WE 554 "business systems only" phone: how do I wire for home use?

[MaximRecoil]

I got this phone for free about 12 years ago from a factory I worked at at the time. They removed it from the wall in order to replace it with a more modern phone. I asked them what they were going to do with it, and they said they were going to throw it away, so I said I'd take it.

I tried it at home, and it did work somewhat, but it was staticky and problematic in general. Then I noticed the sticker on back that says:

Warning
Use for business systems only or
you risk an electrical short circuit.

Here is a picture of the 425E network:



Does anyone know how to wire it for home use?

The sliding modular plug that connects to the wall jack is missing, because I used it for another 554 that needed one. Does anyone know where I can get one of those?

Also, the tab on the lower plastic piece that is in the set of leaf switches broke off while I was removing the hangup hook:



What can be done about that?

[Phonesrfun]

They probably have it wire for A-lead control for use in a 1A1 or 1A2 key system.  If you are good at following a wiring diagram, you could download the 500/554 wiring diagram from the TCI library and just simply move the wires around that need to be moved.  Otherwise,  we will need to go back and forth here in the forum and go through all the wires, although it's usually just a couple of hookswitch wires that need moving.  The phone itself is made to be used in either an office or residence environment.

When you say that you connected it and had static, what did you connect and where?  Let's start with that.

[poplar1]

Here's the reason for the warning sticker: The yellow and brown hookswitch leads (currently on G and L1 terminals) connected to the yellow and black wires in the modular plug that you removed, and when you picked up the handset, these two wires  shorted out to be compatible with a 1A2 Key System. Shorting these leads (A and A1) caused the lights on the multi-line phone to light up and if a call was on hold, it would remove the holding condition. The warning is because if your home was wired for Princess phones or older Trimline phones, the same wires in the jack would be connected to a 6-8 VAC transformer to power the lamps in the PRN or TML.  Thus, if you connected this wall phone it would short out the transformer.

There's no problem using it for home use; just connect only two wires to F and L1 and don't connect anything to G and L2.

[MaximRecoil]

When you say that you connected it and had static, what did you connect and where?  Let's start with that.

I connected it to the same wall jack that was originally installed by the Bell System for a 554 (this was before I removed the sliding modular plug from it). There was intermittent static, and it seems like there were other issues too, but it was 12 years ago so I don't remember for sure. I do remember it didn't seem to work completely right, plus it wasn't the color I wanted, so I found an ordinary black 554, which is still mounted to that same wall jack and has always worked fine.

There's no problem using it for home use; just connect only two wires to F and L1 and don't connect anything to G and L2.

You mean two wires from the sliding modular plug? If so, which two wires, and which goes where? Do you know where I can get one of those sliding plugs?

And what about the broken plastic tab? Do you think that will cause any problems?

[poplar1]

Green wire to F and Red wire to L2. (Or, as Bill said, you can change the wires around to match your other 554).

Instead of the blue modular 523Aplug, you could also just find any modular line cord and cut off one end and leave other end long enough to reach from F and L2 through the hole in the back of the phone and plug the other end into the wall jack.

As for the part that broke off, I can't see the contacts in the photo but it is possible that they are no longer positioned correctly without the plastic tab. Perhaps someone else can provide photos of what they are supposed to look like. Do any of the contacts appear to open and close when you operate the hookswitch?

[MaximRecoil]

Green wire to F and Red wire to L2. (Or, as Bill said, you can change the wires around to match your other 554).

Instead of the blue modular 523Aplug, you could also just find any modular line cord and cut off one end and leave other end long enough to reach from F and L2 through the hole in the back of the phone and plug the other end into the wall jack.

I don't have an extra line cord. I could get one, but I'd rather have the right part. Is this the right part - link?

As for changing the wires around to match the black 554, it has a different network (425B) and some different wire colors.

As for the part that broke off, I can't see the contacts in the photo but it is possible that they are no longer positioned correctly without the plastic tab. Perhaps someone else can provide photos of what they are supposed to look like. Do any of the contacts appear to open and close when you operate the hookswitch?

I compared it to my black 554 when operating the hookswitch, and I don't think it is going to work. The rearmost leaf for example doesn't get contacted when the hookswitch is depressed, because that plastic piece no longer holds it in place. So I don't know what to do about that.

[TelePlay]

I don't have an extra line cord. I could get one, but I'd rather have the right part. Is this the right part - link?

Or from here: http://tinyurl.com/cwanphq

[poplar1]

If you mean the contacts closest to the back of the phone, i.e. yellow, brown, and slate (gray), those are currently not being used (since this phone had been rewired for business use). (In your other 554, both sides of the line are switched, and the yellow and brown are used to open up the other leg of the line.)

You can also get by without the red and black (closest to the front of the phone) which short out the receiver to suppress the pop in your ear when hanging up. So it is the green and white (middle contacts) that are critical. These need to open up when the phone is hung up.

The link is pointing to the right part, but the $9.25 shipping from OPW is a killer; I can't log into phonecoinc for some reason, but their shipping is usually high also.

Sometimes, it is best to keep a phone for a source of parts later on (for example, you have already used the 523A plug for another phone) rather than invest too much in it. If the plastics are really good or of a different color then you can always use them on a beige phone of which there were so many produced. (One of my friends calls beige "that Band-Aid color").

[MaximRecoil]

Yeah, I've thought about just keeping it as a parts phone, but it is more fun to make it work.

I took the set of leaf switches apart, and removed the broken plastic piece. I'm going to try super gluing it back together, but I doubt that will hold up for long, if at all. Maybe I can find a replacement piece somewhere.

So you believe that if I hook a modular plug up like: "Green wire to F and Red wire to L2," it should work properly on a home line as-is?

[poplar1]

Yes, as long as the hookswitch is opening up the line.

[MaximRecoil]

I'm surprised those leaf switches in these old phones are as trouble-free as they are. Given how inaccessible they are, and how much of a pain they are to remove and put back together / put back in, I doubt many of them have ever been cleaned or otherwise maintained; yet these decades-old phones usually work fine as-is, straight from the yardsale or whatever.

One of my hobbies is collecting / working on old coin-operated video arcade machines; many of which used leaf switches for the buttons and joysticks. Those were not trouble-free at all. They would bend out of shape over time; corrode; become dirty; or even develop a rough surface at the contact points due to long term electrical arcing with every button press; all of which can impede proper function.

[MaximRecoil]

The phone is working properly now; dial tone, dials out, rings, etc. Someone sent me that plastic piece I needed, and it came today. Getting that stack of leaf switches back together and getting the plastic pieces in place was a very fiddly task, but it is done now:



I also installed a short section of line cord, "Green wire to F and Red wire to L2", and I put some heat shrink tubing on the ends of the remaining two wires:

After I finished working on it today I plugged it in and the same issues I had with it when I plugged it in 12 years ago were present. The issues were:

- Intermittent static
- Pressing on the outer housing (even slightly) would make the volume of the dial tone drop way down.

So the static seems to be caused by the handset cord, because with a different cord, there was no static. The other issue is caused by that ridiculous clear plastic handset cradle; i.e., the top of the cradle sits right against the cutout in the outer housing, so pushing on it pushes the cradle down slightly, which of course, reduces the volume to the handset speaker. A metal cradle (which I want anyway) would solve that issue, because there is plenty of clearance between the metal cradles and the cutout in the outer housing.

[poplar1]

If the cradle is pushed down by the housing you might want to disconnect the red or black hookswitch wire. That is, if the cradle is being pushed down so far that it causes the red and black contacts to touch.

[MaximRecoil]

If the cradle is pushed down by the housing you might want to disconnect the red or black hookswitch wire. That is, if the cradle is being pushed down so far that it causes the red and black contacts to touch.

Yeah, that's what's causing it; but that's the way the phone is supposed to work, so I'd like to keep the top leaf switch wires connected. Everything works fine as long as you don't push on the outer case/housing of the phone while using it.

Western Electric/AT&T simply didn't think the design of the plastic cradle through well enough; they probably didn't think much past how much money they would save using plastic instead of chromed metal. If I could find a metal cradle, it would solve the issue entirely ... or I could even cut a relief groove in the top of the existing plastic cradle.