I gather from the "products" part of the website that the Beocom 6000 was made in two versions, and that the newest phones can't be used with the old base stations. How do you tell, from looking at the phone or the base station, whether you have a new or an old version? I assume that on the new phone, there will be a 3.5mm jack socket, but what change was made to stop these phones fitting the old base-stations?

Mark
 

The shape of the contacts on the charger was changed.

The old ones have two black plastic plugs on top. The new ones have a socket for the Earset 1 - not a jack plug. Essentially, if there is a hole in the top with some contacts on either side it is a new one. The new ones work with the old Beoline but the old ones don't work with the new Beoline. The phone will come with its own charger so this is less of an issue except you cannot move phones around from charger to charger if they are different types.

Mark,

Appending to Peter's comments, the buttons on a Mark I are below

AND a Mark II looks as below

Thank you, guys, that's really helpful, and I now understand how to differentiate the handsets. Now, one more question... How can I tell whether a base is for a mk1 or a mk2 handset? As an aside... given that there seem to be so many variants of B&O kit, would it be worth collecting details such as these into an "identification" section of the website? Mark

Very easy, If you look at the two brass pins in the charger base, if they round, they are for a Mark I handset, if they are elongated, then they are for a Mark II.

In fact if you try and place a Mark II handset on a Mark I charger it will not make contact, just as well as they are different voltages.

Peter, I have had many of the MK1s apart but have never even seen a MK2. The black plastic plugs on top hide the IR sender for AV volume. Do you know whether the MK2 have the IR in the same place? Doesn't seem possible if there is a headset plug there instead.

Andy T.

The IR is next to the socket in the Mark II as below

Thanks Keith
I will be able to sleep tonight, now.

Andy T.

Andy,

I trust you had a full nights sleep and are fully awake, let me see it is now 7:20am and I have been at work (that's money earning work) since 6:15am, time for my coffee break.

deaddruid:

Thank you, guys, that's really helpful, and I now understand how to differentiate the handsets. Now, one more question... How can I tell whether a base is for a mk1 or a mk2 handset? As an aside... given that there seem to be so many variants of B&O kit, would it be worth collecting details such as these into an "identification" section of the website? Mark

There is a section of FAQ's already and in there is a section on compatability of BeoCom 6000 & BeoCom 2 phones with the various PSTN bases.

Thank you for your help.

It's not easy working out how to identify the variants, and those of who can only afford to buy second-hand need to be able to tell the difference!

Mark 

meandmyshadow:

There is a section of FAQ's already and in there is a section on compatability of BeoCom 6000 & BeoCom 2 phones with the various PSTN bases.

Not when I look at it! It tells me "no results found" for each of BeoCom  6000 and BeoCom 2.

Mark 

deaddruid:

meandmyshadow:

There is a section of FAQ's already and in there is a section on compatability of BeoCom 6000 & BeoCom 2 phones with the various PSTN bases.

Not when I look at it! It tells me "no results found" for each of BeoCom  6000 and BeoCom 2.

Mark 

Try this link: http://www.beoworld.org/faq_view.asp?id=74 

You will find it, from the main page, FAQs - General FAQs - BeoCom Telephones.

I hope you find it useful.

Keith, are the voltages so different? I saw the three cells of the phone battery that normally indicates 3.6V, and so enlarged the holes on the old charger to fit the new phone (after disassembling the charger unit and removing the pin that might be just some kind of spring mechanism?). It has been charging well for the last month now. I'm talking of the wall charger here, the dark brown/grey one with a U-shaped holding tongue.

Kind regards, Mike 

Mike,

You raise an interesting comment about the different pins for Mark I & Mark II chargers. In my view this was part of B&O's normal practice of thinking ahead particularly related to advances in battery technology, but was never really implemented. However, in practice and certainly in the UK Mark I and II chargers produce an unloaded charging voltage of 5.6 volts and the phones have the standard 3.6 volts cells made up of three 1.2 volt cells.

My comments relate to the first generation wall chargers you have described. You could do as you say and increase the size of the holes. You could also purchase a new front cover for about £15