 MERLIN MAGIX SOFTWARE RELEASES ............................................................... 28 5 THE PHONES......................................................................................................... 31 5.1 COMPARISON AT A GLANCE ............................................................................... 31 5.2 SINGLE LINE TELEPHONES .................................................................................. 31 5.3 ANALOG/HYBRID PHONES (ATL) ...................................................................... 33 5.4 EARLY DIGITAL PHONES.................................................................................... 47 5.5 MLX DIGITAL PHONES ...................................................................................... 48 5.6 ETR DIGITAL PHONES ....................................................................................... 56 5.7 MERLIN MAGIX (TDL) PHONES ......................................................................... 56 6 THE WIRING ......................................................................................................... 59 6.1 STATION WIRING ............................................................................................... 59 6.2 LINE WIRING ..................................................................................................... 60 6.3 OTHER WIRING .................................................................................................. 60 6.4 GROUND WIRING................................................................................................ 60 6.5 OTHER WIRING ADAPTERS.................................................................................. 61 6.6 MUSIC ON HOLD ................................................................................................ 62 7 MAINTENANCE.................................................................................................... 66 7.1 PROLONGING EQUIPMENT LIFE ........................................................................... 66 © js h elton.c om iii A B rief R eview of Merlin P h one S ys tems 7.2 MINOR REFURBISHMENT OF TELEPHONES .......................................................... 66 © js h elton.c om iv A B rief R eview of Merlin P h one S ys tems L is t of F ig u res & T a b les FIG. 1. AT&T 1A2 KEY SYSTEM TELEPHONE (565) ........................................................ 4 FIG. 2. AT&T COMKEY SYSTEM..................................................................................... 5 FIG. 3. COMPARISON CHART, MERLIN SYSTEMS .............................................................. 6 FIG. 4. ILLUSTRATION OF MERLIN 206, 410 CONTROL UNITS .......................................... 8 FIG. 5. MERLIN 820 CONTROL UNIT WITH ONE PHONE CONNECTED ................................. 8 FIG. 6. MERLIN 1030 CONTROL UNIT.............................................................................. 9 FIG. 7. MERLIN 3070 CONTROL UNIT, EXPLODED .......................................................... 10 FIG. 8. MERLIN PLUS CONTROL UNIT ........................................................................... 11 FIG. 9. MERLIN PLUS, FULLY POPULATED, REVEALING MOH ....................................... 12 FIG. 10. MERLIN II SYSTEM......................................................................................... 13 FIG. 11. MERLIN II CARDS........................................................................................... 14 FIG. 12. MERLIN II BASIC AND EXPANSION CARRIER ................................................... 15 FIG. 13. MERLIN II AND MERLIN LEGEND CIRCUIT CARDS .......................................... 15 FIG. 14. LEGEND SOFTWARE RELEASES ...................................................................... 22 FIG. 15. MAGIX CIRCUIT CARDS .................................................................................. 27 FIG. 16. AT&T 7101 SINGLE LINE PHONE ................................................................... 33 FIG. 17. ORIGINAL “CLASSIC” MERLIN PHONES ......................................................... 34 FIG. 18. FIXED METAL STAND FOR 5, 10, AND 22 BUTTON SETS (SHOWN UNDERNEATH A 5 BUTTON SET) ........................................................................................................... 36 FIG. 19. ADJUSTABLE METAL STAND FOR 10 BUTTON SETS SHOWN ON BOTTOM OF TELEPHONE ................................................................................................................ 36 FIG. 20. ADJUSTABLE METAL STAND FOR 34 BUTTON SETS SHOWN WITHOUT TELEPHONE ................................................................................................................ 37 FIG. 21. COMPARISON CHART, MERLIN ANALOG PHONES .......................................... 38 FIG. 22. MERLIN PFC PHONE FAX COPIER.................................................................. 44 FIG. 23. ANALOG/HYBRID PHONE ACCESSORIES ......................................................... 45 FIG. 24. ILLUSTRATION OF 7406D SERIES PHONE ........................................................ 48 FIG. 25. MLX SERIES PHONES ..................................................................................... 50 FIG. 26. MLX-20L CONSOLE WITH DIRECT STATION SELECTION ............................... 53 FIG. 27. LEGEND DSS UNIT......................................................................................... 55 FIG. 28. MERLIN MAGIX (TDL) TELEPHONES ............................................................. 57 FIG. 29. 8-WIRE COLOR CODES: MERLIN & ETHERNET ................................................ 59 FIG. 30. EXAMPLE GROUNDING ................................................................................... 61 FIG. 31. RADIO SHACK 42-2434 TO CONNECT MOH TO CLASSIC SYSTEMS ................. 63 FIG. 32. RADIO SHACK 42-2461 TO CONNECT MOH TO MERLIN PLUS (820D)........... 63 FIG. 33. SCHEMATIC FOR MUSIC-ON-HOLD CONNECTION TO MERLIN II OR LEGEND ... 64 © js h elton.c om v A B rief R eview of Merlin P h one S ys tems 1 Introd u c tion 1.1 W h y th is wa s written I am a telephone hobbyist. My professional work is not related to telephone installation. In my spare time, I have tinkered with telephones for the last 40 years. In the early 1980s, AT&T developed what would become one of its most popular small business products, the Merlin series of telephone systems. Over the years, millions of pieces of equipment were built and installed, and many are still out there today. There is an active market in buying/selling used Merlin equipment. Because older models are not now manufactured, there is a dearth of information

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