Rapid White Phone Discoloration?

[280Parka]

Can you identify the white phone in the first photo?  I couldn't at first.  It's the WE 500 desk set in the middle.  I was looking for a particular phone in storage.  When I opened up the correct box I found what I thought at first were two beige 500's.  There should have been a beige 500, a beige 554, a black 500, and a white 500 in that box.  I opened up the handset of the phone that should be white and finally found white plastic (see photo).  I know when I packed it away several months ago that it had started to discolor, but at that time you would have definitely identified it as a white phone and not beige.  Even the handset cord looks more beige than white now.

Any ideas as to why it has discolored so quickly?  I thought I was doing the right thing storing it in a box out of the light.  I pack my phones in corrugated cardboard banker's boxes with a corrugated cardboard "shelf" insert that I make myself so that I can store 4 standard size phones to a box.  I keep all of my stored phones in a windowless walk in cedar closet that generally doesn't get above 80 degrees.  We live a few blocks from the Pacific ocean.   I mention these details because I am wondering if there is some environmental factor that is discoloring the phones more rapidly.  Is it the cardboard? the cedar? the humid salt air?  It certainly shouldn't be sunlight.  Even the two beige phones that are in the same box seem more discolored than before.  Anyone have any experience with this?  I want to know in case I should change my storage technique.

Thanks,

[Key2871]

Were they wrapped in anything?
I've had a couple that did the same thing, I figured it was something in the cardboard that some how bled onto the plastic. But then I've seen foam, and some plastic bags do that too.

[twocvbloke]

I've had things stored in boxes turn yellow over time, I'm not 100% sure of the chemistry, but there must be something in the air to cause the bromine (a fire retardant) in the plastic to react and turn yellow, made worse by confining them into a box, particularly if something is off-gassing something that the bromine wants to react with...

I remember having an Attisat FL500 flat plate antenna (a satellite dish alternative, commonly known in the UK as a "squarial"), and it had been used outdoors by its previous owner, and was still perfectly white, after a few months storage indoors in my house at the time, the back of it turned a really dark yellow, I have no idea why, but it must have been something in the air in that house... 

[Ktownphoneco]

UV light is the first culprit that's looked at when plastics start to discolor.    If the set was stored in a container which was totally void of any sort of UV light, or inside a closet or room with no windows, it shouldn't discolor, but the storage location needs to be totally void of sunlight, or an artificial light source that doesn't produce UV light rays.   
Google "why does plastic discolor while in storage ?".      There's a lot of information listed.      You might want to check with Doug Duffy (Duffy) here on the forum, and get him to give you a run down on his process of restoring color using a commercial hair coloring product in a small aquarium which he places outside his garage in the sun light.    After a few hours, they look amazing and the original color comes right back.     It works on the cords too.

Jeff Lamb

[280Parka]

Were they wrapped in anything?

No they weren't wrapped in anything.  Also in the box was a new white handset cord I was going to use to replace the original when I got around to restoring it.  The cord is wrapped in a plastic bag & bubble wrap and is still pure white, which makes me wonder if there is something in the air.  Although the new cord may be made of a slightly different plastic compound that doesn't discolor the same way. 

I was not familiar with Duffy's color restoration method.  I'll try to find that as well as a few other techniques I remember reading about in the forum.

[.....]

You might want to check with Doug Duffy (Duffy) here on the forum, and get him to give you a run down on his process of restoring color using a commercial hair coloring product in a small aquarium which he places outside his garage in the sun light.    After a few hours, they look amazing and the original color comes right back.     It works on the cords too.

Jeff Lamb

Thanks for the shout out Jeff.

Here are some links.

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=22546.msg228261#msg228261

Here are some pictures of an aqua 500 I did in July.

[tubaman]

I had a Concord Blue GPO 746 many years ago that was a perfect blue when it went into a wardrobe at my mother's house.  When retrieved about 8 years later it was dark green!
I think the best thing is to keep them out of direct sun but not shut up where they can't get air around them.

[280Parka]

Thanks for the links Duffy.  The results you are getting are amazing.  I'm still reading through all of the information and links contained in the posts, but has anyone put together a peroxide "recipe" with peroxide products used, mix ratios and timing?  Or maybe this is all new territory and everyone is still experimenting?  But the combination of relative ease of execution and speed along with the excellent results seems unbeatable. 

Duffy - I noticed that you seemed to have moved from a fish tank to a translucent plastic container and top.  Is there a reason for that?

[280Parka]

I believe this is the website that others were referring to that describes the Retr0bright recipe and process:

https://www.retr0bright.com/

This is for a gel process that you can brush on parts.  I think I would prefer the water and fishtank method, because as someone mentioned in another post you could stir the solution every once in a while and prevent hotspots.  I understand the reasoning of the gel for larger computer parts, but I think the relatively small size of typical telephone parts doesn't make the "water" process too unwieldy.

[280Parka]

Back to the original reason for starting this post, with more research I'm beginning to suspect the cedar lining in the closet could have something to do with the accelerated plastic discoloration.  Apparently cedar contains several volatile chemical compounds that are great for keeping bugs away but may be exposing my phones to a bad chemical gas environment, especially given the fact that the closet is normally closed up with no air circulation.  I'm no chemist so a lot of what I'm reading is going over my head, but just to be on the safe side I've decided to move my stored phones to another part of the house at least until I learn a little more.

[twocvbloke]

I recently had a go with the "old" retr0bright process using some oxygenating detergent in water on the handset of my rather yellowed TeleMatrix 2500E, haven't documented it but it did work , the handset brightened nicely, but took a long time, even with "UV" (Royal Blue LED) light beaming onto it...

The biggest problem with the detergents is they foam up which blocks out light, so definitely worth just using hydrogen peroxide itself in a tank of water than faff about with other things...