Contacta V12A model

Assistive listening specialists Contacta Systems is conducting testing of its V-series hearing loop driver to demonstrate the product’s quality.

The V12a large area loop driver, launched in 2017, has been subject to temperatures of 60°C over 10 hours for more than 400 days, to test its heat dissipation and the longevity of its components. As Contacta was first to the market with these, it wanted to be more than confident that prolonged stress of the driver wouldn’t affect its performance and reliability.

“We sell many of these units into areas where the distances an installer may have to travel could be hundreds or thousands of miles,” said Contacta product electronics engineer Andrew Page.

“Producing a quality product is paramount for us but reliability is especially important when a maintenance visit could involve hours of driving.”

The V12a starts the day at an ambient temperature of 15° and switches on once the ‘oven’ it is in has reached its desired temperature. The driver runs for 10 hours continuously into 140m of cable loop and is only switched off at weekends as a fire safety measure. So far, the test has been running for 430 days and the driver’s performance is unchanged.

“We are pleased to see the driver behaving just as it did on day one of the test. We’re not aware of any other driver that goes through such extensive heat testing,” said Andrew.

The V12a is a constant current, dual output hearing loop driver with an integral phase shifter for phased array configuration.

It has Class-D amplifier output stages and an audio sub-system built around an advanced DSP core.

It also features a feedback mechanism which self-reports faults to installers via email. Like all V Series models, the V12a comes with an easy to use display-led set up process which makes installation far easier.

All set up adjustments are done through the clear backlit display including power, HFC, RMS readings and more.

Contacta aims to continue the heat test indefinitely to see just how long the driver will function.

Contacta is distributed in Australia by Amber Technology.