GPO Candlestick Problem

[Phonesrfun]

That is odd.  It may be ohm meter time.  That tells me that when you were pressing down hard, it was switch #2 that was opening and switch #1 is not behaving.  All along I thought #1 was ok and #2 was the culprit.

Don't give up.... we are dancing around it, and we will get there, soon...

[Dan]

I'm wiring it back as it was and testing it again......

[Dan]

Now the hookswitch works, albeit intermittantly, and only if I push the hangup switch down hard.

[Phonesrfun]

OK, then, for some reason, even though visually switch #1 (Leaves 1 and 2) are opening, there is some way that they are making contact either withing themselves or somewhere else.  We need to check this by first looking at the swithes again and looking very closely for some thing that is causing leaves 1 and 2 to be touching eath other when the phone is off hook.  Secondly, we can use the ohm meter to positively confirm this.

[Phonesrfun]

oops spelling withing = within

[Dan]

Ok , I'll have to take it apart from the  six screw block and we'll look @ the switches. Also,  I have NO Idea how to even use an OHM meter. I'll take it apart to get to the switches again.

[Phonesrfun]

Using the ohm meter per se is pretty easy.  Having the ambidexterity to hold the probes in place while playing with the hookswitch is another story. 

[Dan]

Switch is now exposed. I notice right off the bat that 1 and 2 are BARELY open when I push the hookswitch down hard. Should I fool with the screws to try to get 1 and 2 open farhter, or do you want to wait on this and start with the OHM Meter? If so walk me through it. My son is an extra pair of hands if I need one.

[Phonesrfun]

Lets go right to the ohm meter.

Turn the ohm meter to the ohm setting (Greek Omega symbol) with the big dial on the front.  Did the display come to life?

[Dan]

yes, omega is ready

[Phonesrfun]

OK, on mine, when the meter is on but not hooked to anything the display reads L.0 (For some reason that is supposed to indicate infinite resistance)  I don't know what yours reads, but that is what mine does. 

Now, when you touch the tips of the red and black probes together the display should change to 0.00 (meaning zero ohms)  Can you try this and see what happens?

[Dan]

22.38, at first it reads like yours, look @ my OHM  pic reply #112. Do I even have the probes in the right holes?

[Phonesrfun]

probes are in the correct holes.  Black= COM = Common, Red= V(olts) and Ohms, which is correct.  We are only going to use this as a continuity checker and not really measuring resistance, so any change from infinite to some measurement will be ok for our purposes.

Next step is to connect the probes to the wires from switch #1 which are the Blue/yellow and Green/yellow wires.  Some meters have alligator clips built into the probes, but if yours do not, you are going to have to hold them on with your (or your son's) fingers.

With the hook in the hung-up position, we want the ohm meter to read infinite L.0;  With the hook in the un-hung position we want a reading similar to (It may net be exactly) the number that you are getting when simply touching the probes together; 22.38 or an indication that the switch is closed.  What it sounds like is we are going to see the 22.38 more than we want.  You might also check to see if by lifting leaf #1 off of #2 with your fingernail with the meter still connected, you are getting a reliable change from open to closed on the meter.  If that is the case, then adjust the switch screws to get the best behavior with the hook doing the work.

[Phonesrfun]

Some ohm meters are sensitive enough to give a very small reading just from the coductivity of your finger tips, so it may change from L.0 to .000XX or something just by touching the wires while having it connected.  That is OK too.  Even if that happens what we are looking for is a transition from even that small decimal reading to something like the 22 ohms with the action of the switch/

[Dan]

In the hung up position, touching black probe to yellow green and red to blue yellow, I get 19.02