Trying to get 1D2 (I believe) working in home...need some assistance.

[the_buzz_man]

I was able to pick up what I believe to be a Western Electric 1D2 style "payphone". I use the term payphone lightly, because this one does not have a coin slot or any coin internals. When I picked it up, it had no keys, but I was able to get a t-key and have the upper lock drilled out. I have since bought a replacement lock, and all of that is working good now.

When I first tried to wire it up, I wasn't getting a dial tone at all. After playing around a bit, I realized that the grey serial plug type connector to the left of the plug coming from the keypad had to be plugged in. I'm taking it that this plug is where the coin mechanism would plug into. I suspect the plug that is there now is made in a way to short out certain pins to bypass the coin mechanism. As you can see from the pics, I have only connected the R & T wires (I'm using yellow/black). I do have a dial tone and am able to make and receive calls.

The main issue I am having is call quality. There is some slight background static that both parties can hear. Also, the voices on both sides of the conversation seem to be too low and we notice some lag.

Can anyone offer suggestions on what should be tested/replaced/added to help get this running better? I'm new to this stuff, but am constantly digging to learn more.

I appreciate any help given,

the_buzz_man

[the_buzz_man]

Larger pics of the inside pics, just in case it helps.

[Jim Stettler]

Calling card phone?
Just a guess
Jim S.

[Dan F]

I bought one a few months ago and it was described as a "jail house" phone. It has a really short 2 foot handset cord. Mine also did not come with keys and had to drill out the Medico locks.

[dsk]

I was able to pick up what I believe to be a Western Electric 1D2 style "payphone". I use the term payphone lightly, because this one does not have a coin slot or any coin internals. When I picked it up, it had no keys, but I was able to get a t-key and have the upper lock drilled out. I have since bought a replacement lock, and all of that is working good now.

When I first tried to wire it up, I wasn't getting a dial tone at all. After playing around a bit, I realized that the grey serial plug type connector to the left of the plug coming from the keypad had to be plugged in. I'm taking it that this plug is where the coin mechanism would plug into. I suspect the plug that is there now is made in a way to short out certain pins to bypass the coin mechanism. As you can see from the pics, I have only connected the R & T wires (I'm using yellow/black). I do have a dial tone and am able to make and receive calls.

The main issue I am having is call quality. There is some slight background static that both parties can hear. Also, the voices on both sides of the conversation seem to be too low and we notice some lag.

Can anyone offer suggestions on what should be tested/replaced/added to help get this running better? I'm new to this stuff, but am constantly digging to learn more.

I appreciate any help given,

the_buzz_man

This should just work as a regular pone mounted in a vandal resistant cabinet. Are you sure your black wire is connected to the right terminal?  Could it be it should have been connected to the one Marked L1?

dsk

[AE_Collector]

So is this likely a special chassis built to turn a 1D2 into a Charge-A-Call Phone?

Terry

[poplar1]

So is this likely a special chassis built to turn a 1D2 into a Charge-A-Call Phone?

Terry

The light gray plug in lower left of chassis has straps to bypass the need for coin relay or totalizer. So it's a standard WE "dumb board."

Pelco near Birmingham, Alabama bought all 140,000 pay phones that BellSouth surplused when they exited the pay phone business. This looks like a Pelco-modified prison phone.

[Payphone installer]

The phone is a payphone wired for corrections or jail phone. These were not used as charge a calls they were used as jail phones because of security. The problem you are describing is latency in the voice conversation. That does not sound like a phone problem it sounds like a line problem. What kind of dial tone is plugged into it?

[the_buzz_man]

The phone is a payphone wired for corrections or jail phone. These were not used as charge a calls they were used as jail phones because of security. The problem you are describing is latency in the voice conversation. That does not sound like a phone problem it sounds like a line problem. What kind of dial tone is plugged into it?

Not sure what you mean by what kind of dial tone is plugged into it. I'm using a line that was going to another phone we had hanging on the wall, which had no problems at all. That is why I feel it has something to do within the phone itself. This line runs directly to the outside box from the phone company.

The latency isn't too bad, though if it can be fixed, I would like to. The main thing I would like to fix is the slight static in the background and possibly increasing the volume. I'm just not sure what the proper order of replacing things would be to narrow down the issue.

Thanks for the help,

the_buzz_man

[AE_Collector]

Many things static related with payphones usually involved the handset and transmitter when I worked payphones assuming that the phone line (dial tone) is good otherwise.

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=6789.0

Terry

[Payphone installer]

What kind of dial tone means from a cable company? On Fios who is the dial tone provider. As for the handset when you here the static wrap it on a table or hit it on the side with a screw driver handle if its the handset it will temporary stop or get worse. With the upper on the phone hit it with your fist on the side with the handset against  your ear. If the static gets worse it could be the dial. You have a APC dial in the phone. They made just ok stuff they were a US West company. The switch in your phone was designed to withstand impact that is why there are rollers on the switch hook. The design was to keep from transferring impact to the switch when the handset was slammed in the cradle. This was a jail phone so you can count on it being abused. Static is a bad connection,something is loose or a bad connection under a screw or contact. Latency is lost packets on a IP telephone line. They are two different things. So anytime you tap the various parts in the phone with your hand or a screwdriver handle it will get worse or better when you get to the right part.  I used this method for 18 years on every kind of phone you can imagine. Princess phones were notorious for bad switches and you could find them by tapping the side every-time.

[the_buzz_man]

This should just work as a regular pone mounted in a vandal resistant cabinet. Are you sure your black wire is connected to the right terminal?  Could it be it should have been connected to the one Marked L1?

dsk

OK, I looked into the "L1" connection today. There is no wire that goes from the bottom of the "L1" terminal to anywhere on the control board. All three of the others had wires soldered to them and were connected to the control board somewhere. I have removed the "G" wire because it made no difference if it was connected or not.

the_buzz_man

[the_buzz_man]

What kind of dial tone means from a cable company? On Fios who is the dial tone provider. As for the handset when you here the static wrap it on a table or hit it on the side with a screw driver handle if its the handset it will temporary stop or get worse. With the upper on the phone hit it with your fist on the side with the handset against  your ear. If the static gets worse it could be the dial. You have a APC dial in the phone. They made just ok stuff they were a US West company. The switch in your phone was designed to withstand impact that is why there are rollers on the switch hook. The design was to keep from transferring impact to the switch when the handset was slammed in the cradle. This was a jail phone so you can count on it being abused. Static is a bad connection,something is loose or a bad connection under a screw or contact. Latency is lost packets on a IP telephone line. They are two different things. So anytime you tap the various parts in the phone with your hand or a screwdriver handle it will get worse or better when you get to the right part.  I used this method for 18 years on every kind of phone you can imagine. Princess phones were notorious for bad switches and you could find them by tapping the side every-time.

The dial tone is provider from my internet/phone company, Cameron Communications. I tried hitting the handset and moving around pretty much every wire I could, none of which made a difference with the static.

Just to be clear, the static is obvious, but it is mostly like background noise. It is constant, never really changing. You can still have a conversation with it going on, but it does get annoying after a while. Both parties can hear the noise. As for the latency issues, I believe that may have been due to the fact that we were talking to people on cell phones. Honestly, I haven't talked to anyone on another landline yet. I will have to try that soon.

A couple of things I noticed just playing around: I tried rotating the pin connector from the handset to the keypad assembly to see what would happen. The static actually went away, but I could not hear the dial tone. If I pushed the keys, I could hear them, but they were really faint. If I pushed down on the hookswitch about halfway, it would get louder. I have no idea what, if anything, this would mean to anyone. Also, I did notice a change in pitch and volume with the static if I barely connected the grey connector that bypasses the coin mechanism. Once pushed all the way in, it stays the same.

So, with all that said, if this was your phone, what would be the first thing to try swapping out? I'm thinking the handset, but wanted to double check.

Once again, thanks for the help and guidance.

the_buzz_man

[Payphone installer]

Have you tried hooking up,another phone to the line that you have the payphone on to see if you have static. Are you sure the static is in the phone? This is where a butt set comes in handy to just connect into the end of the IW or inside wire to see if there is static there. Do you know for,sure,it is a phone problem?

[compubit]

I would start on the outer edge and work my way in:

1) use a different handset/cable - this would either identify or eliminate the handset
2) The wire connecting from your source to the phone itself
3) Other connections along the way (see below)

I haven't read up on the details of this model, but would look at all of the connection points:
1) All the screws tight (and yes, every single screw)
2) Solder joints - could have something failing
3) Connectors - there may be one pin on a connector which is not making reliable contact.

It's working, just with some static...

Hope this helps.

Jim