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AE 50 Flea Market Find will not ring

Started by Landshark, November 12, 2014, 09:42:36 PM

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Landshark

While visiting my mom (she is 91 and decided to quit smoking after 71 years!) I went to a weekend indoor flea market and found this AE 50 Jukebox wall phone no fancy chrome dial finger plate or handset pieces but the black bakelite case is in excellent condition.  Cost was $40. Added a phone line to L1 and L2 and made a call.  Works perfectly except did not ring, will post that question in another forum list.  My guess is from late 40's or early 50's.  This is my first old rotary, been collecting wood wall phones and ringer boxes.

LarryInMichigan

The AE50 is one of the real classic and stylish phones.  They were made from the mid/late 40s to mid/late 50s.  Many were equipped with frequency ringers for party line applications, so yours may need a ringer replacement.  Pictures of the insides would be helpful.  Not that to remove the cover, you need to first unscrew and remove the plunger and then loosen the two screws on the front.

You got a very good deal on yours.

Larry

Landshark

#2
Picked up this AE50 Jukebox wall phone at a flea market, seller said it was from a retired BC Tel repair man.  Cost 40 bucks,in very good shape, no cracks or missing parts, only the hand set is a little dull.   I put a phone cord on line to L1(red) and other to L2 (green).  I read somewhere about moving the green wire from GND to L2 to get it to ring.  Didn't make any difference.  The phone works well, incoming and outgoing calls.  The ringer coils are SL for Straight Line (not a frequency ringer) and it should be easy to get to ring if all components are OK.  The ringers are 2000W each.  Phone maybe from late 40s or early 50s?   There is a wire that is white with a red strip that comes from the square condenser under the dial but is not connected to anything.  Photos showing wires, any thoughts to get it to ring?

PS  The clapper doesn't move at all on an incoming call.  I switched the red and green wires, no change.

Thanks a lot, this is my first rotary, have a couple of NE and SC wooden wall phones and assortment of NE ringer boxes and a NE Model 5 handset attached to a wooden ringer box. 
Bob

Kenton K

Nice catch!

An easy fix that often works is wiring a jumper between gnd and L1. Many older phones were wired for grounded ringing.

KK

WEBellSystemChristian

Nice Flea Market find! I think the AE 35s and 50s are very handsome phones, some of the nicer-looking phones of the forties!
Christian Petterson

"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right" -Henry Ford

Landshark

I may have the solution myself, I think the white wire with the red strip is to go to the small coil, see photo.  the coil looks like it had a wire soldered to it and the wire seems to match.  Not going by any technical know how, just a gut feel.  Am I right, rather get a response before I re solder.

Bob

stub

Bob,
     Here's you a diagram. Hope this helps, stub



                            left click on pic to enlarge
Kenneth Stubblefield

Landshark

Thanks Stub, looks like from the diagram, now I know where the white red wire goes.
Bob

Landshark

Thanks for the comments, I agree it is a nice looking phone, I almost didn't buy it because it was not made from wood which are the styles I more collect.  I did post picks of it's guts on the repair forum.  The ringers are SL and I did move the ground to L2 but still could not get it to work, but I know have the wiring diagram and will keep plugging away. 

PS this is will be my one and only rotary.  I got a shot to prevent the phoneitist!

Bob

Kenton K

If there is another wire from the phone guts connected to ground, try moving that to L1.

KK

AE_Collector

Hi Landshark.

Nice find! The handset (or at least the handset caps) is one of the older versions of the Type 41 as it has the grooved bakelite caps to look like the metal banded caps. Before long they quit doing that to the bakelite caps, probably a cost saving measure.

The insides of the 50 has plastic insulated wiring rather than loth so it is newer than the handset caps, some time after WW2.

These were made from about 1940 through to the late 50's. The replacement for the AE 50, the AE 90 was available by about 1957 but they seemed to overlap production for quite awhile.

I merged your two topics together here as both topics would inevitably be discussing getting it to ring. May as well keep it all together in one place.

Any improvement once you got the white wire connected?

Terry

Landshark

Thanks Larry and Kenton,  I soldered the white and red and moved the green from gnd to L1 and now it rings.  Interesting Larry you mentioned the handset being from a different era than the rest of the phone.  That likely explains why the handset is a duller finish than the body, it is older. I plan on making a mounting board similar to what I saw on this forum awhile back.  They had a BC Tel present for retirement gift of a AE50 mounted on a board with profile of the top of the jukebox and a writing ledge like the ones on old wooden wall phones.  I live in BC Canada so it would be fitting.

Again, thanks for the help.

Bob

Kenton K

Awesome! Troubleshooting is fun right!

And about the handset, it is common for bakelite handsets to dull before the body. I believe this is because your hands, oil, and moisture touch primarily the handset. Usually, the bakelite body is in great, glossy, shape.

KK

AE_Collector

Where are you in BC Bob? I am in Coquitlam.

Lots of AE phones in BC. I worked for BC Tel for 37.5.....years, not hours!

I didn't get one of the retirement gift AE 50's though, even though I donated several 50's for retirement gifts for others. Guess I will have to make my own!

Terry

Contempra

Quote from: AE_Collector on November 14, 2014, 02:29:19 AM
Where are you in BC Bob? I am in Coquitlam.

Lots of AE phones in BC. I worked for BC Tel for 37.5.....years, not hours!

I didn't get one of the retirement gift AE 50's though, even though I donated several 50's for retirement gifts for others. Guess I will have to make my own!

Terry


Hello terry.. The only thing I know from B.C is the Coquihala highway..It seems that in the winter, this highway is dangerous if someone does not pay attention. thats all I know of this Canadian province...This is off-topic I know..