7D Dial Returns To Rest With a Sloppy Click

[rp2813]

Today I swapped locations of a 5302 and an 11/56 matching dates 500.  After the swap, which was a simple process of unplugging both phones and replugging them in at their new positions, the 500 now makes a sort of double click sound (through the receiver) when the finger wheel returns to resting position.   It still dials out fine, but the sloppy sound of separating contacts (I presume) is abnormal. 

I took the cover off the back of the dial to inspect it and everything appears to be OK.  I cleaned the contacts just in case that was the problem.  No change.  The dialing action was normal before today's swap.

What could have caused this?  It's not like I dropped the phone or otherwise mishandled it when moving it from its old location to its new one.   Is there something else I should check?

I thought this sort of thing only happened if you moved a philodendron.   

[Phonesrfun]

Seems odd.  location A should be the same as location B.  The logical questionwould be what happens if you move it back?

Really, it sounds like DC is getting into the receiver.  A photo of the wiring inside the phone might be in order.

[Doug Rose]

Are the pairs swapped in one jack. One phone polarity sensitive, the other not. Bill has a good question, what happened when you put them back where they were...Doug

[rp2813]

Well, both phones are doing it.

It didn't even occur to me to mention it, but I also hooked up a chime box that day.  It turns out that if I disconnect the chime, the problem clears.

The other thing that's happening is that when a call comes in, the first cycle of the chime provides a "ding" but no "dong."  On subsequent cycles it provides both.

Should I try to reverse the connections to the chime?  To the phones?

I'm headed to the beach for the holiday weekend so probably won't be able to act on any suggestions until after Monday, but feel free to . . . er . . . chime in.

Thanks,

[Phonesrfun]

Brand and model of the chime?  I think I would focus on the chime.  Perhaps its capacitor is either wired wrong orhas gone bad.

I take it the clicking problem goes away if the chime is unhooked?

[rp2813]

Yes, the clicking goes away if the chime is unplugged.

It's a Northern Telecom model that looks pretty much identical to a WE chime box.  I'm going to peg it at early 80's vintage.  I checked for dates but they're not as obvious on later coils as they are on earlier ones, but the cover appears to have a 1983 date.

Now I'm regretting having mailed off a 1962 vintage WE chime box to a friend this past week.  It wasn't in nice clean shape like the NT box, so I let it go.  He has a 1962 Princess phone and needs a ringer for it, so it seemed like the appropriate one to send.

BUT -- I had this same NT chime box hooked up for years where I used to live, I had rotary phones connected in that house, and had no problems.  Nothing has changed with the wiring on the box.  I'm really hoping that reversing the leads on the box will fix the problem.

[rp2813]

Since I had some time to kill before heading out for the weekend, I switched the wires on the chime.

It's fixed.  Not only are the rotary dials silent upon return, but the chime now provides a "dong" after the initial "ding."

Case closed, so to speak.

[Phonesrfun]

There is something still fishy.  Any chime/ringer is not supposed to be sensitive to the polarity on the line.  Sometimes bell "tinkle" while dialing can be resolved by reversing the wires, but the problem you described was not bell tinkle.   

It is hard to argue with the fact that reversing the wires made it work, so I will leave it at that.

[rp2813]

I didn't know polarity shouldn't affect ringers, but it seems even more strange that the way a ringer is wired would create the raspy click I was hearing when the finger wheel came to rest.

There is a DSL filter between the chime and the jack.  I think the last time I had it connected a few years ago, it may have been a filter-less connection. 

Regardless, between this issue with the chime and those with some of my touchtone phones not breaking dialtone, I'm convinced this house has reversed polarity from my previous place.