AE 80 w/426A gas tube

[JorgeAmely]

I haven't tried with an AE80 phone, only with a Western. They have a slightly different ways of connecting the tube, but you are right, black and red go together on the most positive side of the line and yellow (the cathode) just like in a plain diode, goes negative.

The tube goes a little weak after 10 years, because that is the half life time of the Krypton gas inside. It is slightly radioactive, but not enough to harm anyone. Anyway, most of the life of the Krypton gas is gone now because these tubes are five decades old.

PS: I forgot to mention that the purpose of the Krypton gas is to help the neon gas conduct (or strike) when the tube is biased properly. Since the tube is in a dark environment, it needs something to guarantee that it will strike when needed.

[Phonesrfun]

Makes sense.  Superman could even come in contact with mine, its so old.   

Mine still has the fabric covered wires on it.  You are right about it being hooked up differently.  On the 500, it was also using the split C4 ringer coil and the capacitor between terminals A and K on the old 425A network.  Briney's looked a lot younger with vinyl jacketed wires on his, so it will probably work for him.

-Bill

[Greg G.]

Briny:

Specific connections for the 426A in the AE80:

Keep the following connections:

Ringer Green to 7
Ringer Red to 16
Tube yellow to 16

Move the tube red and black from 9 to 15.

The line cord should be connected so that Green goes to 8
and Red goes to 10

Now try it out.  If there NO ringing activity, switch the red and green line cord wires at the terminal "muffin" block.  Note that it is far easier to switch the red and green at the terminal block than it is to rewire the inside of the phone to get the proper polarity.

Try the ringing again.

If one or the other polarity will make the phone ring, you are in business.  If neither will do it, or if you get very weak ringing in either of the situations, at least you can say you tried!

-Bill Geurts

By "muffin" I assume you meant what I normally call a "biscuit", but I'm not using one on this because the line cord has a mod end, so I had to switch the red and green wires of the line cord inside the phone.  

I tried both ways, and both times I can see the tube pulsate, so we're making progress at least, but it's not making the ringer go ringy-dingy.

[JorgeAmely]

Bill:

The instruction that you gave Brinybay, are those based on the potted network or the relatively newer network his phone has? I am referring to the terminal numbers.

[stub]

 Briny , Sorry I'm no help!

Guys, I have a 333A WE tube (1954) in my Leich (105c) phone and at 70 volts all I got was a weak intermittent ring also. I'm going to hook it up for a while to see if the tube will improve with use. It probably won't.
  At least now I know how to use it in a phone!!!  Thanks  Jorge and Bill  stub

[Phonesrfun]

Bill:

The instruction that you gave Brinybay, are those based on the potted network or the relatively newer network his phone has? I am referring to the terminal numbers.

I was specifically referring to the printed circuit network card, and not the potted network.  The diagram that was posted had the older network, but I picked up on the fact that Greg (Briny) had the newer card in his phone from the photos and the description he made.

Hope this helps.

-Bill

[Greg G.]

I think Briny has said that he is on an AT&T system, so I do not know whether he gets his dial tone from a router at 24 volts or from a central office at 48 volts.  I guess just hooking it up and trying it out will be the proof of the pudding.

-Bill Geurts

Bill - My phone system is via Comcast, it runs through a phone modem.

[Greg G.]

I'm going to have to wait a few days on this.  I usually tinker with it after work, but too tired tonight.  Tomorrow night (Wednesday) I'm going straight to bed after work because I'm heading to Vancouver/Portland to visit family Thursday morning and yes, maybe get a couple of phones while I'm there, won't be back until Saturday evening.  Thanks for all the help, I'll mess with it probably on Sunday.

Stub - I have this thing that I got when Bill was over last year and we worked on my NEC, but I don't know how to use it.

Greg

[stub]

Briny ,
         My tube has just made a liar out of me!!!!!!!! It has gone back to weak and intermittent!!! Jorge was right!!!!!!!!!!! I don't think it will ever be reliable enough to justify wiring it back in. Sorry to get your hopes up. I think I'll take my tube out side and introduce it to my biggggggg hammer!!!!!!!!!
          Jorge & Bill will get you fixed up with a capacitor, in place of tube.
           again, sorry for butting in !  stub

[JorgeAmely]

If you are going to hammer your tube, send it to me.

[stub]

Jorge ,
            Give me address in PM and it is yours. I don't have the rest of this phone anyway. Someone robbed it of mag and a few other parts. If briny wants to put a cap. in I have one that came out of a AE80, if its good ,I'll check it in a few minutes.  D-68693-A  .4 MF at.    500V D C  stub

[Greg G.]

Ok, where were we on this?  I thought there was something else I was going to try, but I can't find it.  Last I did was Bill's suggestions.  Is this puppy going to ring, with or w/o the tube?

[Phonesrfun]

Greg:

I think you are going to be better off in substituting the tube with a .47mF capacitor if you want it to ring well.  You could always leave the tube inside the phone for looks, but I think that if it winds up working at all, it will be marginal.

[Greg G.]

Greg:

I think you are going to be better off in substituting the tube with a .47mF capacitor if you want it to ring well.  You could always leave the tube inside the phone for looks, but I think that if it winds up working at all, it will be marginal.

Ok, I'll put that on my OMS project list. 

[JorgeAmely]

Brinybay:

Today I had a chance to play with the way WE wired the tube to the network. Essentially, if you simplify the circuit a little, there is no need for a ringing capacitor, but since the tube is polarized, you will have to observe proper line polarity in order for the phone to ring.

Bottom line is:

Connect one side of the ringer to Tip (green wire from the mounting cord).
Connect the other side of the ringer plus the red and black leads of the tube together.
Connect the yellow wire of the tube to Ring (red wire from the mounting cord)

It should ring loud and clear. If it doesn't, exchange the red and green mounting cord leads to correct for wrong polarity.