BAT PHONE , Project phone

[markosjal]

While on the subject of Princess phones , I just wanted to mention I bought a Litton BTS Princess phone that I will be posting some info about soon.  When I opened it up I found WE Network and Dial. All dates I see say 1959. There is no bell, apparently in conformity with WE models of the time.  The base appears to be a WE base with no slots for bell sounds. I thought the case was identical to the WE, except I went to pick it up , and realized it did not feel like a princess for one small detail and that is the smal ridge on front (and back?) that keep it from sliding out of your hand. Yo see the rectangle on the front with the ridge at the top of the rectangle? was that on the first princess phones?

[andre_janew]

Did Batgirl have a Princess phone?

[rdelius]

That princess type set was most likely assembled for sale buy a refurbisher which used whatever parts they could get.See if it was put togather with pop rivits or screws.Factory sets would have been better built.WE put weights inside the sets to add weight so the set would not fall off the table when dialing or pulling the handset cord. WE redesigned the handset cord to be thinner with less pull needed

[andre_janew]

I think the bat phone may have used a clear case that was painted red.  To make the phone light up they may have used a 426A tube with all the black paint stripped off.  Batman's phone was programmed to call Commissioner Gordon and Commissioner Gordon's phone was programmed to call Batman. 

[AL_as_needed]

I think the bat phone may have used a clear case that was painted red.  To make the phone light up they may have used a 426A tube with all the black paint stripped off. 

I have a 501 that uses the same said 426A tube, and with the paint taken off it does cast a bit of a glow, its sadly not nearly bright enough to light in an entire shell. I think for the sake of this project modern LEDs might be the best route. Low draw and not as much heat as an incandescent.

They may have cast the phone shell in a tinted acrylic, especially considering it doesn't quite have the shape of a 500, plus it didnt actually need to work.....nothing some TV magic couldnt solve 

[markosjal]

I bought a bunch of red LEDs and they did not light up adequately. For the sake of the test I put them in series and wired the series string in parallel with the bell via a rectifier,  in series with capacitor. The voltage was adequate .

I did however at the same time buy a single TINY LED that is in a clear case unlike the others, because this phone has a (loop start?) button which originally wired an earth ground to one of the line wires I planned to make this into a hold button and wanted to illuminate it when a call was on hold. Referring to my experience as a 10 year old I again built the hold button circuit with a few parts.  This LED however illuminted the case all around the button! I had to wrap it in shrink tube so that all light to the sides and back would not light up the case.

So now I need to go back to the electronics store and buy yet another round of LEDs this time the tiny clear ones which seem much brighter.

[AL_as_needed]

Look into flashlight LEDs, they have a rather high output. Im not an electrical wiz kid but anyone who collects and modifies flashlights will be able to point you in the right direction. Only issue with those is they may require additional DC voltage than whats in the phone.

[markosjal]

This is feasible and I have done it. I since however took it all apart as the LEDs in the configuration that I wired them by way of diode then Parallel with bell causes the bell to not ring. I wanted the phone to ring at least for the time being. I think later I will put a button on bottom for Lights on Lights off or LEDs/Bell

On a note for the princess phones and using LED lighting I found that some places have omnidirectional LEDs . As many LEDs seem to throw the light out one way an omni directional will light to all sides more like a light bulb. In the case of the princess phone dials this may be necessary.