Western Electric Model 553C Wiring

[grumento]

I am having problems wiring my Western Electric Model 553 C Wall Phone. I would appreciate any information or reference on how to correctly wire this great old phone to work. I can get a dial tone, but cannot dial out and cannot receive incoming calls. Thanks in advance for any help.

[Dennis Markham]

Welcome grumento, to the forum.  I do not see reference to a Model 553C either at the TCI technical library or on Paul Fasbender's site.  Can you tell us a little more about the phone, or perhaps post a couple of photos?

To post a photo, just click on Additional Options that appears below the Message box while posting.  You'll see how to upload them that way.

The two sites I referenced are here:

Paul Fassbener's site reference the 500 series phones:

http://www.paul-f.com/we500typ.htm

And the Telephone Collector's International - Technical Page:

http://www.telephonecollectors.org/library/weco/weco.htm

~Dennis

[grumento]

Attached are some photos of my telephone, hopefully this may help id the phone. i have looked at a couple of sites and could find similar phones but not this one that has the model number 553C. Thanks again!

[Dennis Markham]

I'm embarrassed now!  I was thinking a 553C was a variation of the Model 554.  Duh.  Sorry.  There are a couple of guys that will weigh in on this one.  

By the way, that is a beautiful set.  Very clean!

[Dennis Markham]

Grumento, also, go the Home page of this Forum and search on Model 553 and Hotel Phone.  You will see some recent postings about Briny's Model 553.

[bingster]

Welcome aboard, Grumento!  The first thing to try with your phone is to move the red conductor of the incoming line cord from the "R" terminal to the "YL2" terminal.  See if that helps.  It's difficult to trace the conductors of these since they're cabled together, but see if you can give it a go and compare them to this diagram:

http://telephonecollectors.org/library/weco/553.pdf

[grumento]

I tried connecting the red incoming you YL2 and that did not solve the problem. I get the dial tone initially then the "I'm sorry....." message.  Any other suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

[JorgeAmely]

Grumento:

Has your phone ever worked before or is this the first time you have installed it? Do you have a DVM? Can you measure the impedance across the capacitor to see if it is shorted?

[grumento]

Jorge, The phone did work for quite some time, the way that it is connected in the photo.  I need to know what  a DVM is to answer your first question. I can measure the impendance if you advise me to the location of the capacitor. Thanks, Rich

[JorgeAmely]

A DVM is a digital volt meter. If you have an analog meter, that works fine also.

The capacitor is that gray colored box that sits below the wooden terminal block and the coil.

The terminals are to the right (third picture). The idea is that the capacitor should not be shorted, therefore, when you check it with your meter, it should show infinite resistance. You need to disconnect at least one capacitor lead before you make a measurement and of course, the phone line needs to be disconnected when you perform the measurement.

I have a very old AE40 phone with similar symptoms and the capacitor was the problem. When the capacitor is shorted the phone behaves as if it was off hook, even though the receiver is on the hook. Sometimes lightning causes the capacitor to go bad.

[Netdewt]

Cool! I've never seen that one before!