Differences in ringer wiring ... Why?

[JorgeAmely]

Yesterday I opened a WE500 that I purchased a couple of years ago and noticed that it is wired different to other 500s that I have seen. Does anybody know why?

The first picture is a standard, generic 500 wired according to schematics found at the TCI library.

The second picture is the oddly wired 500.
Why is the black and red from the ringer connected to network terminal B? Usually, this one sits all by itself.

[bingster]

I'm not much help with this, but I did get a '58 that I remember having a similarly wired ringer in it.  I thought it was the result of a tinkerer, so I rewired it to standard.  I hadn't thought about it until I saw yours, and it looks an awful lot like mine did.  Strange.

Does it work like that?

[JorgeAmely]

Hello Bingster:

Yes, it works like that. Inside the 4 prong plug, yellow and green are tied together. It places and receives calls by the book. This is the second set I have seen wired like this. At first I thought it was a drunk employee at the factory who did it, but the second time made me think that there may be a reason behind it.

Perhaps Dennis has seen this before. Of course, we have to wait until him and his brown phone come down from high orbit. 

Dennis ... are you there?

[Phonesrfun]

Here is a link to a hearing impaired phone that has this kind of ringer wiring included as an option in the schematic.

http://telephonecollectors.org/library/weco/we532a.pdf

Although this link takes you to a 532 for hearing impaired diagram, the ringer wiring option included has nothing to do with the fact that the phone is amplified.

Take a look at the very bottom option, where the black and red ringer wires are tied to the B terminal on the network, which is usually just for the black transmitter wire from the handset.

This option was used in party line situations, not for ringing as much as it was used for party identification for automatic long distance billing.  In this case for tip-side using the 2650 ohm ringer side for ID.  The ringer in a 500 has two separate coils.  One with 2650 ohms and the other is 1000 ohms.  This method was used so that when calling out, an operator did not have to come on the line and ask where you were calling from, and obviously avoided fraud.  This is because on a party line everyone uses the same line.  Something needed to be connected at each phone that is electrically different as the central office sees it to properly identify the party placing the call.

I suspect this is one reason that the phone company used to take a very militant stand against subscribers going in and moving their own phones around the house or bootlegging phones that did not have the automatic number identification (ANI) wiring done inside the phone.  All that would raise havoc with their ability to properly bill for measured local calls and long distance calls.  Yes, there was once such a thing as measured local service.

The 304 version of the 302 did this with a center tap "M" on the 101B induction coil and B2A split resistance ringer.  This option, I believe was in all 354 wall phones.

The concept is covered somewhat in Ralph Meyer's book, "Old time Telephones" on page 131.  I think somewhere in the book he talks about the use in the "newer" 500 series phones.  The 500's, though did not have a special model for party ringing, other than when it came to the cold cathode tube, which has been discussed under another topic.

Ralph's book is a must-have if anyone wants to understand the basic electrical operation of phones, both from a practical standpoint and an elementary theoretical standpoint, although the term elementary is a subjective term.  What may be elementary to some is rocket science to others.  It also talks about some very basic stuff and early diagrams going back to the stone ages of telephones.

No, I am not associated with Ralph.  I just like his book.

-Bill

[rp2813]

I think you can still get measured rate residential service here in California, although I suspect only people without a computer would be candidates for it anymore.

Ralph

[Phonesrfun]

I have heard there are still a lot of old antiquated tarriffs still in effect, and that to the extent they are, and someone requests that service, it has to be provided.

-Bill

[McHeath]

I think you can still get measured rate residential service here in California, although I suspect only people without a computer would be candidates for it anymore.

Yah you can, we have it.  4.95 a month for a landline, cheap as dirt, handy too.

[bingster]

We can get it here, too.  If you don't make many calls, it's a great plan.

Regarding tarriffs, etc., a couple years ago, they finally repealed the war tax on long distance calls.  Now when I say war, I don't mean WWII.  The tax was originally enacted during the Spanish-American War in 1898.  It lapsed a couple times early on, but we'd been paying it continuously since 1932.