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What to do with old frequency ringers?

Started by Greg G., January 11, 2010, 05:32:03 AM

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Greg G.

My collection has grown to two.  Well, three if you count the one in the ITT phone I haven't taken out.  Just wondered if anybody ever got creative with these or found some other use for them.  Perhaps turned them into a lamp?  That would be one ugly lamp though!
The idea that a four-year degree is the only path to worthwhile knowledge is insane.
- Mike Row
e

dsk

My first idea was to adjust, modify the ringers to accept normal ringing frequency. A kind of personal victory against those (....) people who had put in something odd, just to make me angry.

So just send them to me  ;D I have actually never seen one.   :-\

dsk

Dan/Panther

A good question, could someone post a tutorial, on exactly waht makes a frequency ringer different ?
Is it the windings, the wiring or ?
D/P

The More People I meet, The More I Love, and MISS My Dog.  Dan Robinson

Jim Stettler

Quote from: Dan/Panther on January 11, 2010, 01:09:50 PM
A good question, could someone post a tutorial, on exactly waht makes a frequency ringer different ?
Is it the windings, the wiring or ?
D/P

The windings may be different, from a conversion standpoint, I think the main thing is the clapper weights.  About 20 years ago, I messed around with getting frequency ringers to ring as straight line. The main reason was that I had a ringing supply and was playing with it.

I think I did 5-6, and I think their were 2-3 brands.
About the only thing I recall doing was messing with the clapper weights, I think I just rearranged some, and possible removed some.  I recall getting them all to ring. But only 2 of them sounded loud. The others made enough noise to hear  them in the room.

I remember thinking that it would probably be doable if needed.Different freq. may be easier than others.

It also seems to me that Steve H. (Dial guy). was tweaking freq. ringers into straight line. He may of just rebuilt them w/ the proper parts.

Jim S.
You live, You learn,
You die, you forget it all.

Phonesrfun

I think a bigger issue than the clapper weight is the flat spring used to be the "pivot" point in a frequency ringer, versus the free-movement type pivot (for a lack of a better description) that is found in a straight line ringer.

In a straight line ringer the pivot point needs to allow the two sides to kind of freely flap back and forth without much resistance.  The only resistance being the bias spring to keep the ringer from tapping when dialing.

The frequency ringer has no such free-moving part.  that is why all anyone can probably hope to achieve is marginal results that might even be able to be heard across the room.

As you can tell, I have tried with little success to get a frequency ringer to work, and finally gave up.

Grrrrr.

Bill Geurts (chewing on his pencil)

-Bill G

LarryInMichigan

If you want to try to be creative, you may be able to replace the spring (reed) with a more flexible piece of metal or even plastic.  The springs in the frequency ringers are stiff and only like to flex at a certain frequency.

Larry

Greg G.

I think my question was more along the lines of using them for something other than use in phones, since they don't seem to lend themselves to modification very well.  Some suppliers of ringers are dumping the frequency ringers because they aren't usable with today's phone lines.  

It just brings to mind what I remember my step-dad saying when desk sets came out, he remembered seeing truck loads of candlestick phones being taken to the dump.  May not be a good comparison, since candlesticks were still usuable, just that nobody wanted them 70 years ago.
The idea that a four-year degree is the only path to worthwhile knowledge is insane.
- Mike Row
e

JorgeAmely

Brini:
You could potentially create a re-ringer circuit. In other words, you take the 90 VAC, 20 Hz signal and create out of it a 100 VAC, variable frequency to match your frequency ringer at the expense of REN numbers. Due to losses in the circuit, your re-ringer circuit would probably consume the power used by two standard ringers.

Just a thought.

Jorge