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WE 202 on a 634A subset

Started by Sargeguy, November 16, 2008, 08:06:31 PM

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Sargeguy

I recently won a 634A on eBay and am hoping to connect it to a 202 desk set.  My cords are the 3-wire variety, do I need to replace them with the-wire type????

Greg
Greg Sargeant
Providence, RI
TCI /ATCA #4409

bingster

202's came with four conductor mounting cords, but a three-conductor cord will work, too.  There will be a difference in performance, though.  When used with a three-conductor cord, you'll hear sidetone (your own voice and room noises heard in the receiver).  But if that's not a big deal to you, then go for it. 

Good job for knowing a 202 needs a subset, by the way. Far too many people think they can be wired directly to a phone jack with no subset.
= DARRIN =



Sargeguy

Thanks!  Of course I learned about that after I bought a 202 and tried to hook it up!  I was using it as an extension until I learned that doing so could damage the phone.  It worked fine.

I can try it with the three conductor cord first, and if the sidetone is too much, I can always switch.  I have a dedicated phone niche in the hallway of my 1928 house, and its pretty quiet, so there shouldn't be too much background noise.

I'll wait until the subset arrives (and I fix the problems with the 302) before I worry about that.

Thanks!

Greg

Greg Sargeant
Providence, RI
TCI /ATCA #4409

Sargeguy

The 634A subset arrived in the mail.  I don't see any date stamps but it looks pretty old.   There is a sheared off 4-conductor black vinyl cord with only the red and green wires attached.  There are 4 black vinyl wires, also cut, attached at various points.  Each of these is wrapped in numbered white tape 42, 43, 44, 45, and an un-numbered black cloth cord.  Any ideas what these could be for?





Wiring up a subset is new to me.  Shouldn't there be a terminals in the L1 and L2 spaces on the wooden blaock?  I am confused.  Is there any site with actual pictures of how one should be wired up?  I have a bunch of wiring diagrams but I am wiring diagram illiterate. 

Thanks,
Greg
Greg Sargeant
Providence, RI
TCI /ATCA #4409

bingster

#4
Completely remove these:

1) The cut off numbered wires.   
2) The cut off mounting cord.
3) The single cut off cloth cord.

Keep all the other cloth wires connected--we're going to assume for now that they're still in the correct places.

The L1 and L2 terminals were removed from the board because they've been replaced by the L1 and L2 terminals on the coil.

No need for a wiring diagram... Here's what you do:

I think you were talking about using a three-conductor mounting cord.  It's wired thusly:

1) Connect the red wire to "R." 
2) Connect the green wire to "GN." 
3) Connect the yellow wire to L2Y (or L2, if that's all it says). 

If you had a four-conductor mounting cord, you'd connect the black wire to "BK."

The incoming station wire or modular wire is connected with the red (ring) going to "L1" and the green (tip)  going to "L2Y" or "L2."

All that's left is to give it a test!

= DARRIN =



Sargeguy

Alright! 

The phone rings and accepts incoming calls!

People on the other end report they cannot hear me very well (they could hear me fine when I used the phone as an extension.

When I dial there in a loud "bink" noise and I cannot break dial tone.

I don't hear a lot of sidetone.

Should we move this thread to the troubleshooting section???

Greg
Greg Sargeant
Providence, RI
TCI /ATCA #4409

bingster

#6
It might be best in the troubleshooting forum.  Maybe Bill or Dennis can move the whole thing there.

Does the phone have a No. 6 dial? Because that "bink" noise is an indication that the hub retainer of a No. 6 isn't oriented properly.  Take the fingerwheel off, carefully lift the hub retainer, and rotate it one half turn clockwise, so that the little pointy bit is pointing to the left.  Push it back in place, and let it return to it's at-rest position, when the pointy arm should then be back on the right.

Can you post a pic of the wiring inside the base of the phone, and another of the wiring inside the subset?  That may help with figuring out the low transmitter volume.
= DARRIN =



Sargeguy

#7
I cracked this phone open for the first time since I bought it.  It looks to me like a Frankenphone!!! Here are the pics of the phone's guts:


And here is the subset as it stands now:



Note the old original service wires-half my phone wiring is that way.  The subset is located in a phone niche in the hallway.  When I was attaching the 634A I discovered that it lined up perfectly with screw holes and an outline of the subset that had previously been there.











Greg Sargeant
Providence, RI
TCI /ATCA #4409

Sargeguy

I just talked to my wife on the 202 and she said that I sounded fine.  Perhaps I got better connections when I wired the subset again after attaching it to the wall.  Or my Dad is going deaf. :-\

Greg Sargeant
Providence, RI
TCI /ATCA #4409

bingster

#9
The phone looks great in the niche!  And it's really cool that the subset lines up with the old holes.  It's not at all surprising, I guess, but still it's very neat. 

The subset's wiring looks great, but there are a few problems with the wiring in the phone, itself.  These problems could definitely be the cause of the dial not breaking the dial tone.  It looks like the common problem brought on by a tinkerer.  That is, colored wires are connected to correspondingly marked terminals.  That sort of routing might seem to make sense, but it's actually incorrect.  Follow the diagram below, and it will show you where the individual wires should be connected.

I also see that you don't have a No. 6 dial, so I'm not sure what would cause that noise.  Is there a "stiff spot" at the point where the noise is heard?
= DARRIN =



Sargeguy

Now that's my kind of wiring diagram!!!

I have rewired it according to the diagram, some of the wires were missing their spades

I break tone when I dial

I cannot connect to a dialed number (not even 411)

The ringer vibrates as the dial returns

Thanks
Greg Sargeant
Providence, RI
TCI /ATCA #4409

bingster

I think the inability to connect to a number is related to the "plink" noise in the dial.  I'm not sure how to correct that on a No. 5 dial, so let's have the lads weigh in on that one.

The bell tapping is easy to correct, though.  All you have to do is open your subset and turn the screw that I've circled in green below.  You'll see that turning it one way lets the spring retract, while turning it the other way stretches the spring.  You want to stretch the spring a bit.  Experiment by turning the screw a little each time, and then dial a number to see if it taps.  You want to turn it just enough to stop the tapping, and no more.  Turning it too much will quiet the bells.
= DARRIN =



Sargeguy

Hello,
The "plink" noise disappeared when I wired the phone correctly. 

The ringing while the dial returns is no more

I think the dial may need calibration, it is a little slow.  Some signal seems to be going through-I dial three numbers before the recorded message chimes in, as if I dialed an invalid exchange.

Greg Sargeant
Providence, RI
TCI /ATCA #4409

bingster

#13
Ohhhhh, the noise was coming from the subset and not the phone?  Okay, that's just "bell tap."  Glad you got that sorted out.

If the dial is running too slow (or too fast) it will cause the problem you're having with not getting a number properly.  If you dial "0" it should take the fingerwheel one second to make it's complete return.  If it takes noticeably longer, it may need cleaning.
= DARRIN =



Sargeguy

#14
The plink was coming from the phone but when I re-wired the desk set it disappeared.  I assume whoever had the phone before me wired the phone for use as an extension.  Several of the spade tips are missing so I had to connect bare wire to the terminals.  The jump wires are, as far as I can tell, not standard issue Bell System wires.  After my experience with the 302 I am a little hesitant to fiddle with the dial but I'll see what I can do.
Thanks

EDIT:  I discovered if I spin the fingerwheel backwards, rather than let it return on its own, I can dial a number, so calibration it is!
Greg Sargeant
Providence, RI
TCI /ATCA #4409