News:

"The phone is a remarkably complex, simple device,
and very rarely ever needs repairs, once you fix them." - Dan/Panther

Main Menu

Signal Corps not ringing

Started by mienaichizu, September 06, 2009, 08:17:46 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

mienaichizu

I bought this Signal Corps off at eBay. It is working but not ringing. It seems that the wiring of the capacitor is not connected properly to the induction coil so I followed the schematics pasted under the phone and it just gets worst, it is not working now  so I returned it to the way it is wired before. Anybody know how to make this work? Below are the photos.

Phonesrfun

The problem with the photos you sent, and any other photos that I have tried to work with from other situations is that you cannot tell from a photo where the wires are running to/from, and photos often are not true as to colors.

From what you have sent, and from other photos of Signal Corps phones, it seems that the signal corps phones use the WE 302 base, or at least something very similar to that.

The ringer should have two wires; one red and one black.

The condenser should have four wires which are two each wires for two separate condensers built into the same metal can.

If the condenser is the same used on a 302, then the colors from the condenser should be Red, Black, Yellow, and slate (a fancy word for light gray).  These older fabric covered wires from the condenser are notorious for turning colors so the slate and yellow often are hard to tell apart.

The red and black wires are not used for ringing, so lets ignore those for now.

The usual way to wire the ringer in a 302 is as follows:

Red from ringer to L1 on the induction coil
Black from ringer to terminal K on a little terminal board on the side next to the inductor
Slate from the condenser also goes to K where the black ringer wire goes
Yellow from the condenser goes to L2/Y on the induction coil.

Basically what you are doing is putting the ringer and condenser in series, and bridging that series circuit across the incoming line.

The above wiring assumes that the Signal Corp phone follows the 302.  I do not own a Signal Corp phone nor have I ever seen the insides of one in person.

If this does not work, try to get a picture of the diagram inside the phone that I can look at.
-Bill G

mienaichizu

it is still doesn't work but anyway, here's the photo of the wiring diagram screwed under the phone

mienaichizu

my mistake, the capacitor is connected correctly at the induction coil, but still, there is no ringing

Phonesrfun

That diagram shows the ringer and capacitor to be connected exactly the way it should be!

In the Philippines, does ringing come in across L1 and L2 (tip and ring)? or does it come in on one side of the line to ground? 

In the US, all ringing on private lines comes in across the line and not to ground.  Grounded divided ringing used to occur on party lines here, but since literally no party lines exist any more, ringing is just directly across the line.

-Bill G

mienaichizu

I think it comes L1 and L2, I also tried to wire the ringer for grounded divided ringing but nothing happens. Maybe this phone has a bad ringer.

Phonesrfun

Perhaps.  Do you have another ringer you can put in this phone, or do you have an ohm meter to check to see if the ringer coil is good?  By visual inspection can you see any physical damage to the coil?  Is the clapper that pivots free to travel?

Many things to look for.  Could also be the capacitor.
-Bill G

mienaichizu

I think ringer is the problem, I hooked up an extra ringer and it works, is there a way to fix up a ringer?

Phonesrfun

They are not easily fixed.  There are like hundreds of wraps of very fine wire, and who knows where it is cut, or on which of the two spools.  Your best bet is to get another B1A ringer, which are readily available here in the states.  I even have a couple extras.  I do not know what it would cost to send one to the Philippines.

When you tried the other ringer, did you use the capacitor that is in the Signal Corps phone to make sure the cap was good?

-Bill G

mienaichizu

yes I did use the same capacitor of the Signal Corps. I don't know how much would it cost to ship here in the Philippines but I bet it would be expensive. I might use the extra ringer that I have in here but its not a B1A

Phonesrfun

The one thing you might check is the two points at which the red and black wires connect to each coil.  At those points, the heavier red and black wires are soldered onto a terminal lug.  The very fine coil wire will connect there too.  Check to see that the fine coil wires are not broken at that point.  Sometimes (not often) they do break.  If the break is right there where you can work on it, it is sometimes fixable, but does require some soldering skills to do.

If you want me to check on postage to the Philippines, send me a private message or an e-mail to billgeurts@gmail.com and we can work out the details.

-Bill G

mienaichizu

Bill, I'm not sure if there is a disconnected connection on this ringer, 1 thing is for sure, the previous owner did something on in, notice the red wire, it is now green.

Phonesrfun

Ramil:

If you can solder and if you have access to a soldering iron, try re-doing the solder points I have circled on the attached photo.  They really look suspect to me.  Especially the one in the upper left.

-Bill G

mienaichizu

sure I will do that, I have a soldering iron here, thanks Bill