Help with a Comkey 416 Key Phone

[McHeath]

So my sonny boy has bought himself his first Old Phone, and it's an odd beast.  Key phone, I think it's a Com Key 416.  Here's a pic.  

Now the big question is, can it be used on a standard single home line?  Does it need some rewiring internally?  I know next to nothing about these type of phones.  

By the way, he likes this "old" stuff because he sees these type of phones in movies like Wargames, movies from the 70's and early 80's.  To him, age 20, that's a real cool era, hence the phone.  

[poplar1]

This is a Comkey 416 set. You need the master set for 2 lines or two master sets for 4 lines to make this one work properly. All of the power for the lamps, hold circuit and intercom are in the master unit. The master unit has the same parts as your phone + an extended base with an 120 Volt AC cord coming out of it. It is about the size of a small cash register.

I don't recall the wiring of this but chances are the first pair in the amphenol plug will give you dial tone on the first line. Can someone verify this? It may be in the Key Systems Manual, Volume III. But you will not have lamps or hold function.

[Weco355aman]

Yes you can connect it to your home phone line. You will not have any lights,  hold, or ringing. This system has a primary (master set) to make the phones work. Yes it is a 416 comkey.  The master Set's do appear on eBay time to time.
I have a faded one if your interested. To make line 1 work (DO NOT CUT OFF PLUG) If you need for a small fee i can make a adapter for you to connect  it up.
If you have a 25 pair cable with a (female) connector on it you will use the following.
Line 1 White/blue  T
          Blue/white  R
line 2   White/brown T
           Brown/white R
Line 3  Red/orange T
           Orange/red  R
Line 4  Red/slate  T     Slate is also Gray
           Slate/red  R
Line 5  Black/green T
          Green/black  R

[McHeath]

Wow cool!  I love this forum, you can find out anything about phones here, even obscure ones like this 416.  Okay, so I'm pretty sure my son is going to want the lights and ringing to work, so I need a master set.  So you have a master set Weco, send me a PM and let me know what you want for it.  I'll then check with the boy and see if he wants it, but betting that will be affirmative.  The phone is coming from Minn. and supposed to arrive in a few days.

[AE_Collector]

Don't think I have seen this type of system. When I saw the phone I thought electronic but hen I noticed the Amphenol so I figured 1A2 set. Now it sounds like a "KSU-less" 1A2set? Basically the 1A2 KSU is in a master phone that can support two lines so you can use two master sets to get 4 co lines and up to 16 phones? Will one master set still support 16 phones?

Terry

[paul]

There is something called a "91A block" that the 25 pin cables connect to to let you simply attach to the POTS lines.

Lots of ComKey info here: http://seriss.com/people/erco/comkey416/

And from that page, the BSP's are 518-450-105 and 518-450-106 depending on which model you have.

[McHeath]

Well the phone arrived today in good shape.  Seller packed it well.  Upon examination it's a desk set, 2981A02, made in Sept of 79'.  Other than some yellowing there is no damage or wear.

It came with the 25 pin cable, but also a small 6 wire modular jack dangling out the back.  Hmm.  Plugged it in to the wall, and shazam, dial tone!

Wouldn't break the dial tone, so the polarity was reversed.  Took it apart, redid the wires for T and R, and bada boom it's in biznizz.

There is a jack connection inside the phone labeled "personal line" that the modular jack wire is plugged into.  Read the BSP for the phone, someone helpfully scanned it, and found all the news that's fit to print.  Also discovered that I could make the green light work for the line out by connecting two other of the 6 wires to T and R. 

So the green light works for the button when it's on.  But it will not ring, nor does hold work, nor the speaker phone.  Oh well.  Have not heard from my son if he wants to pursue getting the rest of the functions up and running.  My hunch is that he will be pretty happy with the green light working and the phone calling in and out. 

Pretty nice phone.  Well made, solid, and the K series handset even says the familiar Bell System Property warning.  It's very modular, you can remove all the inner parts with usually just your fingers or at most a screwdriver to move tabs.  Nice.  It has some user programming ability by moving jumpers about, or moving some switches.