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First post, need lots of help

Started by johnj, January 02, 2013, 08:33:34 PM

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johnj

Happy New Year to all. Through a series of circumstances I am now the owner of a 236G payphone, and the very large wooden booth it came with. I remember sitting in the same kind of booth at the corner store when I was a kid. Anyway, I really want to get this phone to work. At the least I would like it to handle incoming and outgoing calls. If I can eventually get it to work as original with a controller, that would be even better. It seems to be in excellent original shape. It even came with about $2.50 in change in the coin box (or where the coin box would be).

The inside of the booth had been painted and some of the paint was peeling. I was able to scrape all of it off and the enamel underneath was almost perfect. The light and fan work, but the mercury switch is broken. I will either change it or try to find a suitable substitute.

I've played around with the phone and I can get a faint dial tone, but that's about it. Here are some photos. Any help will be appreciated.

poplar1

Fortunately the 236G model has the ringer and network inside the phone so you don't need a separate subset. I don't have one here to look at but the  outside line probably connects to R and Y on the hookswitch contacts. If this is not correct someone please update this topic.

Not sure why the volume is low if you hooked up the line correctly.
"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.

LarryInMichigan

You might be having the same problem that I had with the 233G,  The contacts on the front and back parts were dirty and not making a very good electrical connection.  I cleaned the contacts with the wire brush on the rotary tool and made sure to fit the front part of the phone well.

Larry

johnj

Thank you both. You were right on target. It makes calls perfectly (w/o coins). But it does not ring when called. Any suggestions.

RotarDad

That is a nice 236G you have.  The ringer is there and should work.  I would google BSP 506-322-400.   That Bell System Practice is the wiring diagram for the 236, and it should help you solve your issue.   Be prepared for a very "institutional" ringing sound once you've fixed it.  These are not pretty.  Still, since the 236 was the only (and last) version of the WE 3-slot to have a ringer, it is nice to have it working.
Paul

johnj

Thanks for the link, unfortunately, I can't read a schematic to save my life. But I'll give it a try. The phone seems complete. All I need is the lock for the housing. And eventually I'll get a controller.

johnj

If I'm reading the schematic correctly, everything seems to be connected where it should be. Since the phone only uses green and red to connect and the ringer is using black and red, should I be jumping something somewhere?

G-Man

I have found the BSP for the 236G in the TCI Library and have added color to the pertinent ringer leads in order to help you trace out the wiring.

Hopefully I will be able to attach the pdf to this message.

johnj

Thank you very much for taking the time to color those lines for me. Now, I'm pretty sure I have everything connected correctly. But it still will not ring. I've attached a photo of the connections I made following the diagram.