Ringer Volume on WE 354 and/or 302 -- any suggestions

[winkydink]

I just installed a refurbished WE 354 in my kitchen.  My wife has been a good sport about the number of rotary phone we have, however the one thing she does not like is the volume (loudness) of the ring.

I basically have two choices, find a way to tone down the volume, or disconnect the ringer.  I would perfer #1.

I was thinking of trying some cotton in the ringer gongs, but does anyone have any suggestions that have worked for you.

Any suggestions would be appreciated !

[Wallphone]

Experiment with putting electrical tape on the gongs some where that the clapper doesn't hit it. I used to have a 302 on my desk but every time it rang I just about jumped out of my skin. On that one I just disconnected the ringer.
Doug Pav

[rdelius]

The gongs have an offset hole in the center. If you rotate the gongs, the spacing will change and so will the volume.
Robby

[Babybearjs]

Follow Robbys advise, I have several 302's and a 354 in my kitchen too. the idea is to "tune" the bells to the desired loudness. by rotating the gongs, you can achieve the desired sound you want. this is the easiest way to fix your problem. works for me!  John

[GG]

What I do with phones that wake the dead, is substitute a smaller value of capacitor in series with the ringer.  This passes less ringing current through the ringer, producing a weaker degree of electromagnetism in the coils, causing them to exert less forceful pull on the clapper. 

Thus the clapper does not strike the gongs with as much force, and the ring is more quiet. 

Typically this also requires adjusting the bias spring (American ringers only; most foreign ones aren't biased).  On the B1AL ringers on 302s and 354s, it's a little wire spring that's approximately in parallel with the clapper and has a choice of three notches to fit into.  Try a different notch that gives the clapper a less forceful spring back to its resting position. 

Also typically this involves rotating the gongs slightly to be sure the clapper is still able to strike both of them.  Otherwise you'll get an uneven sounding ring. 

For a 302 with B1AL ringer, I'd try experimenting with the following values: 0.22 microfarad, 0.33 microfarad, and 0.5 microfarad (if I'm not mistaken, the normal ringing capacitor on those is 1.0 microfarad).  For any of those values, they should be rated at 200 VDC.   Mylar or equivalent types of capacitors are best.   Any decent electronics parts store should be able to provide all of those values.  These are not expensive parts. 

This trick is also highly useful when adapting foreign phones (UK, Netherlands, etc.) to ring on American CO lines or on PBXs .