WE 302 Dead

[Wsmit87]

Hello All, I am new to this forum so please bear with me. I purchased a 302 from a flea market and it appears to be in good shape and seems to be complete or at least as far as I can tell. It is marked H1, has a 101A coil, 4 wire condenser and an 5H dial. It came with a 4 prong adapter to modular plug and when its plugged in it is dead silent. I have checked continuity in the wire and there are no shorts. It came with the red wire attached to L2 and green to L1 and yellow to Gr. I removed yellow and reversed red and green and it is still silent with no dial tone. I have not gone any further in fear of damaging something. I hope you guys can help. I have attached pics of the phone.

Thanks!

[Dennis Markham]

Welcome to the Forum!  A QUICK glance doesn't have anything jumping out at me.  Have you tested the phone beyond the dial tone?

If you call the line with a cell phone, will it ring?  Have you tried dialing a number, maybe calling your cell phone (if you have one)?  That would isolate the problem into the handset--either the cord or receiver element.

Look here to compare your wiring:

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=2762.0

[Doug Rose]

Have you unscrewed the caps to make sure there are elements in the handset?....Doug

[Wsmit87]

Wow! You guys are fast! The handset does contain the elements.

I plugged the phone in and called the house with a cell and it rings! Sounds better than I though it would. The microphone works (I could hear myself talk) but the speaker does not.

It also dials out just fine. Just nothing from the earpiece.

[Adam]

There is a set of contacts on the dial that are "off normal", that is, open when the dial is at rest, and closed across the receiver when you are dialing, so you don't hear loud clicks.  Maybe this dial contact is bent, misadjusted or not open for some reason when the dial is at rest.

[Adam]

Sorry.  The above info is wrong, that's for a 500 set.

On the 302, there is a set of contacts on the dial that is normally closed through which the receiver passes.  This is opened while dialing, to silence the receiver.  These contacts are W and BB in the schematic for the 302 below.  Make sure these are properly making contact when the dial is at rest.

[Wsmit87]

Thanks for the help...I checked the contacts and they appeared to be making good contact so I checked it with an ohm meter and it has no resistance across W and BB with the dial at rest and out of range when the dial was moving.

[Dennis Markham]

Do you have another handset cord that you could use to replace that one?  It may be as simple as that.

[LarryInMichigan]

One problem which I have experienced a few times is a bad connection between the spades at the ends of the handset wires and the conductors in the wires.  On a few cords, I was able to remedy the problem by simply crimping the connector over the wire better.  I recently had a phone with this same problem, no sound from the receiver.  After squeezing the connectors over the wire, the problem was fixed.  Try measuring the resistance between the opposite ends of the white receiver wire.

You might also want to make sure that the contacts in the receiver cup are making proper contact with the back of the receiver capsule.  If one of the terminals is bent too far down, it might not touch the receiver capsule.


Larry

[Wsmit87]

Thanks Larry. I will try that. Dennis, I do not have an extra handset cord.

Is there anyway to check the receiver element?

[Dennis Markham]

I do not know about checking the element.  Perhaps someone else can chime in on that one.

[LarryInMichigan]

Is there anyway to check the receiver element?

You can simply measure the resistance across it (between the center and outer contacts in the back).  The resistance should be quite low, probably around 20 ohms.  If there is an open circuit, the receiver is bad, but I don't think that that is likely.  In these situations, an ohmmeter can be your best friend.

Larry

[Wsmit87]

Thanks for all help. I measure the resistance across the terminals on the receiver element and it was 26 ohms. Did a continuity test on the handset cord and all were good, except the white. The wire is in very poor condition and I could not get continuity even by piercing the insulation behind the terminals.
I am on the hunt for a new handset cord. I am very confident that will be the issue. This phone is dated 11-45....did they come with coiled handset cords???

Again, thanks for all the help and I will update when I get a new cord.

[cdc1960]

I have found that these people are extremely helpful.

http://www.oldphoneworks.com/

Chris

[Wsmit87]

Success!!!

Thanks Chris.....I did use http://www.oldphoneworks.com/ and ordered a new cord for the 302. It arrived yesterday and after installation the phone works great! I had to tweak the connectors in the receiver and cleanup the contacts but that was easy. Now I am considering doing a complete tear down and refurbish.

Thanks to everyone who replyed!!..This is a great forum where everyone seems to be interested in helping others and not selling things!

Thanks again!!!

Will