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Post your GTE/AE Starlites here:

Started by LM Ericsson, June 22, 2011, 01:28:32 PM

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GG



Something I discovered about Starlite dial lights: they will light on ringing current from a Panasonic PBX.

I have here a 1972 Starlite in AE avocado green, with a 5-conductor line cord.  Blue and black are the dial light.  For whatever reason this was wired so it doesn't need yellow for ringing ("insulate and store").  Just for the heck of it I connected blue along with green, and black along with red, and hooked it up to the PBX.

Lo & behold, when the phone rings, the dial lights up to follow the ringing cadence.  The light is relatively faint; not visible in normal room lighting, but visible enough in the dark to find the phone. 

This would be a highly useful feature for finding a ringing phone in the dark, for example on a bed table.  However doing it directly on a CO line could (I have not measured this yet) look as if it's a very high impedance DC short and initiate a trouble case with the telco.  So until there's a measurement, this is for PBX usage only.

And to get the dial to light when the phone is off-hook, I might just mess around with some green or blue LEDs, if that can be done nondestructively (I did it with a 1A2 lamp in a dial on an 80-E in highschool, so...). 

Yes, all this because I'm the total coward about putting mains voltage, even with dropping resistors, into a telephone set.  And in any case, 60 Hz over a line cord could bleed into the voice circuit.  I might relent about that with a Starlite wall set, where separate wiring could be used for the dial light and the base of the set is screwed down to the wall.  Though the better solution for that case would be an isolation transformer to get the voltage to the dial light w/o any direct metallic connection to the mains.   

So the question is, does anyone here know of any very low wattage AC isolation transformers for 120 volt AC mains?  And/or could one just use large dropping resistors on the input side of any 120 : 120 isolation transformer, to decrease its power consumption?  (no sense wasting power when it only takes a few milliwatts to operate that light)

AE_Collector

Quote from: GG on December 19, 2011, 08:58:57 AMSo the question is, does anyone here know of any very low wattage AC isolation transformers for 120 volt AC mains? 

The old "Razor Outlets" used in bathrooms??

Terry

GG



Hi Terry- I never heard of those before.  Say more...

twocvbloke

Not sure about over in the US or Canada, but here in the UK, there's a device known as the Shaver Socket, where you can plug in your mains-powered electric shaver, even switch between 240v and 120v (handy for visitors from lower voltage countries) and on the back of the socket is a small isolating transformer, providing a slightly safer, low amps mains supply... :)

They take 2-pin British "Shaver Plugs" (not the same as Europlugs despite appearances, they're based on the old BS546 standard), US plugs, Europlugs and Australian plugs, so are pretty universal... :)


GG



Interesting!  We don't have anything like that here in the US.  Very clever.  Yes that would solve the issue of the Starlite dials.  Thanks!

AE_Collector

#20
Quote from: GG on December 20, 2011, 04:49:23 AM


Hi Terry- I never heard of those before.  Say more...

All of our houses built in the late 60's and 70's had "razor Or Shaver Outlets. They were a 120VAC to 120VAC isolation transformer mounted on a chromed plate with a 2 wire receptacle built in. It mounted on a 4x4 electrical box. Only good for a low current item like a razor. Then GFCI's came along and that was the end of the razor outlets.

I've tossed several in metal recycling over the years.

Terry

Dave F

GG,

Automatic Electric used to supply small 120/120 low-power isolation transformers specifically for the dial lights on some later Starlites.  It looks kinda like a WE 2012A/B transformer, but has 120V output.  I've seen them, but I don't think I presently have any.  At least we know that they finally recognized the potential hazard of sticking raw 120VAC directly into the phone (unlike the earliest Starlites which actually had a line cord with an AC plug on the end!).

Dave

DavePEI

Quote from: GG on December 20, 2011, 04:49:23 AM


Hi Terry- I never heard of those before.  Say more...

Not sure if they were used in the U.S. They were code for many years here in Canada for shaver outlets. They consisted of a face plate with a single socket, and a 1:1 transformer to isolate the line. Now, of course, GFIs are code, but they did have a great little 1:1 transformer in them for various projects.

Dave
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