AE80 with no sound from earpiece

[WillE]

Recently while walking through a great used electronics store in Tacoma, WA, I stumbled upon an AE80 and, since I needed more to do(!), bought it for $10 untested.  The tour of the store by the owner was so cool I felt an obligation to buy something!  Besides, I just restored a 1935 Western Electric 202 for a friend and wanted to do some more.

As the attached photos show, this baby has been taken apart.  A sink of hot, soapy water and then my trusty car polish and wax worked well to shine things up.  The dial label originally had area code 701 that means the AE80 came from North Dakota.

The underside of the phone includes:
Monophone
D-780656-A6
12-63-1
NB 82210CXX

The AE80 works in every way except there's no sound from the earpiece.  The black and yellow wiring checks A-OK for continuity.  It dials out and receives calls.  The ringer sounds great.  The suspect in all this is the A.E. Co. D-51024-A EE earpiece (as shown in the photos).  Do you agree?  Is that piece available or repairable?  Do you have any free advice?  Should I keep buying vintage telephones?  (I'd like to find a cheap candlestick...!)

Thanks,
WillE

[Phonesrfun]

Since the phone has been disassembled, I would tend to think the problem is in the re-wiring rather than the receiver element.  Was it working before being disassembled?  The receiver elements can go out, but it is really pretty rare for them to do so.

PS, we are going to be having our Seattle phone show, probably in mid June, so you should plan on coming.  More info to follow on the show.


Keep collecting anyway.

[WillE]

Thanks for the replies.

The AE80 works the same as it did before disassembly, and I also checked the wiring against diagrams found on this fine forum.

Is there a method of testing the earpiece?

Thanks,
WillE

[stub]

WillE,
        Can you tell me the 383 numbers on your network and show the color of  transmitter wires? Is the handset cord 3 or 4 conductors? If 4 , take the black receiver wire and green transmitter wire and put both on the network 3C. Yellow receiver wire on network 4R , Red  transmitter wire to network 5T. Hope this helps.
        Network #'s - 38362-A , 38368-A use a 3 conductor handset cord (Yellow , red , green ) All the other 80's use a 4 conductor handset cord.
         Yes , I had one receiver go bad on a AE phone, same type as yours.
         By all means KEEP collecting!!!!!!!!!!!! stub

[LarryInMichigan]

Did you measure the DC resistance of the receiver, without the wires connected to it?  It should probably be about 60 Ohms.  If it is open, then it is bad, but like Bill stated, these rarely go bad.

Larry

[AE_Collector]

Pictures are good Stub but I can't move the hook switch wires out of the way to read he 4th and 5th digits on the network! It is a 4 conductor HS cord with a black lead.

Terry

[stub]

Terry,
          I can't move them either It should be a 3 conductor HS cord for his network , but it will work with Black and Green HS wires on network 3C ,  Yellow receiver wire on network 4R , Red  transmitter wire to network 5T.  stub

[WillE]

You folks are great.  However, I don't speak "Telephon-ese".

Where are the 383 numbers?

The handset cord has three wires (red, yellow and green).

What's 3C, 4R and 5T?

If you want more photographs just let me know!

Many Thanks,
WillE

[Phonesrfun]

The green handset cord wire should be connected to terminal 3 on the network board inside the phone.  That is the common lead from the handset.  Sometimes designated as (C)ommon.

The yellow handset cord wire is the receiver only wire and connects to terminal 4 on the board.  That is sometimes designated as (R)eceiver.

The red handset cord wire is the transmit only wire and connects to terminal 5 on the board, and is sometimes known as (T)ransmitter

[stub]

 WillE ,
          Can you unscrew the mouth piece and take out the transmitter capsule and post a pic of the wires inside. We need to see if the black receiver wire is connected somehow to the green wire in the mouth piece , with red ,yellow and green (3) handset wires, how is the ( 4th ) black receiver wire connected to the phone? If it comes out on the handset cord, hook it to # 3 on the network with the green handset wire.
           Your network in the phone base ( mixed gray and white colored plastic box ) with  D-383_ _ A numbers stamped on it is located under the dial . The wires are blocking the last 2 numbers . Here's a pic of the same phone with a solid black plastic network with connection numbers stamped on both sides . Hope this helps. stub

[WillE]

Hi, Again:

From what you fine Telephone Folks have described it seems that all is wired as it should be.  Attached are a few more photos.

I've measured across the receiver and it is 9,000 Ohms.  Hmmm...might be a problem there!  Is there a sane, not-so-destructive method of opening it to check for broken connections?

Thanks,
WillE

[Phonesrfun]

There's your answer.  At 9,000 ohms, the receiver is dead.  Doesn't happen very often, but it does.  No real way to open one to fix it.  These things are so plentiful and cheap, someone here is bound to have a spare.

[DavePEI]

There's your answer.  At 9,000 ohms, the receiver is dead.  Doesn't happen very often, but it does.  No real way to open one to fix it.  These things are so plentiful and cheap, someone here is bound to have a spare.

Hi WillE:

It will be a few days before I can get into the museum to get one (snowbank against the door), but I have spares here, if no-one comes up with one here... Price, free... I bought a bunch of AE receivers and transmitters on eBay some years back for spares.

Dave

[G-Man]

Hmm...

Typically if the receiver is defective it is usually open and you would not register any reading. Is the scale on you meter properly set? If not the receiver may have a 90-Ohm coil instead. However, if you did not disconnect the wires and the receiver is open, that would explain the high reading.

Do you have another receiver element available (any manufacturer) to perform a quick test?

[WillE]

Hi, DavePEI:

That's a generous offer and I'll take you up on it!

WillE