Need help w/ a 302 ringer

[djtownsend]

All,

I'm refurbishing a WE 302 and I just can't get the bell to ring.  I know the bell itself works because I've removed it and hooked it up to a magneto and it rings.  I have the red wire hooked to L1 and the black wire hooked to the little black connection box which is also mated with a yellow wire from the condenser (the long silver thing w/ 4 wires coming out of it).  Hey, I'm a rookie.     Anyways, I have a working 302 and have it wired exactly like the working one.  I also made sure that wires from the dial are not pressing down on the ringer.  Even tried it with the top off to ensure the dial wires weren't interfering.  I also switched the two yellow wires from the 'condenser' but no luck. 

Can anyone give me some suggestions?  I've built and sold a 302 in the past and the only problem was that the dial wires were pressing down on the ringer so it didn't work.  The phone gets a dial tone and the dial works too.  It's just that dang ringer.  I even swapped the condenser but that may still be the problem but I don't know how to test those.

HELP!!!   I can provide pics if needed.

Any help provided would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks.

Dan

[djtownsend]

By the way, I cleaned all connections in the phone w/ a dremel tool w/ a wire brush so they are nice and shiny. 

Grasping for straws here.

Thanks.

Dan

[winkydink]

Have you tried to remove the ringer from the phone that does not ring, and install it into a 302 the currently does ring.  The scientist in me says to change only 1 variable (the ringer) at a time. 

If the ringer works in a different phone, then you can eliminate that physical piece of hardware as the culprit.

[winkydink]

Conversly, if you have a ringer from a phone (302) that currently does ring, have you tried to install it into the phone that does not ring.  Again trying to eliminate things.

If the "new" ringer also doesn't ring in the phone in question, then it is a wiring or component problem.

[djtownsend]

Winky,

I didn't think of that.  Yes, I'll try that.  Another question is that I have a wiring diagram for a 302 and the condenser thingy has 4 wires coming out of it but I've also see ones with two wires.  The diagram has two wire one while I'm using a four wire one.  Does this ring a bell??   (poor joke)

Dan

[djtownsend]

No, I was wrong.  My diagram has a four wire one.  Has anyone used a two wire condenser (What is the name of that dang thing!!!???).

[Bill]

Do you have a 2-wire (B-1) or or 4-wire (B2) ringer? If 4 wires, then two of them must be connected together, and connected to nothing else. Ringer red-to-L1 is correct. Ringer black should go to the slate condenser wire at the K terminal. The yellow condenser wire should go to L2. However, the slate and yellow condenser wires should be interchangeable, so I doubt that this is the problem. The other two condenser wires are red and black, and have nothing to do with ringing.

If you have an ohmmeter, you can measure the resistance of the ringer. Just measure the resistance between the ringer red and black wires. As I recall, the reading should be in the neighborhood of 2000 ohms. If you get a very high reading, the ringer is open.

Bill

[djtownsend]

Bill,

I have a two wire ringer and are wired and they are wired as you described.  It is good to know that the two yellowish condenser wires are interchangeable.  I didn't know that.

Thanks for the information about using the ohmmeter.  I'll try that.  I do have a multimeter but haven't used it yet because lets face it, I'm not an electrician but knew I'd need it someday.  When you say the ringer is 'open', I'm assuming that is bad since you gave me the correct reading it should be.

Speaking of testing using the multimeter, do you know how I can use it to test things like the network coil?  I have no idea on how to test it.

Thanks.

Dan

[Wallphone]

DJ, The two condenser wires for the ringer are Slate & Yellow. They might be faded and hard to tell what color they are. If you have the Yellow one going to the terminal plate connected to a ringer wire, then the other condenser wire (Slate) has to go to L2. See the nice diagram that I attached that was drawn by D/P.
Doug Pav

[Dennis Markham]

Also, have you tried re-positioning your bias spring wire?  Sometimes that can make a difference in whether or not the ringer works properly, or at all.

[djtownsend]

Wallphone,

Thanks for the pic.  I have this one in addition to other similar pics.


Dennis,

I didn't even think of adjusting the spring on the ringer.  This is a good clue because even on the 302 that works, sometimes the ringer doesn't on occassion.  I'll have to play with that.

Thanks everyone for the information.

Dan

[djtownsend]

Dennis,

You are a freaking genious.  I first was set up to test the ohms like Bill indicated.  Had it all set to test but then I thought just to play w/ the spring a little bit.  IT WORKS LIKE A CHARM!!!!!  Just bent it here and there and worked on the first test.  I still want to find out about Bill's suggestion because I want to see the resistance and want to learn what else this digital multimeter can do.  I'm just a dumb IT and let me tell you, they didn't teach me any of this in grad school.   

Thanks to all.

Dan

[Dennis Markham]

Glad that suggestion helped.  It's a common problem and often overlooked.