My Northern Telecom desk phone won't ring

[JoH]

I bought a Northern Telecom rotary dial desk phone the other day.  I plug it in to the wall jack and get a dial tone. I'm able to call out and receive calls but it just won't ring. I know nothing about wiring so have no idea what to try. I have no idea what year the phone is. There are numbers on the bottom of the phone which may help.
500 16 (L R) 90 M 8 67  Any help will be greatly appreciated! Thank you!!

[TelePlay]

Can you take and post a picture of the network inside the phone, the rectangular box on the left side that has the screw terminal on the top and a lot of wires hook up to it? It may be just moving one wire or re-attaching the ringer wires, or something else.

[JoH]

I'm hoping this photo comes through alright and that it shows what you need. If not, let me know and I'll give it another shot.  Thanks!

[poplar1]

Both the red and black ringer wires are on the same L1 screw terminal, where the green line wire is. One wire should go to L1 and the other to L2.

However, this may be a "party line" ringer that responds only to a particular frequency, such as 60 hertz. If so, it won't ring on a modern line, which is usually 20 hertz.

[jsowers]

Dave (poplar1) posted while I was writing my post and we pretty much agree. I'm going ahead and posting mine because the picture could be of help.

It looks like the red and black wires to the ringer are both connected to the same screw with two other wires. If you move the red wire to the same spot as the other red wire, which is L2 if you have something on the side telling the names of all the screws, you may have success. Be sure you get the spades (the hooked ends of the wires) all the way under the screws so nothing touches other screws and shorts out the wires.

I added something to your picture to show which wires and where they go.

Your ringer is an odd looking thing I've never seen before, and I don't see the other two wires, which are slate and slate/red. It may even be a frequency ringer meant for party lines--I can't tell. That means it may not ring on a private line. And that may be why it's hooked up the way it is, which is effectively out of the circuit. So you could still have a non-ringing phone.

You may also want to push the ringer wires down into the slot between the ringer and the part with all the screws, which is called the network. When they touch the bells, the ringing is diminished. Right now they look like they're touching the left bell.

Thanks for posting the picture. Good luck with your phone!

[JoH]

I moved the wire and as you suspected it didn't help. But I did find two more wires tucked away by the one bell. Both of them have little plastic tube like things over them. I believe these are the slate and slate/red ones. Can you tell me where they should be hooked up?

[TelePlay]

This may be the wiring diagram for your phone. Others can help you attach the two taped off wires to the network.

The wiring diagram is post at this link:

     http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=17057.0

[JoH]

Thank you for the diagram. My dad is good at reading those so I can have him take a look at it. I really appreciate everyone's help! I have one more question. If I can't get the ringer to work would it be possible to replace it with a different kind? Or is it just a lost cause? Thanks again!

[TelePlay]

Yes, C4A ringers are available and can be found on eBay or possibly from another forum member.

Here is one for example.

     http://www.ebay.com/itm/vintage-phone-ringer-c4a-/322646891306

The attached diagram shows the area we are dealing with. The taped off Slate and Slate Red are shown attached to A and K. Others can help with the proper connections for your phone.

[JoH]

Fantastic! I'm glad there's still hope for it.  Again, I thank you for all your help!  I'm so glad I found this forum. :-))

[poplar1]

A and K are soldered to a capacitor inside the network. However, your ringer already had a capacitor as part of the ringer assembly, so the A and K terminals were not needed for the slate and slate red wires.

[JoH]

So with this phone the slate and slate red wires aren't needed? I can just tuck them back in where I found them?

[TelePlay]

Are the two wires, the slate and slate/red connected to each other and taped or taped off separately?

[JoH]

They're taped off separately.

[TelePlay]

They're taped off separately.

Thanks.

poplar1, wouldn't these need to be connected together somehow to complete the ring circuit if the ringer has it's own capacitor?