W/E Princess questions

[guitar1580]

It's been a while since I've used a Princess (keep your minds outta the gutter), and I don't recall much about the slider switch at the back rear.  Is it for the lighting?

Also, I have one of the W/E 2012A transformers, and my phone has a bulb, but I do not recall how to hook it up.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Josh P

[Kenny C]

Switch is for lighting. One side is for the night light and the other side only lights the idal when the handset is off hook.

The other guys will help with the transformer. I would go see how I have mine hooked up but I am about to leave for church. Yeah we are expecting 6-8 inches of snow but we are still having church.

[guitar1580]

Hmm, I found some old info about connecting the transformer outputs to the yellow and black terminals of the wall plug, but ... My setup goes from modular wall jack, to DSL filter, caller ID box, then phone. 

I'm thinking the lighting voltage may be intended for the phone only.  I'm not so sure about using it with the other componets.

I also just found this thread about LED lights for the Princess.  Anyone tried this?

http://www.ericofon.com/catalog/parts/princess/led.htm

Josh P

[jsowers]

Josh, depending on the Princess (there are many models) it's either yellow and black or white and black. I'm assuming you have a modular Princess since it's plugged into those devices, so it would be yellow and black, the two outer conductors of the four.

Do your DSL filter and caller ID box have four conductors in the jacks? You should count four brass pins and not just two? And do the cables have four conductors or just two? If everything is four, then you may be OK.

What I would do is first connect the phone to the wall jack and transformer without the DSL filter and caller ID and get it working with the light in the phone. Then introduce those pieces one at a time.

The caller ID box I have only has two conductors on the cable and the jack, so it won't pass the voltage for the lamp. In that case, you'd have to get a 2 for 1 splitter and wire the caller ID separately from the phone. I'm not sure about the DSL filter. You'll have to check yours out and see. I don't have DSL. It wouldn't be a filter without being in line with the phone, I would assume.

Another common problem getting a Princess to light is bad connections in the lamp socket and on the base where the socket connects. You may have to wiggle the lamp to get it to light. This is best done with the housing off the phone (only two screws).

Good luck and let us know how it's coming along.

[guitar1580]

Yes, it's a modular touchtone.  At the moment I only have a 2 conductor cord coming from the dsl filter to the id box, but there are 4 terminals on the filter, the ID box jacks, phone cord, etc.  I'm sure I can round up a 4 cond. cord.

I do need to take it apart and test the bulb & socket with a meter before I wire up the transformer.

I did think about using a splitter at the ID box.  I guess I'd run the transformer outputs into a modular plug if I go that route?

Most important, these old transformers aren't known to become  fire hazards are they?

JP

[Phonesrfun]

Those transformers are as solid as can be, and were used by the Bell System for years, and are probably over-engineered in their typical fashion.