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Princess Phone-- Lighted Dial

Started by poplar1, October 18, 2013, 05:30:41 AM

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poplar1

"It's little. It's lovely. It lights." --advertising slogan for Princess phones.

The Princess Phone, like the 500U "Mushroom" Phone that proceeded it, has a dial lamp that lights up when you go off hook. The same lamp can be used as an optional "night light:" A switch on the back of the phone turns the night light on or off.

The original Princess lamp sockets were designed for a threaded base GE 46 lamp, while the more common later sockets use a wedge-shaped GE 259 lamp.  6.3 Volts, 250 mA.

The plastic lamp socket can be removed from the base of the Princess without opening the phone. Just use the edge of a coin as a screwdriver and turn the entire socket counter-clockwise. The lamp (light bulb) can then be replaced. The phone company used to mail out replacement lamps--nah, I'll wait till the next time they try to sell me a cell phone or "U-Verse" voice before I ask them to send me one!

Here is a place selling new # 259 lamps for 50 cents each--they even list the Princess phone under the list of equipment using this part. I haven't tried this company.

http://www.replacementlightbulbs.com/lamp259.html

Others have suggested the Radio Shack #2721126, which is rated at 14 Volts 270 mA.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2102808

The ericofon.com website suggests LED replacements. Has anyone here tried these? These are available in white and amber; the amber is closer to the original incandescent color. The 194-6 LED certainly seem to improve the visibility of the outlying numbers on a rotary dial face. However, you lose the nuance of the night light: if the night light is switched on, then it is just as bright whether the phone is on-hook or off-hook.---is there a fix for this?

http://ericofon.com/catalog/parts/princess/led.htm
https://www.superbrightleds.com/cat/miniature-wedge-base

The Signature (2703) Princess is the only Princess originally equipped with an LED dial. Like the LED (square-button) Trimlines, the dial light is line-powered, and only lights up when off-hook. However, if you want the night-light feature on a Signature Princess, you can add a transformer ("wall wart").

By the way, if your Princess is acting ornery--well, if you are having trouble with the lamp, it may be the contact wings on the lamp holder (socket). These "wings" can be bent down slightly to put more pressure on them once the socket is reinstalled in the phone.






"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.

Contempra


Scotophor

#2
Quote from: poplar1 on October 18, 2013, 05:30:41 AMThe 194-6 LED certainly seem to improve the visibility of the outlying numbers on a rotary dial face. However, you lose the nuance of the night light: if the night light is switched on, then it is just as bright whether the phone is on-hook or off-hook.---is there a fix for this?
Yes. Because of the higher current draw of the original incandescent lamp, it took relatively little resistance placed in series by the night light switch to dim it. To get the same effect with an LED replacement bulb, you need to increase the series resistance substantially. I don't know the existing resistance value but based on the 6.3 volts and 250 mA figure I imagine it would be in the neighborhood of 25 ohms or so, which would reduce the brightness by about 75%. For similar brightness reduction with an LED, put a resistor of about 15 times the existing resistance value in series with (or in place of) the original resistor in the phone. As a first guess, you might try about 330 ohms.

Once you have installed the resistance value that gives the desired light level in night light mode, you may notice another difference between incandescent and LED technologies: a quirk of incandescent lights is that they change color when dimmed, becoming more red. LEDs do not. So you might find that because the LED light stays "white" (or whatever color you installed) when dimmed, it is more distracting at night even when it's about the same "brightness" as the original bulb. To compensate for this effect, you might want to increase the series resistance value so the LED is even dimmer in night light mode than the original incandescent lamp was.
Name: A.J.   Location: LAPNCAXG, EDgewood 6

zaphod01

#3
NAPA carries the 6.3 volt bulb as LMP 259. You can view the bulb and check store stock at NAPAonline.com. Search for 259.

It was used as a dashboard lamp in the old 6 volt vehicles (mine was a '54 Chevy).

I tried the 14 volt part number (LMP 194) and it worked fine but I think the 6.3 volt item is more 'correct'. I tried the LED's and there is a big difference. Both of mine now have 259's in them.
"Things are never so bad they can't be made worse." - Humphrey Bogart

princessphone

Hi there,
To get good contact for the princess lights I use a small piece of silicon carbide sandpaper 1500 grit , fold it in half and swipe the contact points on the arms of socket, swipe the inside slot of socket and a few strokes over contact wires of bulb. Also I give a few swipes over contact area where the socket arms make contact.
For the screw in type bulb, I clean both socket and bulb with steel wool 0000 (very fine).

paul-f

For most contact cleaning, a strip of card stock is usually sufficient.  I use abrasives as a last resort.
Visit: paul-f.com         WE  500  Design_Line

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