SC wall phone not ringing

[Karen]

Im getting one ring, and then it stops and the line is picked up, even when I still havent lifted the receiver. 

Is anything jumping out as mis-wired?

[HarrySmith]

I do not think miswire is the issue, it appears the white wire barely visible under the edge of the dial may be touching the terminal next to it, try moving that wire away from the other terminal. That appears to be a frequency ringer but if it rings it may be close enough to work. Also I would relocate the wires from the line cord that are down on the clapper arm and the black wire touching the clapper, just to be safe.

[Karen]

Well, I cleared the way a bit and its still doing it. 
One ring, and then nothing and it picks up the call (even when I havent).   Its weird.

[G-Man]

Symptoms usually indicate moisture in an outside cable or terminal. Generally there is not enough water to entirely short the line, but static is often heard by the subscriber.

When the voltage is increased to 90-volts or higher during the ringing interval, typically the bell will ding once or twice and the ringing is tripped as if someone had answered it.

Does this happen with your other telephones when the one is question is disconnected? Has moisture accumulated on the modular jack or plug.

[LarryInMichigan]

Disconnect the ringer and see if it still happens.  The ringer capacitor might be shorting and causing the line to go off-hook.

Larry

[G-Man]

One other thought-

Since the ringer looks rusty on my computer, disconnect both ringer leads and see if it still trips the ringing on the line.

Perhaps it became wet at some point and one of the windings became corroded and  even though it has since dried-out, the residual "Green Death" corrosion is still conducting at ringing voltage.

It's also possible that the capacitor is leaky and possibly shorting-out when the higher voltage is on the line.

[poplar1]

There are no wires on A and K, which are the terminals for the capacitor.  If the ringer has only two wires (red and black), then if you connect those two wires to L1 and L2 as is done in the photo, then it will do exactly what you are experiencing: trip ringing (answer after a partial first ring).

Move the red ringer wire to K and run a strap from L2 to A. Otherwise, your ringer is connected directly across the line, which only works on the 19th century local battery system.

[G-Man]

While there are exceptions, if it is a frequency ringer then the capacitor (.47uf) connected to A and K is generally the wrong value for other than 20-cycle or low frequency ringing. That is why most frequency ringers have a capacitor mounted on the ringer frame.

In any event, disconnecting the ringer as has been suggested by Larry and myself would easily isolate it as being the problem whether it does indeed need to be connected through A and K or it's the coil or a separate capacitor is the problem.

[poplar1]

G-man, I forgot about the capacitors that come with frequency ringers (I'm usually just removing those ringers rather than trying to get them to work). However, I don't see the capacitor in the photo.

[G-Man]

Yeah you're right, I don't see it either so that is why I left the possibility open that possibly it is supposed to be using the network capacitor. Either way, disconnecting it will tell us whether the ringer assembly is at fault or not.

[HowardPgh]

That looks like a frequncy ringer. I would just substitute a normal C4 ringer for it. The capacitor in the network has probably never been used and is like new.
Howard

[stub]

Karen,
       Yep, looks like a frequency ringer, I don't see an external cap for this thing either. Disconnect ringer and hold down hookswitch then try to call and see if other phones ring till you pic this one up.
        Can you take your ringer out and compare it to this SL ringer  from a SC desk set? I can't check it to see if it is good till tomorrow, the BOSS is asleep, if MOMA ain't happy ain't nobody happy    ( It's good , I checked it with my WE generator ) I'll get back with you later . BTW how are you so lucky to get all these frequency ringers     stub

[HowardPgh]

Stub-
Not all frequency ringers require an external cap.  Some can use the network cap, but it depends on what frequency the ringer needs to respond to.
It seems that the higher the frequency the smaller the MFD value of the cap.
Howard

[LarryInMichigan]

It seems that the higher the frequency the smaller the MFD value of the cap.

The impedance of a capacitor is inversely proportional to the capacitance.  Therefore, a higher frequency will need a smaller capacitance to achieve the same impedance.

Larry

[stub]

Hey Guys,
               I just checked this ringer(SL C4A) thru a SC 425 E network- ringer wires A to slate , K to slate/red , red to L 2 , and black to L 1 and it does the same thing that Karen gets - one ring and quits( trip ring ) . The cap in the networks might be to low ( .47 mfd ) . I fixed it when I ran it thru a 1.0 mfd @ 200 volts. I have noticed working with .47 mfds on AE's stuff about 75 % are bad and break down when loaded .   stub