AE 182 Starlight phone "dial ring light" replacement

[shortrackskater]

This was on eBay for awhile and it just looked too good not to buy! So I snapped it up for the buy it now price of $19.99.

The phone arrived a few days ago. I plugged the phone in, and got dial tone - and was able to make and receive calls. The audio quality is great. However the light doesn't work!

I did find and OLD thread here discussing the illuminated dial and contact issues which I'll try later tonight or tomorrow. There's a potentiometer on the side of the phone which must be for the light level. It spins a little too easy so I'm thinking that may be the issue as well.

How does this thing light up though, when it does work? Is there some substance, like a fluorescent tube in the plate around the dial?

[Pourme]

~

Looks like there would be no "LED fix" for this phone....

Benny

[AE_Collector]

If there were enough demand I'm sure that China could print LEDs onto a round plastic plate to replace the electro-luminescent ring but...fortunately there isn't that much demand!

Terry

[jsowers]

They do make cuttable blue electroluminescent material. You would have to leave it connected to the wires and then cut your circle and seal the edges with some kind of sealant, and then find a way to power it and anchor it to the phone. Not an easy job I would think. It may also not work with the dimmer thumbwheel.

I'm not advocating this, but just showing there is something that might work if someone wanted to do the work. I think fixing the old rings would be cheaper and easier. But if you had a ring that couldn't be fixed and needed to buy a new ring or a donor phone, this could be another option.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/291996399296

[markosjal]

I have been following this thread and seems lately dealing with Starlites...

Just wanted to chime in that I had this same idea with the cuttable electroluminscent material. . Also might work on a Princess.

[stub]

shortrackskater,
                     Can you post a pic of the front side of the light ring where the tabs are bonded ?  stub

[shortrackskater]

Yes - I'll be home in a couple hours. I'll take a picture and post back.

[shortrackskater]

Here it is.

[shortrackskater]

Per Stub, I tried putting 110VAC on the horizontal tab and touched the other side to the porcelain side...nothing!
So at this point, I'll now try the other place my friend has.
I'll report back later.


It might be nice to split this topic at the reply where LED was mentioned. Then add this reply to the end of where it will be split.
I'd love to hear more on modifying these phones to work for others who can't get a replacement plate.
The LED idea sounds interesting.

[stub]

Mark,
         I hope the one Andy has is in better shape ! Good Luck !  stub

[shortrackskater]

Ok the new light ring from Andy is in. And it glows, but oh so dimly. At "full volume" you see the glow with the lights off. I think at night it will look great though. Did these glow brighter when new?
And, for Stub, is this ring a good candidate for rebuilding? Would it be brighter? This one looks very clean and there's no evidence of arching.
Otherwise the phone looks great. I polished it a little.

[stub]

Mark,
         The rebuilding is only good for those that have the bonding tabs loose . The more hours the ring has on it, the weaker it will get. It will look a lot better tonight .  Great job .  stub

[shortrackskater]

Can I plug it in to 220VAC ? 

All kidding aside, this was a fun phone to work on.

So now... I looked up some of that electroluminescent material. The seller says it's about "credit card" thickness. I wonder if it would be too thick to add to the ring? I might buy some and then sand or grind off the remaining porcelain part of my bad ring to see if it does fit.
Does anyone here know the original manufacturing process for these rings? Was the material fired in with the porcelain or was it layered on to the porcelain?

[dsk]

I have my Starlight on 230V 50hz.  Just added resistors in the plug.
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=5690.msg78074#msg78074


Later I redesigned the circuit, it is just like the original plug but has 2 resistors of 91 kilo-ohms, has been working great for more than a year now. Continuously on 230V 50Hz.  We even had an home inspection, and I had to change that receptacle, but whats plugged in was not mentioned.
dsk

[stub]

Mark ,
           This might work out alright on the 182A. 120V AC to 12V DC power supply wired into a connecting block and then to the phone on the black and blue , then to the dimmer switch( off,low,high) , then to the dial. They changed to the dimmer switch and quit the adj. pot. and got rid of the AC cord and brought power into the phone via a 5 conductor cord .  Hope this helps . You can do it , go for it !!! stub