BIRK@trees.dnet.ge.com (04/28/91)
Question: Does anyone know where I might get a power supply adapter for a Paradyne FDX 2400 MODEM manufactured by ARK Products. I bought it at a Flea Market with docs but no address for ARK. ?? Thanks in advance. Send reply to birk@trees.dnet.ge.com
"Donald E. Kimberlin" <0004133373@mcimail.com> (05/08/91)
In Digest v11 iss315, [BIRK@trees.dnet.ge.com] asks: > Does anyone know where I might get a power supply adapter for a > Paradyne FDX 2400 MODEM manufactured by ARK Products. I bought it at a > Flea Market with docs but no address for ARK. ?? While this may be one idividual's request, there are quite a few ARK FDX 2400 modems in closets around the country simply because a new power supply could not be easily found. This reply will hopefully be useful to more than one inquirer: ARK Electronic Products of Melbourne, FL was absorbed by Paradyne of Largo, FL which was subsequently purchased by AT&T. AT&T/Paradyne can still provide replacement power supply adapters for FDX 2400 units. We recently obtained two, but it took some time and probably will cost us significant money for what the item is. The reason for this delay and cost is that in an unfortunate design choice, the ARK designers chose an unusual plug ... the one that was on the Chief Engineer's TI 57 calculator (remember those?). As a result, when the TI warehouse ran out of replacement calculator power supplies, the world ran out of FDX 2400 power supply adapters. Paradyne did later, however, get more made, and if they are now again out of stock, the source data for that unit with the oddball plug is: Ault (transformer manufacturing) Inc. part 326-4026-T11. In fact, the FDX 2400 is essentially a board laid out by Rockwell for use of its chip set, and probably operates on 9 Volts AC. The Ault transformer is a 26 VAC, 40 Volt-Amp unit, which is center-tapped, and seems to have the FDX 2400 using only half its secondary. Thus, if you have a small bit of skill, you can probably open up an FDX 2400, and find it has only two wires from the board to the oddball power connector, and try running the modem for a short time on 9 Volts of batteries. (The current needed is too much for a single 9 Volt transistor radio battery.) If it operates, just find yourself a safe source of 9 Volts AC, and you've done the job. The ARK FDX 2400 is a very feature-rich modem, so be prepared to spend some time figuring out how to option it and use all the things it offers you.