This Phone Wants to Ring but Won't

[rp2813]

Linking A to L1 rendered the phone dead.  I checked the diagram which has the green mounting cord lead and some others terminating on F.  I cannot find the F terminal on this phone.  The green mounting cord and the others are on an unmarked terminal between A and K, which I'm guessing is this mysterious F terminal.  Then there's the whole issue of whether the diagram is providing the right placements for POTS service.  I know a snowball when I see one coming and this one could have exponential properties.

I wonder if the 2500MM can't be adapted for POTS based on its 2-wire coil.  It seems odd that WE would place that kind of limitation on its 2500 chassis though.

I'm walking away from this for the time being.  I will likely find a POTS-friendly 2500--that rings--before I resolve the problems with the 2-wire coil model.

Thanks for all the suggestions.  This phone apparently wants to defy all wiring logic.

Ralph

[Steve K]

Ralph:

I don't know what else to tell you to do.  Could you post a picture of the network?  The F terminal is right behind the A terminal on a 425 network.  The green and red wires usually go to L1 and L2 on a single line phone.

BTW, what is POTS service?  I will probably say "well duh" when you tell me!

Steve

[Dennis Markham]

P(lain) O(ld) T(elephone) S(ervice).........

[Steve K]

Oh, OK!

[rp2813]

Yeah, sorry, I just assumed the majority of the crowd here was familiar with telco jargon and the USOCs (Universal Service Order Codes--can you say "U-sock?") that are common to all telephone service providers.  POTS is a USOC, believe it or not!  Now that I think about it, I wonder if since I have DSL at home (aka "line sharing") maybe POTS doesn't apply to my line anymore.

If I could find the camera I know how to use I'd have posted a lot of pix here already, but it was lost in the move I made over the summer.  My webcam just doesn't capture close-up detail--it just blurs everything.  I'm hoping the camera will turn up in a box somewhere and then I can post pix of stuff people want to see, like my 10/50 500.

Ralph

[Steve K]

Ralph:

I know that you are taking a break from your phone but I found the schematic for the 2500MM.

http://www.porticus.org/bell/images/bsp/2500mm_fig2.gif

Steve

[McHeath]

USOCs (Universal Service Order Codes--can you say "U-sock?")

Then of course there are the famous "Universal Service Utility Codes".  However they were not as popular to use as an acronym due to the rather unflattering U-SUC pronunciation favored by the field workers when referring to the codes in front of management types. 

Oh wait, I just made that up.

[rp2813]

I like the U-SUC idea.  I think maybe cable TV providers would use those.

Steve, that schematic you linked to for the 2500MM is the same one I printed up to check against my phone.  It has the mystery F terminal that isn't marked on my phone.  Regardless, the phone still wouldn't ring after verifying the wiring against that diagram.  Lacking any electronics training or experience, I've gone as far as I can go on this phone without completely screwing up the wiring to the point of forgetting how it was originally.  I may end up donating it back to a thrift store and allow someone else access to the boundless frustration this phone affords.

Ralph

[rp2813]

OK, here's the latest on the situation. 

First, thanks for the schematic links.  I had messed with the wiring on this phone so much that I stopped caring about what had been where.  Step 1 was to put everything back to the 2500MM scheme and start from square one.  Wow, it was way out of whack. 

I plugged it in and had the same situation I first reported with inability to break dialtone, so I knew I had things back as they were when I bought the phone.  Then I compared the MM schematic to the DM and noted what leads from what components needed to move in order to match the DM model.  I found a problem where the DM schematic shows a slate lead from the line switch, which this MM's switch doesn't have.  It's shown as doubled up with the yellow line switch lead so I'm hoping it's not really necessary in the DM arrangement. 

So I changed everything over to the DM configuration.  I put the black ringer lead on L1 and red on K, then jumped from A to L2.  Plugged the phone in and got dialtone but the pad was all touch and no tone.  Not sure what's wrong now.  I didn't check if it rings yet.  It sort of doesn't matter unless the rest of the phone is wired properly.

Any suggestions about either the missing slate line switch lead or the loss of tones when dialing?  The dial and handset leads are terminated identically for both MM and DM schemes.

Ralph

[rp2813]

It rings now.  The jumper wire worked.  Still having an issue with not breaking through the dialtone.  Since dial wiring is identical for the MM and DM, I have to presume it's the line switch wiring that's creating the problem.  I'm going to see if I can figure out a happy medium between the MM and DM line switch configurations.

This phone worked fine to dial out with the MM wiring so I don't think the missing slate lead is an issue.

Again, any suggestions are welcome.

Ralph

[rp2813]

Success!  I checked some reference items re: not breaking dialtone and tried step 1, switching the red and green mounting cord leads, and all is well.  Phone dials out fine and also rings nice and loud.  Time to fetish it out some before packing it up and sending it off to my friend.

Ralph

[Steve]

  Time to fetish it out some before packing it up and sending it off to my friend.

Ralph

:O

[HobieSport]

I'd never heard the expression "fetish it out" but it's kind of amusing, since, well let's face it, most of us seem to have some kind of phone fetish...

[rp2813]

Just a term I picked up from a serious antique collector/biker friend many years ago.  It's short for "give it a thorough cleaning and polish it all up to a nice shine."