End-user perspective on small office tools & technology

Siemens Gigaset S685 IP In The House!

The new Siemens cordless phone arrived from the UK this morning, a couple of days earlier than expected. They look really nice. We have one base and three handsets.

I can’t power them up just yet as they came with UK standard power supplies. The supplied PSUs are 230 vac, not universal. I’ll make a trip to Fry’s this evening and replace the 230 vac UK PSUs with suitable US models. It’s interesting that the handsets require 4v dc while the base requires 6.5v dc.

The connect method on the charging stand for the handsets is unique. I’ll probably have to cut the power cord and solder the US PSU into the existing wires.

The power connector for the base is a standard coaxial type. A universal replacement PSU will easily have a tip to fit.

This Post Has 13 Comments

  1. Michael,

    Did you get your Gigaset S685 IP all setup for the US? I am very interested in knowing how the unit is working. My company uses VoIP/SIP exclusively and would be very nice to have a solid handset like this.

    -Michael

  2. No, I actually ordered it from the UK. Since I work for a UK based company I just had it shipped to our head office, then included in a shipment coming to the US.

    So far they are working great with exception of two of the handsets not charging their batteries. I presume that bthis is the result of the fact that I had to provide US power supplies to replace the 230 vac UK wall warts provided with the systems.

    You can buy the S450 here in the US. These also seem like good devices, Just older models.

  3. The snom m3 has also been very good. My only frustration is the inability to upload a contact list.

  4. Did you end up having to cut and connect as you expected or did you end up finding a suitable adapter? Just ordered one of these myself and am anxiously awaiting its arrival.

  5. I bought 4 universal power supplies and then wired them into the supply leads cut from the Siemens charging stands. I was careful to measure the actual DC voltages and observe the correct orientation of polarity.

    Even so 2 of my handsets won’t charge their batteries. They work fine with fresh batteries but won’t charge.

    I haven’t had time to investigate, but I suspect that I accidentally damaged the charging circuitry by using 6.5 vdc from the universal adapter instead of 4 vdc.

    One of my three handsets works perfectly.

  6. @mjgraves- I am going to buy a step down voltage converter. Does the phone work with all of its features? Is there any thing not functioning normal on US pots?

  8. The base station power adapter is made by SALOM in China (C39280-Z4-C608, 230VAC/50-60Hz/65mA, 6.5VDC/600mA) and looks quite low quality to me. As such I would like to get a backup power adapter, but there’s no indication on the output jack polarity. Is the outer contact of the output jack the + or – terminal?

    1. I measured mine using a simple voltage meter. As I recall they follow the common standard of positive on the center conductor, negative on the barrel.

  9. I did the same and got the same result as you for the working adapters. What is surprising is that despite being rated as 6.5V output, the actual voltage is 8V!

    1. No. I cut the ends off and spliced them into the line of a universal adapter. Then just set the universal adapter to the correct voltage.

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