Found a Centracom CEB... now what to do with it..

[alex]

Short story:

I was walking home and came across two 48" racks, one containing the power supplies for a CEB, and the other one a CEB. After getting permission to take both racks, I finally got an inventory of everything, and take some photo's. Inside the CEB I was able to find the following cards:

cage #1
BLN6845A MID R02 Audio Expansion Interface (AEI, required for TOMI)
BLN1170B TDM -- BLN6755B above 1-6 Trunked Operator Multiplex Interface (TOMI, CC II+)
BLN1196A BIM TDM 03 MID D02
BLN1196A BIM TDN 02 MID D01
BLN6650A TMR B System Timer (older card w/ potentiometer in front)
BLN6650A TMR A System Timer (older card w/ potentiometer in front)
B1422A TDM 00 MID B05 Motorola B1422A TDM 01 Mid B02 BASE INTERFACE MODULE ??

cage#2
B1422A TDM 92 NUD B01 -- BLN6664B above Motorola B1422A TDM 01 Mid B02 BASE INTERFACE MODULE ??
B1422A TDM 03 MID B02 -- BLN6664B above Motorola B1422A TDM 01 Mid B02 BASE INTERFACE MODULE ??
B1422A TDM 04 MID B03 -- MARKED FD Motorola B1422A TDM 01 Mid B02 BASE INTERFACE MODULE ??
B1422A TDM 05 MID B04 (marked DPW) Motorola B1422A TDM 01 Mid B02 BASE INTERFACE MODULE ??
BLN1170B OP 001 TDM 06 Trunked Operator Multiplex Interface (TOMI, CC II+)
BLN6845A MID R01 Audio Expansion Interface (AEI, required for TOMI)

These are installed, and upon connecting the power supplies, I was able to get everything to power up what looks to be succesfully. There was one orange light on the second timer, but the first indicated green (which is for redundency, so I understand that).

The power supply rack has 2 large black power supplies, BPN1009A. There is a third at the top, which seems to have a battery revert option on it. This is interconnected to the other BPN1009A power supplies. I figured that since there are two power cables that come from the CEB, one each should go in to the power supplies, since each power supply should run one cage (as far as I can tell). I did not have a battery hooked up, just AC power. I'd like to point out at this time, the LED marked "RED (ha!)" was strobing, I'm not sure if that indicates that there is a problem due to lack of battery backup. Each power supply is marked 5 AMP, Single Phase.

So, I guess at this point, I'm just curious to know what I have, what I can do with it, etc. I do not have the console, and to the best of my knowledge it probably has already been disposed of. I'd rather do something computer based with this setup, but not a project of any priority or importance.

The rack also has 2 punch down blocks on it with the cables interconnected as well. I also have the Audio "Y" cables as well.

I will post some photo's in a bit.

So what's the next steps from here? Can I do anything useful with this stuff?

-Alex

[nmfire10]

I love when people just leave centracom CEB's on the curb.

[xmo]

The equipment you have would support two operator positions, either button LED or Classic CRT - both the same or one of each. The button LED could be full size or the compact desktop unit. For a CRT position you need a CIE. An example of what to look for is ebay item #: 140204953145.

A DOS computer and monitor connect to the CIE to complete the position.

You appear to have 5 BIM's and two MDC modems [two of the five channels can do StatAlert]

You could connect the BIM's to whatever sort of radios you want, but you would need either remote control radios or you would add remote adapters to mobile type radios.

The I/O cards that connect the MDC modems to the associated BIM's could probably be convinced to generate PTT for local [relay] control of those two channels.

Obviously, more stuff can be added to your configuration - CCII boards are plentiful & cheap these days.

I would speculate that the personality chip on your TOMI cards is an EPROM rather than an EEPROM - so you would need a PROM programmer along with the RSS [or you need a connection to someone who has those items who could program it for you]

[alex]

For others to see who are curious about some of the setup:

Inside power supplies



CEB Card Cages and Cards

[alex]

XMO --

Thanks for the information. It's cool to see that it has 2 MDC cards in there - I was thinking that they may based on what I had seen in another system, but I wasn't sure. Seems like a nice find thus far.

I have a couple questions: I have tone remotes kicking around at home, plus a spare maxtrac or two that I could use to do some additional testing. I don't think that there's much of a need to hook them up as "local". From here, I would hook the tone remote cable up via the punch down block. Is there a guide out there that says hook up the lines? I would buy modular jacks and just wire it up that way.

Now, what cables do I need to track down from here to interface this to an actual console or Classic CRT?

Also, in doing reading - it sounds like if I have the serial board (BLN6755B) is something that can be moved from card to card in order to program them as it stands using Centracom II software. Any insight into this?

Also, how would I determine for sure if it's the computer programmable vs eeprom programmable? It may take me a day or two to make it over to my friends garage and take a look at the card itself.

-Alex

[wb4bli]

Well you need to look at BLN1170 and see if the chips on it have a peice of white paper on it. If so... Pull it off and see if there is a window on it. If so you need a prom burner. I have that same problem. I am seriously thinking of getting rid of my CCII+ soon. It is too much trouble for me to get programmed since i dont have the burner. If I sell it it will come with the Legel copy of the software.