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Capacitor replacement on a 5302

Started by tanderson78, July 24, 2017, 08:15:03 PM

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tanderson78

I have a Western Electric 5302 that needs a capacitor. I purchased two on eBay and I didn't realize that they would come with two wires, whereas the one I removed has 4 wires. Can I make this capacitor work or did I buy the wrong one?

poplar1

Which capacitors did you purchase?
The original 195A capacitor for 5302 or 302 has 4 wires because it is actually two capacitors inside one enclosure:
0.5 uF (yellow and slate) for the ringer and
2.0 uF (red and black) for the talk circuit.

If you purchased a 195C with only red and black wires, you can still use it for the talk circuit and add a newer 0.5 uF capacitor for the ringer.
"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.

tanderson78

They are both 195C.

Ok, so a follow up question(s). 

Can the ringer cap be bad but the talk cap be good?  The ringer worked when swapped it into a working 302, so I went on the assumption that the cap was bad, not knowing there were 2 in the can.

What is meant by the talk capacitor?  Does this mean you can listen but not talk?  They may be stupid questions, but maybe they can help somebody in the future with the same problem.

With no Radio Shack, where can I get that other cap without buying a 195a?

unbeldi

The 195C capacitor came out of a 306 telephone set.  It is only the audio capacitor.  The 306 telephone used an electron tube for ringing, so it did not need the ringing capacitor.

You can buy a modern 470 nF 250V capacitor for the ringer cheaply from China on ebay.   Typically they sell for about one or two dollars for 10 or more.

Pictured are some rated for 630 V, which is voltage rating.   Anything over 200 V is acceptable.

470 nF = 0.47 µF  is close enough to the original value of 0.5 µF.

RotarDad

#4
You can also pretty easily find a 195A 4-wire capacitor on Ebay if you'd like to remain period-correct.  Every 302 and 5302 had one.  Here's a couple listed now for about $5 plus shipping:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/262896135505
http://www.ebay.com/itm/142184686192

You can always sell the 195C 2-wire caps on Ebay if you can't return them.  They were used in the 18X and 19X Western Electric payphones as well, so there is some demand out there.
Paul

poplar1

Yes, it is possible that only the capacitor for the ringer is defective, but the other one is still good.

However, make sure the ringer is connected to L1, not the GND terminal:
       
L1<-------ringer------>K<-------capacitor------->L2
      (Red).       (Black).    (Slate).          (Yellow)
"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.