WE 500 will not ring

[pa_bell1960]

  Hello everyone, I`m still fairly new to this phone stuff so forgive me for being dumb. I recently acquired a nice WE 500 and everything works except the ringer. I`ve looked over the BSP`s for this model and everything is wired to the net correctly. I had seen some videos on YOU TUBE where a guy wires in a capacitor across the ringer and it corrects the problem, but he never states the value of the cap or where he is wiring it too. Is this a common problem with phones of this age, it is a 500 C/D dated 1-55 with the 425B network. I would greatly appreciate any help with this.   Jim  pa_bell1960

[jsowers]

Jim, normally phones from the 50s were wired from the factory with the black ringer wire connected to G where the yellow wire from the mounting cord is connected. All you have to do is move the black ringer wire to L1 where the green mounting cord wire is connected, so you have the red and black wires of the ringer connected across the phone line. So move it from yellow to green and you should have a ring.

If that doesn't do it, please post a picture and maybe we can diagnose the problem. Normally Western Electric phones don't have frequency ringers, so that shouldn't be your problem.

[Dennis Markham]

Jim, here's a photo from David Massey's site to illustrate what Jonathan described:

http://goo.gl/P0qwP

David's site is filled with information regarding the Bell System and Western Electric.  The Home page is here:

http://goo.gl/e1n62

[pa_bell1960]

 I absolutely love this forum. I cannot thank you enough for this info and now my old beauty is ringing like a brand new phone. I have been following David Massey`s site for years Dennis and I absolutely love it. Once again thanks to you both.  Jim