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Need help wiring old Western 300 phone

Started by jem872, March 24, 2012, 10:36:30 AM

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jem872

I have an old 1937 Western Electric 300 phone. It has no cord on it and I would like to wire it up in my garage and put it with my other collectables. The inside of the phone has what appears to be a transformer with terminals marked C,L1,Y,R,& GN. The cord I was going to hook into phone has Red,Green,Yellow and Black wires. If I hook the red and green wires to terminals L1 and Y we get a dial tone and I can answer but the ringer does not work. I reversed wires and it did not make a difference. Is there another wire that has to be hooked up for the ringer to work? I have internet phone service (roadrunner and vonage), would this have an influence on this? I know I will probaly not be able to call out due to the service but would still like for the ringer to work. Is there a module or adapter available that can convert a rotary signal to tone service? I am not very familiar with these older phones so any help would be greatly appreciated.   THANKS   

Dennis Markham

#1
Hi Jem...., welcome to the forum.

There are a few questions that need to be addressed in order to fully diagnose your issue(s).  Based upon your description of the network (marked C, L1, Y, R and GN) it sounds like the coil is a 101A induction coil.  If you look closely, the terminal marked "Y" is also marked L2, which is why you get dial tone when you connect red/green to L1 and Y.  Those are the only two connections you need to be concerned with as far as your mounting cord (line cord).  They are not polarity sensitive so the phone will work if the colored wires are swapped between L1 and L2 (Y).

I'm going to attach a link to a posting in our section about wiring diagrams.  This should help you connect your phone and verify that the connections are correct.  Double check that your Induction Coil (network) or what you referred to as the transformer is marked 101A as opposed to 101B.  Then look on the inside of your housing at the back of the phone where the mounting cord exits the phone...is it marked H1?  Any marking at all?  Does your ringer have two wires or four.  I'm betting with a 101A you have two conductors (wires) coming from your ringer.

I have heard that Vonage does not support pulse dialing.  I do not know if they provide enough ringing voltage to ring your phone.  Perhaps someone on the Forum has Vonage or knows more about that.  There are a couple of devices that can be connected inside your phone that will convert pulses to tone.  The only one I am familiar with is a Rotatone.  A Rotatone can be purchased from Oldphoneworks.  Seen here:

http://www.oldphoneworks.com/_search.php?page=1&q=rotatone


Here is the link to a "colorful" wiring diagram to help you trace your wires to make certain they're connected properly.

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=2761.0

Additional,  300 series diagrams can be found at this link of the Forum:

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?board=18.0

Finally, here is a link to the Telephone Collector's International Library - Telephone Document Repository showing wiring schematics for 300 series Western Electric telephones:

http://tinyurl.com/7xmhaf3

If you have further questions, please feel free to ask.  Photos are always a good thing.

Here's a link on how to add photos to the Forum:

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=2670.0

That should get you started.  Good luck!

Phonesrfun

Adding to what Dennis said, the red and green wires connected to L1 and the Y (L2/Y) terminals is all you need to connect the phone to the line.  Ignore the yellow and black wires.  Either snip them off, or tape each end separately and store.  Don't be tempted to connect the yellow and black together onan unused terminal, because if you have a second line in your house, that would short it out.

Your phone has probably been wired for divided (party-line) ringing, and needs to be changed to regular ringing.  Assuming your ringer has two wires, red and black, here is how it should be wired:

Red ringer wire to the L1 terminal on the 101A coil
Black ringer wire to terminal K on the little terminal strip next to the coil.

There are two wires, a yellow and a slate coming from the capacitor.  The capacitor is under the long metal bracket, and actually has 4 wires, but the yellow and slate are used for ringing the phone.

The yellow capacitor wire should go to Y on the coil along with the green line cord wire.
The slate capacitor wire should go to terminal K, along with the black ringer wire.

Sometimes, after all these years, the color of the wires is hard to tell apart, particularly with those two capacitor wires, yellow and slate.  never fear, if you can't tell which is which.  The capacitor is not polarity sensitive, so it won't matter if they are reversed.

-Bill G

Phonesrfun

Quote from: Dennis Markham on March 24, 2012, 10:49:35 AM

I have heard that Vonage does not support pulse dialing.  I do not know if they provide enough ringing voltage to ring your phone.  Perhaps someone on the Forum has Vonage or knows more about that.

On the Vonage issue, I have had Vonage for about 7 years now and have used it with two different ATAs (routers).  In both cases, rotary dialing was supported.  Also, the Vonage system is built to handle several legacy-type phones in one's house, so yes, Vonage ATAs do have the power to ring several 302s at a time, provided they are wired correctly.

Jem, you did not say whether or not you were able to dial out once you did get dial tone.  You just said you didn't think you would be able to dial out.  Even with the ringer not wired correctly, once you get a dial tone on a 302 connected to Vonage, you should be able to dial out, provided that you are using an ATA that supports rotary dialing.

-Bill G

jem872

#4
Thank you Dennis and Bill for all your help. Yes Dennis my phone has a 101-A induction coil,and the inside of the metal housing has an H-5 marking. The ringer has 2 wires. I found your wiring diagram and the connections looked O.K except the capacitor is different. This phone only has 2 wires coming out of the capacitor under the metal bracket and has a 2nd loose capacitor between induction y and K terminal on the little block. Bill, the ringer is not wired like you said (red to L1 and black to K), the red does go to L1 but the black is going to ground on the little terminal strip. The K terminal has a .47-200 capacitor that goes to induction Y. I get a dial tone but cannot dial out. No ringer, but can answer phone. I took an old WE500 that I had and hooked it up and it rang but very lightly, soft you could barely hear it. Low voltage? Also do you know where I can look to find a number card retainer for the center of the dial? I think its a metal ring with a plastic disk in center. I can make a number card but need the mount. I really appreciate all your help.    JERRY

Phonesrfun

I think if you just move the black ringer wire from GND to K you should be in business.

There are usually an abundance of dial center rings and plastic windows available on e-Bay.  You just want to make sure you are getting one that is for Western Electric, and not for Automatic Electric dials.

Oldphoneworks www.oldphoneworks.com has them also.

-Bill G