E1 Receiver Stopped Working on WE D1 202

[Phonesrfun]

I'll try to answer all your questions.

Yes, if the ohmmeter shows no deflection of the meter, it is considered "open".  That term gets its meaning from being an open circuit, I.E. if you were to measure the resistance of a switch that is in the off or open position, as opposed to a switch that was turned on, or closed.  The term condenser is an electronic term that went out of style in about the 1940's, but is still used in the discussions of old phones.  Capacitor is the more modern term, and yes, they are the same.

Some capacitors are polarity sensitive, but the ones used in telecommunications for audio generally are not.  For sure, the ones inside any of the legacy phones are not.

For a good read on how phones work, and some introduction to some basic electronics, there is an Army Telecommunications manual, circa 1954 that you can download and print from Colin Chambers' web site at oldphoneguy.net, and choose the link on the left called big books.

The ringer in an old phone can be switched in and out of the circuit with no impact on the voice circuit at all.

1mF and 2mF caps can be bought at Radio Shack, but make sure that if you are getting the 1mF cap for the ringer that you get the one that is rated at 200 or 250 volts.  Ringing current is generally 90 volts, and the cap needs to be rated well over the expected voltage that it will come in contact with.  I seem to remember that their 1 mF 250Vcap is a metal film type.  They have a 2mF non-polarized electrolytic rated at 50 volts that should be fine for the audio cap.  If you cannot find them, I have a bunch, and I can send you one of each.

When all is said and done, it may be the Verizon FIOS system that is causing the difference, since FIOS is not a true land line and does not terminate in a telephone central office the way an older technology copper-based line once did.  There are still those old style land lines out there, but they're dwindling to new technology very rapidly.  The only reason older phones work at all on the newer systems such as FIOS and others is because there are still some old "POTS" phones in service and they want to provide at leas some minimal level of service for them.  I don't think the older technology phones are any priority for them.

POTS stands for Plain Old Telephone Service, and is dwindling year by year due to economics and the costs associated with maintaining the old copper wire based systems.

You should try the 302 out before you go and buy any new capacitors at Radio Shack.  

For sure, putting a ringer switch in to turn off the ringer will not damage anything.  In fact people did that often just for the reason you state.

[Bill]

Your understanding of the ohmmeter is correct. The word "open" means "infinite ohms", and at the left end of the multimeter's resistance scale, you will probably see a little infinity sign. At the other end of the scale, "closed" means "short circuit", which means "zero ohms". At the right end of the multimeter's resistance scale, you will see "zero".

Condenser and capacitor are the same thing.

Most Radio Shacks still have capacitors. Many of them are electrolytic capacitors, which means that polarity does count, and you will see that they are marked with little plus and/or minus symbols. For telephone applications, avoid them. Radio Shack online lists a few metal film or polyester film capacitors - these have no polarity, and are good for telephone work. You should get at least 200 volts rating.

Bill ('nuther one! typing at the same moment)

[Phonesrfun]

Bill:

Intelligent minds think alike!

-Bill

[PEnnsylvania 6-5000]

Sorry, Bill G. I guess I did throw a lot of questions out there at once. I tend to get caught up in things a bit. But thank you so much for your detailed reply!

I'll wire up the 302 as soon as I can and do the testing with it. I am tempted, however, to go ahead and buy the capacitors you mentioned from RS, not only for future possible testing purposes, but also to "play" with as a tiny step toward becoming more familiar with how everything works.

Wow! Colin's website is a treasure trove of books and information! I downloaded the Army manual you suggested, and looked at a few of the other books and booklets. I look forward to having some time to dig into all of them. Thanks for the link!

While I'm at RS, I think I'll pick up some switches for the ringers too.

I hope to have some time this week to test with the 302.

As always, thanks for your kind help.

Jay

[PEnnsylvania 6-5000]

Hi, "'nuther" Bill.

Thanks for your reply, and for all of the information! One day, I hope to be up to speed on all of this stuff. But I have a feeling that there will always be more for me to learn.

Jay

[Doug Rose]

Is the cover of your subset copper as well?  Do you have a picture of the subset with the cover on?....Doug

[PEnnsylvania 6-5000]

Hi, Doug.

I had to run home for lunch, and had a few minutes to reply.

No, the top of the subset box is steel. The base is steel too, with copper plating.

When I received the subset, the paint was falling off, parts of it were rusted, and it had a dent in the cover. So I decided to do a full restoration. I had the cover, base, and a few of the other parts soda blasted. When I did, the guy was curious and sandblasted a small part of the base and found steel under it. The owner of the shop immediately asked me if the box held anything with electrical current. When I said it did, he said, "I thought so. That's why the base has copper plating on it." I don't know how true that is, but that's what he said.

Anyway, here are some before and after soda blasting pictures of the box. I did some polishing some of the parts, but I haven't had the time or the weather (constant temperature) to repaint the box and base yet, and I still need to do some more work on the dent in the cover.

Jay

[Doug Rose]

Jay....Very nice just the way it is. Outstanding. I have a few phones that I have brought to bare metal and left that way...Doug

[PEnnsylvania 6-5000]

Phew! Busy, busy week!

Thanks, Doug. It does look neat as bare metal. I think if I ever left anything bear like that, I would want to seal it somehow. I'm already worried about the parts I've cleaned and how best to finish polishing them and seal them. I think I'm going to re-paint the box though. I want to learn how to repaint things well, and I'd rather start the learning process on a box rather than a phone.

[PEnnsylvania 6-5000]

Hi, Bill.

I got the 302 wired up today and found that it doesn't have the loss of volume that the 202 does.

I noticed that the 302 I have uses the same 101A induction coil as the 634-A subset. I also noticed that the condenser on the 302 has the same color coding on the wires as the two condensers on the 634-A subset. Just a wild stab in the dark here, but is it a possibility that the condenser on the 302 is functionally the same as the condensers on the 634-A? I so, could I wire up the 302 condenser into the 634-A, as a means of removing the condensers on the 634-A from the loop to see if the loss of volume is corrected?

[Phonesrfun]

No coincidence at all.  The 534 is functionally and electrically the same as the insides of the 302.  Therefore, you can, indeed, swap the condensers and/or the coil.

Keep us posted.