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Black Bottom 2500's?

Started by rp2813, May 29, 2009, 02:00:52 PM

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rp2813

Well, I've decided that I have so many 500's connected around here that I need to change things up a little.  There's one room where I'd like to change out a 500 for a 2500.  Is it possible to find a 2500 on a chassis originally manufactured for a 500?  I have some late 2500 type phones that are non-WECo and very lightweight with strange innards, which just doesn't cut it.  I want to toss them/pass them on.  For me, a land line phone should be a piece of heavy equipment.  I'd like to find a good heavy 500 black-bottom base that was at some point converted by WECo to a 2500.  Did they do this?  Is there any limitation on the age of the base that WE would have converted over to touchtone, or if this sort of phone exists would it be fairly easy to find? 

Thanks for any tips,

Ralph
Ralph

Jester

I have not heard of a WECo 500/2500 conversion, Ralph, but I have seen something like that in NORTHERN Electric.  I don't know if they converted new bases only or also built some based on recycled phones, but I'd bet they did.  Another thought-- Why not build your own?  The parts are out there.
Stephen

McHeath

Build your own is certainly a viable option methinks.  I've seen black bottomed 1500s, and now that I've been looking it seems that black bottom bases continued into 1966, which is too early for a true factory fresh 2500.  But, lots of 1500s were converted to 2500s, so there you go.  I really like my 68' 1500 in aqua, it's one of my favorite phones and it's mostly useful when you hit a computer menu, except of course there is no star and pound key.


rp2813

I was thinking I could make my own 2500.  So the networks are no different and it's just a case of dial and maybe hook switch wiring schemes?  What about mounts for the touchpad?  Same as a rotary dial but the later type without the third mount in the front?
Ralph

Jester

The networks are different, but I don't know of any reason you can't make it work.  A schematic for the 1500 should give you an idea how to wire it.  There is a terminal strip in mine that ties part of the keypad, transmitter, & network together.
Stephen

Phonesrfun

Yes, the networks are slightly different.  Dial telephones have a resistor and capacitor RF filter between points F and RR inside the network,  This was eliminated in the touchtone dial.  Also, early TT 1500 phones did use the 425A network (without the filter above) and used a terminal strip for, I think terminals 10 and 11 that were later incorporated using different terminology on the network for TT phones.  That terminal strip was mounted beneath the dial.  I also think you would find that the dial mount is quite different between the two.

I have never tried to see if the RC filter would interfere with dialing if it were used in a TT situation.  If it does, terminal F is a passive terminal anyway in the TT environment, and the wires could be tied to any spare terminal.

Frankly, I would just get an old 2500 rather than trying to do all that surgery.

For a better look at the 2500 diagrams, look at the TCI technical library at:

http://www.telephonecollectors.org/library/weco/2500dm.pdf

-Bill
-Bill G

rp2813

Thanks for the additional advice.  I'll for sure get into trouble trying to create my own 2500, and wouldn't want to take a viable 500 chassis out of service to do it.  I got myself into this pursuit by trying to get my Brand X 2500's figured out and not having any success.  I decided the three of them that I have been messing with are all too cheaply made and light weight to be worth my time and that if I want a real 2500, that's what I need to find.  I figure the older the better, so I'll just keep an eye out for one and if it has a gold bottom, that's OK.  If I find one of those, I'll still keep looking for a black bottom one to ultimately replace the newer based one.  2500's show up once in a while at a thrift store near me so it should only be a matter of time.

Ralph
Ralph

Phonesrfun

Good conclusion.

2500's are still very easy to come by.  If you want one with a black bottom, there is always the rattle can approach.  ;D
-Bill
-Bill G

benhutcherson

I have a 2500 with a black bottom. I'll have to check on it, but it was an early '80s refurb on a chassis built sometime in the '60s.

The one I have is beige, and is marked AT&T.

rp2813

Ben, it would be very interesting to see your 2500.  Of course it's beige.  But the insides must have some modifications if it's got a 60's base.  Good to know there is such a thing out there and I don't think I'll have much trouble finding one now that I've decided to start looking.

I like the rattle can idea.  It's so ebay!

Ralph

Ralph

mienaichizu

I've also seen 500 converted to touch tone dial, I remember seeing one done by ITT

benhutcherson

Ralph,

Here are some photos of mine-I was partially wrong, it's an honest to goodness Western Electric.

Anyway, the network's dated '64, as you can see. The dial is one of the later types with very little key travel, and isn't nearly as nice to use as the older style dials.

Since the dial supports are considerably more shiny than the hookswitch, I suspect that this was probably a 500 conversion.

If it was a from-the-factory TT set, it would have been a converted 1500.

benhutcherson

Oops, I forgot to attach the photos to the last post


rp2813

Thanks for the pix Ben.  I'll be on the lookout for something like your phone.  It's probably too much to ask for it to be anything other than beige though.

Ralph
Ralph

Jester

One additional thought, Ralph.  I found this link this morning while searching for something else.  I found it both innovative & quite doable-- & I'm not a whiz @ electronics!
http://atcaonline.com/ttpad.html
Stephen