Rings sometimes

[lnx64]

My WE302 that I've had for some time now, has started to behave a little wrongly.  Sometimes it rings, sometimes it doesn't.

I've checked the line itself and it's fine.  Other phones in the house will ring, but the 302 will just stay there and not ring.  Answer the phone and all is good. Sometimes when it comes time to ring again, it rings fine..  :/

At a loss here..  I tried cleaning the hookswitch, and it seemed to work a little, then not so much.

[G-Man]

What type of telephone service is it connected to, traditional copper or internet based?
How many other telephones that also have electromechanical ringers are connected to the line?

If you have too many you may be on the edge as far as loading is concerned or it may be as simple as moving the bias spring on the ringer to the lower position.

[lnx64]

What type of telephone service is it connected to, traditional copper or internet based?
How many other telephones that also have electromechanical ringers are connected to the line?

If you have too many you may be on the edge as far as loading is concerned or it may be as simple as moving the bias spring on the ringer to the lower position.

The bias spring is actually already adjusted to be easier.  It's Vonage, so it's VOIP based.  this is the only electromagnet based ringer.  Only one other phone in the house, a small wired phone with a regular electric ringer.

I've tried my WE500 in place of the 302, and it rings all the time without issue.  Not sure at this point what's going on.  It seems like it's switch hook related though.

[WesternElectricBen]

Could it be that it needs a new capacitor?

Ben

[lnx64]

Could it be that it needs a new capacitor?

Ben

I could check this.

If the cap was going bad, wouldn't it stay not ringing alltogether?  Cause when it does ring it's nice loud and strong.

[poplar1]

The ringer is not wired through the hookswitch in a 302; rather, the ringer circuit is always connected to the line regardless of whether the hookswitch contacts are closed or open.

However, if you still want to rule out the hookswitch or any other part of the speech path, you could try connecting just the ringer and capacitor to the line: for example, red incoming line wire connected only to red ringer wire, green incoming line wire only to yellow capacitor wire, black ringer wire and slate capacitor wire to K. If you still have a problem with ringing, then at least you will know it's not the hookswitch, dial, induction coil, or talking capacitor.