Aiphone NHX-50M - 50-Call Console Master Station

The NHX-50M console master communicates with up to 50 room stations on its own. If the building outgrows that, an optional 30-call add-on selector takes the system to 80 stations, so a 60-bed wing does not force a different master. It is the central point of the CommuniCare system, so the room stations report through it rather than to each other.

Run length between the master station and the central control unit is 65 feet at 22AWG. The wire is 5 twisted pair, low capacitance, PE insulated, with an overall shield, and Aiphone specifies its own #862210 cable for that run. That 65 foot limit is the number that decides where the nurses station can physically sit relative to the equipment closet, so lay the closet out before the console position is fixed.

It does, and it does it two ways at once. Routine calls and bathroom calls are annunciated by slow or fast flashing LED plus a tone, so staff can tell them apart across the room without reading a display. Behind that, the call-in priority stacks three levels: cord-out trouble call first, then urgent bathroom call and NHR-3TS common area bathroom/staff call, then routine call. Standby sub station call-ins connect according to urgency level and time of call.

Both raise a fault tone. Line-off trouble at the bedside, at an NHR-3TS or at a duty station sounds a warning, and a shorted or disconnected wire at a patient station does the same. A handset left off-hook more than 90 seconds triggers a steady notification tone. There is also a 90 second elapse timer that escalates an unanswered call tone to HIGH level. To stop the trouble tone at the duty station, a 2-pin jumper is plugged into CN104 in the central control unit.

It is not standalone. The NHX-50M is the console master for the CommuniCare system and it works through a central control unit, wired back with 5 twisted pair shielded cable within 65 feet. Room stations, NHR-3TS common area bathroom/staff stations and the control unit are separate line items. Budget the system, not just the console.

No. Auto-connect takes the next call-in by priority with no station selection needed, so an aide can pick up the handset and be on the call. Talk is either handset VOX (voice actuated) or push-to-talk simplex using the TALK button. There is also a TONE OFF button to silence the call tone and an OFF button to end the conversation.

The control panel is membrane style with tactile switches, and it is both mar-resistant and moisture-resistant, so wipe-downs and spilled drinks at the desk are not a failure point. The handset uses a magnetic hook switch with no moving parts, which removes the part that normally wears out first on a heavily used console. It is specified as commercial equipment, not residential.

Voice and tone volume controls sit on the side of the unit and are adjustable by hand, so a charge nurse can turn the tone down for a quiet night shift. The remaining volume controls are on the bottom of the unit, which means those are the ones you set at commissioning rather than day to day.

One model, NHX-50M, in the NHX Series. There is no finish or handing choice to make. The only sizing decision is capacity: 50 calls at the console, or 80 with the optional 30-call add-on selector ordered alongside it.