[giasone]

I am having trouble with my Sipura SPA-2000 (through BroadVoice). I am fairly sure that the problem is related to low ring voltage.

I have had several problems related to caller ID. I cannot get caller ID to show up on my InTeleScreener device and I have trouble with call-waiting caller ID on some older Uniden 900Mhz phones (DXI 386-2).

I am unable to experiment with the Sipura because the regional settings are locked by BroadVoice.

Today, I bought a voltage meter so that I could check actual ring voltage. I still have my SBC POTS line as well as the BroadVoice sipura to compare.

Sure enough, the SBC POTS line consistently provided an AC ring voltage of 84-85 volts.

Running the same test, the Sipura only provided a maximum ring voltage of 44-45 volts even though the configuration says that it should be set to 70 volts with a range of 60-90 volts.

I was very careful with my measurements and used a .1 microfarad capacitor to filter out DC when measuring AC ring voltage.

Based on these findings, I have to assume that the Sipura is probably defective, or that it needs a firmware update.

Has anybody else run into a similar problem? Is the unit defective and should I ask for a replacement, or is this common across all Sipuras?

Other than this issue, the Sipura has worked extremely well. I currently have BroadVoice as well as FWD on line 2 running.

[giasone]

Here are the results of testing various ring voltage settings on an unlocked Sipura:

Sipura->Regional->Ring Voltage : 60
Ring voltage on meter : ~38v

Sipura->Regional->Ring Voltage : 70
Ring voltage on meter : ~44.5v

Sipura->Regional->Ring Voltage : 80
Ring voltage on meter : ~51.1v

Sipura->Regional->Ring Voltage : 90
Ring voltage on meter : ~56.5v

From other things I've read, most modern devices work with ring voltages higher than 40v. Sipura needs to change their data sheet to better reflect actual ring voltages.

[PhoneBoy]

Seems to me it'd be a simple firmware adjustment. What version(s) of firmware did you try?

[giasone]

The 60, 70, 80, 90 volt tests were run on:
Software version: 1.0.31
Hardware version: 2.0.0

I also ran the 70v test on my BroadVoice unit:
Software version: 1.0.33
Hardware version: 1.88.2

I also have some more numbers based on changing sinusoid to trapezoid ring waveform:

Sipura->Regional->Ring Voltage : 60
Ring voltage on meter : ~38.0v (sinusoid)
Ring voltage on meter : ~43.0v (trapezoid)

Sipura->Regional->Ring Voltage : 70
Ring voltage on meter : ~44.5v (sinusoid)
Ring voltage on meter : ~50.3v (trapezoid)

Sipura->Regional->Ring Voltage : 80
Ring voltage on meter : ~51.1v (sinusoid)
Ring voltage on meter : ~57.1v (trapezoid)

Sipura->Regional->Ring Voltage : 90
Ring voltage on meter : ~56.5v (sinusoid)
Ring voltage on meter : ~63.1v (trapezoid)

[PhoneBoy]

While I didn't see this listed as a "bug" fixed in the latest 1.x (now up to 1.0.35a) or 2.x (up to 2.0.6c), might be worth trying the new firmware. Looks like some interesting features were added.

[giasone]

I hope this is a final update.

BroadVoice updated firmware on my Sipura from v1.33 to v2.0.6c and the issue with my InTeleScreener has been resolved.

The surprise is that the fix has nothing to do with ring voltage. I am still getting a ring voltage of ~45v, so the problem I was having was caused by some other issue that the firmware upgrade has resolved.

[PhoneBoy]

The 2.0.6(c) firmware is definately an improvement in many ways.