Automatic electric ringing issue

[sko1707]

Thanks for all the good info on this forum!  Have gotten many a phone to ring thanks to the diagrams and photos here.  The problem I'm having is with the Automatic Electric phones.....1950's and 1960's.   I believe they all have frequency ringers.  Unfortunately, my attempts to use the diagram weren't very successful.   Is there a way to get these to ring without changing the ringer and can anyone show a photo of one of these that is properly wired?  This is the number on mine: #D-56548-A33 33.3 ~ .2 MIF CAP Thanks for any help.

[BDM]

33/hz ringer is close to the standard 20/hz ringing frequency used today. I can generally get 50 and 60/hz ringers to ring. Replace the cap to a .47/mfd.

[sko1707]

Welcome, is yours an AE80 (deskset) or an AE90 (wallphone)?  I have a wall phone so I may be able to help. The clapper on a frequency ringer is very thick and I've had two that I swaped out the housings for and used regular ringer "innards" so I could get them to ring. Maybe a picture of the ringer would help to .

Mine is a desk set.  Numbers on the bottom: NB802 CXX 2-67-5.  No volume control.  This is actually one of many that I have:)  I pick these old phones up at auctions or yard sales whenever I can get them and then re-sell if I can get them to function properly.  This one has the circuit board under the dial.  I've been able to get the old bell telephones and western electrics to ring based on the info I've found here.  But the AE's have me baffled.  If you would like to see a photo of the ringer, I can post one tomorrow, if you can advise how to upload one.  Time for bed in Minnesota   Thanks for responding and hope you can help me out.

[Dan]

Thanks for reposting my reply, I deleted it by accident. I recently only just figured out how to post photos. I'm not the best guy to ask

[sko1707]

Thanks for reposting my reply, I deleted it by accident. I recently only just figured out how to post photos. I'm not the best guy to ask

I figured it out (additional options underneath the repl7) and will post a couple of photo of the phone interior this evening.  The weather is nice enough to do some raking today and I'd better take advantage of it before it decides to rain.....or snow.  It can do just about anything here this time of year. 

Ok....the first two photos are of the first AE.  Wires under the dial.  Photos 3 and 4 are of another AE.....same issue different arrangement for the wires....along side the dial.  Both appear to have the same ringer type.  Neither rings as currently wired.  Is there a way to modify the wiring without changing the ringer, or is the wiring correct and the ringers shot?  Forgot to mention: the second AE (photos 3 and 4)  currently does not have a cord attached.  I removed it to attach to another phone to test.  The first two photos have all wires attached. 

[Dan]

That is a frequency ringer. I am not sure how to get one of these to ring.

[trainman]

Changing the capacitor to a .5 should make it ring.

[sko1707]

Changing the capacitor to a .5 should make it ring.

Thanks to everyone for the assist on this.  While I do have my own collection of old phones and actively use them in my home, I also buy at auctions and yard sales to re-sell.  You can pick these old phones up really cheap from those who have no idea what their value is.  I hate it when a seller says: "don't know if it works", so I test them using my cell phone to make sure you can call in, call out, get a ring and that there's no weird behavior.   I try to fix what I can and then clean them up as best I can before listing.  If they don't ring, at least I can tell the potential buyer and explain why.   Unfortunately, I have a number of the Automatic Electrics which have  the frequency ringer.  You can't get enough for the 1970's and 1980's phones  to make buying replacement parts feasible. Maybe one of these days I'll run across an otherwise trashed out phone with a good straight line ringer/capacitor and I can do the replacement   I was hoping there might be another way to get the thing to work, but at least now I know that replacement is the only option.  Thanks again!

[bingster]

You could try keeping an eye out for bulk auctions of straight line ringers.  There's one up right now, in fact.  Now, the ringers are modern single gong ringers, and aren't the type that would ever be found inside one of these, but they're straight line, and they'd give you a ringing phone.  Just something to think about.