A bit of an electronics WTF moment

[mikeymikec]

I have two cordless phones attached to the same land line. One is with the main base which includes the answering machine, the other in my own room.

My parents tried to ring this evening, and when I picked up the phone in my room I just got a tonne of noise through the phone's speaker. I terminated the call after a while and tried to get a dial tone, nothing. I can't remember exactly what happened next, but the overall situation turned into my phone not being able to pick up the signal from the other phone. I tried leaving it on charge for a while, then disconnected its batteries and swapped their positions (AAA batteries), then unplugged its base for a while, then unplugged the main base from the mains. The main phone was fine throughout all of this.

My last idea was to swap the batteries between the phones to see whether faulty batteries could be causing my phone to act weirdly. The 'OK' batteries worked fine in my phone, and the 'faulty' batteries worked OK in the main phone.

I wonder whether one of the batteries is on its last legs and is acting intermittently, but considering I gave my phone a reasonable amount of downtime with the batteries disconnected, I'm puzzled by the outcome.

If anyone has any other ideas, feel free to make suggestions.

 

[Ken g6]

The 'OK' batteries worked fine in my phone, and the 'faulty' batteries worked OK in the main phone.

Maybe the 'faulty' phone needed a reboot, and swapping batteries did that?

 

[alzan]

That would be my guess as well. Several cordless sets I've owned have exhibited that and variations. Different brands of phones and batteries.

Maybe the 'faulty' phone needed a reboot, and swapping batteries did that?

Good point

 

[Williz]

Yeah these phones do need a reboot from time to time.