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REN - Ringer Equivalency Numbers

Started by benhutcherson, October 21, 2008, 07:21:49 PM

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benhutcherson

Hello Folks,
I posted this in another thread, but thought it was worth some discussion on its own.

I came across the following quote in a Singing Wires back issue

"The early 500s were plagued with transmission problems, and the ringers were (and remained) less efficient than their 302 predecessors."

I know that a C4A ringer is arbitrarily defined as having an REN of 1. If we take this to be true that the earlier ringers used in 302(I forget the number) were more efficient, does this also mean that the REN is less than 1?

I'd measure it myself, but don't have the necessary power supply to make them ring(and then measure the resultant current).


Thanks,
Ben

metdial

#1
I just looked at an auction on ebay for a WE 500 from 1962.  The seller (who claims to have over 35 yrs. in the phone industry) makes this statement in his description: 

"The bell is not wired for current usage, this can be changed but not advised due to heavy current drain that these units have."

Is the current required for one of these old ringers really that significant? 

Konrad

I was looking at the same listing and scratched my head.

In the 1800's a German philosopher put forth that man learns nothing from history.  Ringer Voltage is measured in RENs Ringer Equivalency Numbers.  What is 1 REN.  The voltage used by a WE 500 Ringer.  I know modern phones use much less.

Considering that you can still lease a new 500 and there are huge numbers still out there on lease this is pure cods wallop. Even the latest and greatest in VOIP will run at least two WE 500 and push the voltage through house wiring to do it. Ma Bell could ring at least 4 phones and probably more.


Dan/Panther

#3
I have 3, 500's set on loud, on my Frontier landline, and they will wake the dead in the middle of the night !
D/P

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

BDM

Quote from: Konrad on January 25, 2009, 09:27:37 AM
I was looking at the same listing and scratched my head.

In the 1800's a German philosopher put forth that man learns nothing from history.  Ringer Voltage is measured in RENs Ringer Equivalency Numbers.  What is 1 REN.  The voltage used by a WE 500 Ringer.  I know modern phones use much less.

Considering that you can still lease a new 500 and there are huge numbers still out there on lease this is pure cods wallop. Even the latest and greatest in VOIP will run at least two WE 500 and push the voltage through house wiring to do it. Ma Bell could ring at least 4 phones and probably more.



I have five phones hooked to my VOIP modem. Ranging from 500 series down to bell boxed D1 mounts. No problems, which surprised me.
--Brian--

St Clair Shores, MI

Perry

I have 5 phones hooked up in my house, including 2 500s, and they all ring fine.

Konrad

I'll pick up one of those 5 way splitters next time I'm at lowes and test my Vonage V-Portal and Comcast VOIP routers.  Our house is on the small side a WE 500 at one end and one WE 2500 at the other wake up the dead :)

TIPandRING

Quote from: metdial on January 25, 2009, 08:17:55 AM


"The bell is not wired for current usage, this can be changed but not advised due to heavy current drain that these units have."

Is the current required for one of these old ringers really that significant? 

eBay bullsh*** translation:

After 35 years of working for 3 telephone service providers taking orders and sweeping floors, I know that old phones draw current, so I'll add this into the description as the phone didn't ring when I hooked it up, and in order for me to make $ with someone complaining about misrepresentation I'll add in this in.

Dan

302 upstairs and downstairs, 500 in living room, AE 90 in garage, and a  WE alligator print exeter in spare bedroom. Also a 2554 touchtone in basement. All ring true. I have heard 5 is the limit, but my house has so many phone jacks, I hooked up eight different combinations. They all rang, but the 302's and 352 wall phone seem to use more "juice" to me than the 500's do.
"Imagine how weird telephones would look if our ears weren't so close to our mouths." - Steven Wright

McHeath

Yah I concur with my esteemed colleagues, this is baloney.  I regularly can turn on all my WE phones that are hooked up, 6 of them, and they will all ring.  Everysooften we come across pure weirdness on e-bay.



benhutcherson

One 500, one 302, and one ancient oak ringer box that draws who knows how much current.

In addition, we have a cordless, a couple of cheap touch tone Trimline style phones with chirpers, a fax machine, and I think my dad even still has a dial-up modem connected. All of those things, of course, have an REN of their own.

I'd estimate us to be right at 5, if not over. Everything works fine-this is on a sort of VOIP set up, run by the cable company.

mienaichizu

I have 2500 and a fax machine in my study, 500 in the stairs landing, a 554 in the kitchen and another rotary in the living room, 5 overall and all seems to ring fine

Tonyrotary

#12
While replacing the plastic fingerdial on the my wall Starlite phone I opened the case to take a peek inside. On the single bell a small sticker was placed that reads as follows. GTE REN 1.2P
            ATT REN 1.0A

It almost seems that the phone uses more power to ring on GTE lines than it did on AT&T lines? Kinda interesting. Any thoughts?

JorgeAmely

Jorge

rp2813

Maybe it's what the manufacturer knew the respective telcos wanted to hear when they asked the customer for the REN information off of the phone?
Ralph