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Making a WE551A Functional - Work In Progress

Started by ramegoom, August 03, 2017, 10:44:42 PM

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ramegoom

Quote
I also asked you to list all the jumpers between/among terminals on the installer side of the MISC area of this block.  I cannot resolve that information from a 2-dimensional image with wires which exit the frame.

Jumpers are the following:
1, 2, 3, and 4.

5, 6, 7, and 8.

9, 10, 11, 12, 17, and 18.

25, 26.

31, 32.

33, 34.

37, 38, 39, and 40.

45, 46, 47, and 48.

In addition I asked where the textile insulated thick black and red-blue leads go.

The blue textile wire is on 49
The red (with gray stripe) textile wire is on 25, 26. These lead around to the front, and a hole was drilled under the console. The two wires are hanging there, not sure what was attached to those wires. They were taped up.


Thirdly I asked whether you see any fuses and described what they look like.  I'm not going to repeat the description.  Re-read my previous message.

Here are the only fuses I can find. There are eight of them on some components in the relay panel, two appear to have been removed.

Hope this explains it so far.


unbeldi

Do you have any documents on this PBX yet?

Attached is the general 'Circuit Description' and schematic drawings as published by General Telephone Co. in 1959.  It's not the original WECo documentation, and it is rather terse, but at least you have some circuits.


ramegoom

Thanks! This will definitely help. I don't have anything except the wiring diagram plastered to a board that slips into the wiring of the relays on the door. And it's pretty cryptic, not much help at all.

This one will get me started. Big battle in understanding how this system works as I know absolutely nothing about PBX systems. If I could apply power to the right terminals, it might make more sense - and add a couple of phones to experiment with it.

Pourme

Every time I see pictures of this switchboard I can't believe the crisp clean condition of it! Not even a dust build up on the inside. What a special find.

You should enter it in Find of the Month!
Benny

Panasonic 308/616 Magicjack service

ramegoom

When I got this from an estate sale, I didn't realize how clean it was...just looked nice and figured they all look this good. It must've been sitting in the guy's family room for years. I assume he was a former Bell employee since there was lots of phone-related stuff throughout the house. Heavy piece so that's probably why no one else snagged it. Knew nothing about it.

The front has a lock, and there was no key, so I inquired online and got a picture of the actual key for it. I fabricated an aluminum "look-alike" key out of a bar and got it open. Took the lock apart, bought an antique key blank off of Ebay and started filing and grinding. Now it's complete. Very clean under that console as well. Inside, I found this gem that didn't work, so I replaced the 30 volt battery and 1.5v D cell, works like a champ. Looks just like my Simpson 260.

After seeing the one on Ebay that had been butchered - all the relays removed, all wires cut - I realize it's one of the nicer ones and should be left untouched. So, I might take some more pictures and post them on the thread. Wiring is fascinating.

unbeldi

#65
Here is more documentation for the 551 PBX.
These are the BSP sections available in 1980 in Section 536-490, bundled in a ZIP format archive.

536-490-110 i1 350923--Signal Cabinet for Touch Operation—General Description—550- and 551-Type PBX
536-490-200 i4 5910--Preparation for Installing—550B, 550C, 550SC, 551A, 551B, 552B, 555, 556A, 557A, or 557B PBX
536-490-210 i4 5611--Installation—551 A, 551 B, and 552B PBX
536-490-230 i3 5201--Tests and Inspections at Time of Installation—550- and 551-Type PBX
536-490-600 i5 5408--Miscellaneous Circuits—Ringing, Battery, Auxiliary Signal, Grouping, Fuse, and Power Alarms—Tests and Inspections—550B, 550C, 550SC, 551A, 551B, 551D, 555, 556A, and 557A PBX
536-490-660 i3 481104--Extension Lines—Relay, Jack, and Lamp Circuit Tests—550B, 550C, 550SC, 551 A, 551B, 551D, and 555 PBX
536-490-665 i5 5408--Central Office Trunks—Operation Tests—550B, 550C, 550SC, 551A, 551B, 551D, 555, 556A, and 557A PBX


The circuit drawings after 1937 have the following numbers, according to BSP B899.321 (N.Y. Tel.):

SD-66163-01 Trunk
SD-66179-01 Cord circuit
SD-66180-01 Telephone and dial
SD-66181-01 Station line
SD-66182-01 Ringing
SD-66183-01 Aux. signal and battery cut-off
SD-66193-01 Position grouping
SD-66270-01 Key sheet

There would have been a Circuit Description (CD) for each number as well.
Perhaps AGB can confirm this list. It may well be that they were redrawn again at a later date, with new document numbers.

ramegoom

Thanks, Unbeldi, this is great reading material here.

I will be plowing thru it, and hopefully all I will need is a pair of wires to hook up the 24DC supply. Starting to look for phones to wire-in to this.

The hunt begins.

unbeldi

I was informed that the ZIP file may need to be extracted in the root of a Windows file system, because one of the file names is long enough to exceed path size limits elsewhere. The alternative is to get a real operating system, :-).

ramegoom

I was able to open them all, without unzipping. Lots of good info there.

Thanks again.

Alex G. Bell

#69
Quote from: unbeldi on August 09, 2017, 04:02:31 PM
I was informed that the ZIP file may need to be extracted in the root of a Windows file system, because one of the file names is long enough to exceed path size limits elsewhere. The alternative is to get a real operating system, :-).

I renamed it from 201 to 146 characters:

536-490-600 Iss5 - Misc Ckts - Ringing, Bat, Aux Sig, Grpg, Fuse & Pwr Alms - Tests & Inspctns - 550B, C, SC, 551A, B, D, 555, 556A & 557A PBX.pdf

And the others to:

536-000-000 Iss26 - Numerical Index; 500 Series PBX.pdf
536-001-011 Iss2 - Equipment Test List; 500 Series PBX.pdf
536-490-110 Iss1 - Signal Cabinet for Touch Operation; General Description; 550- & 551-Type PBX.pdf
536-490-200 Iss4 - Preparation for Installing - 550B, C, SC, 551A, B, 552B, 555, 556A, 557A or 557B PBX.pdf
536-490-210 Iss4 - Installation - 551A, B & 552B PBX.pdf
536-490-230 Iss3 - Tests & Inspections at Time of Installation - 550- & 551-Type PBX.pdf

536-490-660 Iss3 - Extension Lines - Relay, Jack, & Lamp Ckt Tests - 550B, C, SC, 551 A, B, D & 555 PBX.pdf
536-490-665 Iss5 - Central Office Trunks - Operation Tests - 550B, C, SC, 551A, B, D, 555, 556A & 557A PBX.pdf


ramegoom

Alex G: looking at the installation illustrations, apparently there is a fuse panel that I have yet to discover. When I get home this afternoon, I'll look for it. The pic that I posted showed what I *assumed* were fuses, eight of them, but I'm not sure now. Need to answer your question.

I'll get back to you on those fuses :-)


tanderson78

Alex and Victor;

Would any of the files in that zip file help me with my 552 that I mentioned in another post?  That is, assuming I don't plug mine back in to 110 AC like a dumbass?

Alex G. Bell

Quote from: ramegoom on August 09, 2017, 04:38:59 PM
Alex G: looking at the installation illustrations, apparently there is a fuse panel that I have yet to discover. When I get home this afternoon, I'll look for it. The pic that I posted showed what I *assumed* were fuses, eight of them, but I'm not sure now. Need to answer your question.

I'll get back to you on those fuses :-)
The photo shows thermistors on the CO trunk ringing detection relays.  They have a finite life so the last two were probably moved to restore operation on the first 2 trunks.

Alex G. Bell

Quote from: tanderson78 on August 09, 2017, 05:42:33 PM
Alex and Victor;

Would any of the files in that zip file help me with my 552 that I mentioned in another post?  That is, assuming I don't plug mine back in to 110 AC like a dumbass?
No.

ramegoom

OK, back to being baffled. I can't find fuses anywhere. The illustration on the data downloaded showed what appeared to be a fuse panel in back, adjacent to the relay panel. Nothing there but the weighted cords.

Any idea where I might look to find a fuse panel? I've been through it and nothing even remotely looks like it'd be a fuse.