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WE684BA subset compatible with...

Started by cloyd, August 16, 2015, 06:53:28 PM

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cloyd

I have another challenge for my knowledgable friends on the CRPF.  On ebay, I have seen people selling everything from a WE102, to space saver phones (211, 43A etc) coupled with a subset like a 684A.  But we all know that when it comes to ebay, buyer beware.

I have a WE 684BA and would like a long list of phone models that it works with.  I have read that it will work with a WE202 which I purchased recently as well as a WE151 candlestick and a WE211 space saver.  Anything else?

What about an AE space saver phone?  They are cuter than WE space savers!

What about older British phones?

I need to keep it simple.   :-\  I don't want to make modifications to my phones to make it work.  If there is something in the phone that will correspond to something in the subset, I can handle that, otherwise, just a simple list please.   :)

Tina Loyd
-- I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it. - Van Gogh -- 1885

poplar1

AE Spacesavers already contain a network, so if you did use a 684BA with those, you would need only the ringer and half of the capacitor inside the 684BA.

There is a similar-looking 584-DF which is just an extension ringer. (No 101A induction coil inside.)

684BA might be used with any of the following (perhaps others):

202 hand telephone set
211 hangup type hand telephone set
151-AL, 152-AB desk stands (candlestick)
250 (looks like a 302, but without induction coil, capacitor, or ringer) (AA1 tel set mounting)


"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.

unbeldi

Generally you can only use subsets, or other parts of telephones for that matter, with parts from the same manufacturer, at least in American telephone history, as the parts and circuits were not standardized by some authority, like it was practice early on in many European countries. Only starting in the 1950s came some standardization and Western Electric had to license their designs to other companies.

A subset is not a standardized type of equipment, but just one part of a specific telephone design, place into a separate box, because the components were initially much too large to place into one unit on the desk.  All of Western Electrics telephone types that Poplar1 just mentioned as compatible were designed to exactly the same internal electrical specifications, and simply are just different external forms containing the same basic circuit.

Other companies used slightly different circuits, and the components of them were dimensioned to operate optimally with the other parts, such as transmitters and receivers. Some companies also used multiple design lines, so that parts could not necessarily be swapped between them.

This doesn't mean one can't make it work. One can very often.  But you have to keep in mind that it will not operate optimally for all the various conditions that the manufacturers had to consider when designing equipment.

cloyd

Unbeldi,
Thank you for your patient and simple reply.  I appreciate it.  I will learn...eventually. ;D
-- I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it. - Van Gogh -- 1885