AE 182 Starlite Problems

[stub]

Terry,
          If the dial will light -                be carefull this is 120 volts AC here in the states. If dial ring won't light then go here ( http://tinyurl.com/h39dl9r ) and fix it. You can check it in the phone if you like , use B and C terminals . Ringer and hookswitch removed for clearer pics . Hope this helps.   stub

[b3tamax11]

Okay, hopefully this is everything you need to properly hook up your Starlite to 120VAC and make it ring.

- Ringer is tested and capacitor is with it.

- Current limiting plug for Starlite phone tested good. (The 120V part, not the current limiting part though I can see the resistors inside.)

- New Forget Me Not Blue 5 conductor cord. In Canada CSA made AE supply cords with stranded twisted conductors for the AC rather than 5 conductor tinsel type cords that were used in the USA to the best of my knowledge.

- Block to connect the phone cord and the AC feed (use lamp,cord from plug to block) to the telephone line. While the outside of these blocks look pretty much identical to the AE supplied blocks right down to the diamond shaped (?) raised lid, this block is actually a NT QBB1A block not an AE 13C (I Think that was the AE number?). I have several of the AE blocks but only with 3 terminals inside for normal phone cords and the AE blocks are a dark beige colour where as the NT block looks to be their "Chameleon Gray" colour and has 4 terminals inside.

Terry

Thanks for finding everything I need! I will send you a message with my shipping and PayPal details.

Just to clarify, with the terminal block, there is one cord coming from the phone to the terminal block, and then from the terminal block there is 2 wires, one for the lighted dial and then a separate cable to the phone jack?

[stub]

 b3tamax11,
                  Here you go .  stub

[b3tamax11]

b3tamax11,
                  Here you go .  stub

Great! So I whipped up a quick wiring diagram just to make sure I have everything correct, does it look right?

[stub]

 b3tamax11,
                  Looks good here . I don't know which terminal block Terry is sending you but here's one of the older 5 terminal blocks. I didn't have the right wire at the time I fixed this one up to see if it worked. stub

Left click on pics to enlarge

[AE_Collector]

I was going to send the ivory coloured NT block rather than the dark beige AE block as I don't have any more AE blocks equipped with all 5 terminals. I think the Ivory colour looks better as well.

Since the phones no longer need grounded ringers (thus the green and red cord leads are sometimes put together under one screw terminal), only 4 terminals are needed in the block anyway. I could move one set of terminals out of a 3 terminal AE block (have lots of them) into another one so that there are 4 terminals in the AE block if you prefer to keep it 100% AE. Notice in the picture that the AE has the centre post to put the circular AE cord restraint over while the NE block has the slots for the wing type NE/WE cord restraint.

Does anyone know if WE ever used blocks like the NE block? Strange that AE and NE look do identical on the outside. I wonder who copied who.

On your drawing all looks correct except no need to hook the yellow of the cord heading to the wall Jack to the green. Leave it disconnected from the circuit and insulated so it doesn't short anything. Or maybe you will just gave a two conductor cord with just red and green leads.

Back when it was just as likely that a phone might be installed as a Party line as a private line, they mainly came with three conductor cords to accomplish either arrangement. The phones circuitry (except for the ringer) was across the green and red cord leads. The ringer was connected between the red and the yellow cord leads inside the phone.

An installer could install the phone as a private line, party one or a party two without having to open the phone up and move wires around. Putting the green and yellow cord leads together had the effect of putting the bell across the Tip and Ring (green and red) leads which is bridged ringing for a private line. For a party one phone the leads were all kept separate at the block with an electrical ground on the third (yellow) cord lead so the bell was from the red side of the phone line to yellow (ground). To install the phone as a party two phone the same thing was done as the party one phoneexcept the green and red cord leads were reversed (green cord lead on red station wire and red cord lead to the green station wire lead) which effectively put the ringer from the green side of the phone line to ground.

For your Starlite you could go either way with the cord but if you would like to have it as original as possible, I would put the ringer across the red and yellow leads of the cord (through the capacitor of course, you will see that there is a terminal on the phones network board to connect that up properly) and then put the yellow and green cord leads together on the terminal at the block along with the green cord lead heading to the wall Jack.

Here are the two variety's of blocks. Pretty much identical on the outside but a bit different inside. AE on the left and NE on the right.

Terry

[dsk]

The current limiting plug output wires, with nothing connected should have the same voltage out as in, so measuring that is an easy thing. Do not try to connect the lowing ring without the current limiting plug!  And of course be careful, you are working on mains voltage! Even when the current limiting plug should protect you something could fail.

dsk

[19and41]

Out of curiosity, is the dial light source a luminescent panel as opposed to an LED or other source?

[dsk]

Look here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroluminescence

It is a kind of semiconductor, but it seems light brighter when frequency or voltage is high. 

dsk

[19and41]

I thought that was what it was.  My great aunt had one of those night lights in her house.  I had remembered Sylvania had made it.  Sylvania being a division of AE's parent, GTE.

[b3tamax11]

So I've got everything working and ringing thanks to Terry's parts, except the dial only lights up on the middle setting on the dimmer switch. On high it shuts off. Perhaps it needs better lamp cord?

[AE_Collector]

Is there 3 or 4 distinct positions for the switch? It looks in your picture as though the switch has 4 terminals so there is likely 3 distinct positions. The wiring looks as though it would have Off, Low and High positions. I can't tell for sure where the resistor is connected to the switch so the order might be Off, Hi and Low rather than Off, Low and High.

I will check one of my Starlites when I get home tomorrow. They aren't usually very bright so maybe the low position just doesn't look as though it is lit at all. Possibly the EL ring has degraded in brightness over the years.

How does it look with that brand new Forget Me Not Blue cord?

Terry

[dsk]

Looks like you have a 3 pos. sw. (just like me)  Off, dim and full.  In full position the resistor is bypassed.  Dim is actually extremely dim, just to be seen in a really dark room, but not keep you away from sleeping.

dsk

[unbeldi]

Is there 3 or 4 distinct positions for the switch? It looks in your picture as though the switch has 4 terminals so there is likely 3 distinct positions. The wiring looks as though it would have Off, Low and High positions. I can't tell for sure where the resistor is connected to the switch so the order might be Off, Hi and Low rather than Off, Low and High.

I will check one of my Starlites when I get home tomorrow. They aren't usually very bright so maybe the low position just doesn't look as though it is lit at all. Possibly the EL ring has degraded in brightness over the years.

How does it look with that brand new Forget Me Not Blue cord?

Terry

The switch should have four terminals for a three-position switch, although in this circuit only three contacts are used.
position 1:  1-2
position 2:  2-3
position 3:  3-4

The circuit diagram I posted early in this topic shows the functions.

[stub]

 b3tamax11,
                  Here's a pic of one ( barn fresh ). 4 terminals , 3 positions. High should be like wired up direct , dim thru the resistor and off. Operate the switch from off to high a bunch of times , with power on , to see if you can clean the contacts. Also check the wiring . Top pick is in off position , sec pic is on high , last in is dim .  stub

left click on pics to enlarge