Need help wiring my WE 51 candlestick to a 302 subset

[mark9564]

I have restored my candlestick but feeling a bit lost on wiring the dial to the candlestick to the subset . Can anybody walk me through this? I tried to follow a couple different diagrams but it didn't work.

[Sargeguy]

You are missing a wiring harness and a terminal, which makes things a little trickier. 

[mark9564]

I have a wiring harness but not sure how to hook up to subset and seem to have trouble tracing the wires out in the first picture.

[Sargeguy]

Do you have a picture of the harness?  How many wires does it consist of?

[mark9564]

It is a 3 wire harness

[poplar1]

The hookswitch and terminals (rack)  you have are not from a 51-AL, but rather from a manual (non-dial) 20-AL or equivalent. So the terminal markings you see on your hookswitch  are different than what you will see in diagrams for 51-ALs. However, the 3 contact springs that make when you go off-hook are the same configuration in the 20-AL and the 51-AL. The two extra terminals below the hookswitch--where one of your transmitter wires is--are not present in a true  51-AL rack.

You will need to leave the one short transmitter wire that is connected to the hookswitch, but the other one can be removed, since the black harness wire will go from BK on the dial directly to the transmitter. The red harness wire connects to the red wire from the subset (usually on a separate terminal block in the base of a 51-AL) on one end, and to the hookswitch on the other. The double blue harness wire goes from BB on the dial to the hookswitch. Off-hook, the hookswitch connects the red harness wire, the double blue harness wire, and the short transmitter wire together.

51-AL hookswitch           20-AL hookswitch

BB                                     W

R                                        R

YY                                      YY

                                  Y             GN

[mark9564]

I had an extra rack and changed it out.

[Sargeguy]

Nice.  Do you have pictures of your harness and/or subset cord?

You also need one of the terminals in the picture below.  Do you have something like this in your stash?

[mark9564]

Here is all I have in the way or cords. I do not have any terminals.

[Sargeguy]

That looks like a handset cord for a 302.  I have a repro subset cord that will work.  I know I don't have a 51-AL harness, but I might have a 50-AL harness that can be used.  It will require some rummaging.

[Sargeguy]

Another thing I just noticed is that your dial is a 2H.  This dial was used on B-1s (and some D-1s) but not on candlesticks.  The dial you need is a 2AB or 2AA.  Do you have pictures of the front of this dial, especially the fingerstop? 

[mark9564]

This and a 4H dial are all I have. Can I make it work with this dial?

[poplar1]

You can use a 2H, 4H, 5H or 6A dial in place of the 2A. Just strap the BB and R dial  terminals  together with a piece of wire.
Here is a dial with the added strap. (It was originally a 2A, then converted to 4H, then strapped so that it would function as a 2A):