I won a 1954 black 500 with a metal dial that appears to be in good shape. The network is from 54 as is the receiver and mic. The ringer is the 2 wire c3a and is dated 51 and it has a 426A tube that is not connected.
The phone has a weak ringer and I was wondering if this is the reason?
All in all I am happy with this phone it has a 7a dial dated 52 and a bakelite G1 handset.
As I understand this tube was for party lines, if I rewire it back into the phone will it still ring?
The last question I have is how rare would this phone be? As I said it does work fine sans a weak ringer and looks really fine.
It has a soft platic shell and the handset caps are missing the center holes. They are also dated 54
Thank you
Ed
Hi Ed:
Take a look at this album I created about those tubes.
You can rewire the tube to ring with modern lines.
How rare is your phone?, well, it depends who you ask.
https://photos.google.com/album/AF1QipNa0vulATHI-sdOTboaFgs-yKI_j-yVPs16PSru
Thanks Jorge
I cleaned the tube off and wired it like you had it in the album. It doesn't work for me. The fuse didn't light up. I have the 425b network on my phone, not the 425a. I'm wondering if there is something else amiss. The 425b does not have the e terminal on it like the 425a. I'm going to keep working on it. The tube flickered once and the phone stopped working when that happened. I disconnected it and the phone worked fine, I reconnected it and the phone still worked fine but the tube does not light.
ah well, i'll nose around some more to see what I can find. Could be a party phone issue? we'll see.
If the ringer is weak, try moving the bias tension spring (under the clapper) to the opposite position and see if that helps the ringer.
Dennis, I took your advice and moved the bias tension spring and it did not help the ringer. I tried reversing the polarity on the ringer, the line cord and after a while I managed to really screw the phone up. It wouldn't break dial tone or ring. To make matters worse I couldn't remember where the wires were when I started ;D . I finally got everything up and running again after much trial and error. The phone is working although the ringer is still weak. One thing I noticed is that the clapper only strikes one bell, not sure why but that is what it is doing.
Jorge I tried using your great photos to wire my tube up and it did not work. As I said, I have a 425b net , not a 425a. You have terminals I do not and visa versa.
What I did was follow this schematic
http://tinyurl.com/3ka3xvs
I connected the black and red wires from the tube to the same connection that had the black wire for the ringer (in my case that would be the "K" terminal). It worked like a charm!! My tube flashes brightly with my ringer !
I'm thinking I may have finally been able to actually contribute something to this fine community ! :)
COOL! I'll have to remember this when I run across another phone with a tube in it. I had one once and got rid of it thinking it was obsolete. I'll have to remember this next time! the tube can still be used!
Quote from: JorgeAmely on October 26, 2011, 12:31:30 PM
Hi Ed:
Take a look at this album I created about those tubes.
You can rewire the tube to ring with modern lines.
How rare is your phone?, well, it depends who you ask.
https://picasaweb.google.com/Amelyenator/WesternElectric501PhoneWithA426ATube
Hi Jorge... no possibility to download your photos on picasa ! :o
You can. Just go to each individual photo, right click on it and select [Save image as ...], then choose where you want to store the photo.
Quote from: JorgeAmely on March 31, 2013, 12:18:00 AM
You can. Just go to each individual photo, right click on it and select [Save image as ...], then choose where you want to store the photo.
Effectively I can... thanks a lot Jorge ;)
Try connecting the C3A ringer like this:
Black L1
Red K
Connect a jumper wire between L2 and A