I have a 1972 WE 2500 with a ringer that barely rings. The ringer mechanism between the gongs does move but just barely so it doesn't make much sound. I haven't taken the ringer apart or anything, in fact I've done very little to the insides other than blowing off the dust. It was in excellent condition already when I got it. I bought this particular phone more for durability than collectibility and it gets regular use. Since it does ring lightly I assume that it is more likely an issue with the magnetism than with the wiring. I'd love to have the ringer working, is it possible to repair a weak ringer like this?
I'd be glad to send you a surplus ringer from a 500 set. If a simple replacement doesn't resolve the problem, it's probably wired incorrectly. Many here will tell you that often, moving a single wire from one connection to another on the network block may resolve your issue.
Good luck, I'm certain someone else will respond very soon.
Welcome to the forum jah,
Simple things first.
Try moving the bias spring.
It is that piece of wire that runs next to the clapper. You can shift it's position by the gongs.
Just flip it into the other side of the holder. and then test it again.
Jim
Quote from: Jim S. on October 09, 2010, 04:08:50 PM
Welcome to the forum jah,
Simple things first.
Try moving the bias spring.
It is that piece of wire that runs next to the clapper. You can shift it's position by the gongs.
Just flip it into the other side of the holder. and then test it again.
Wow, thanks Jim, that worked perfectly. Rings loud and clear now. I never noticed that spring before when I was glaring at the ringer trying to think of something to try.
And thanks for the offer Keith, I really appreciate it.
I have a question about the innards of one of my other 2500s that I think is probably easily answered by somebody with a little experience like you guys. I'll snap a picture and do a new post.
-jeff
Most of the old phones are a pretty simple fix.
Jim
Back to this topic, I discovered another 2500 that isn't ringing but unlike the other one, the clapper isn't moving at all on this one. I have a few of these that I bought, cleaned up and put around the house, some in out of the way places that I may not have noticed weren't ringing. This one is a 1981 unit that cleaned up really well and looks brand new. It's not important that the ringer isn't working but it would be nice to have it in 100 percent working order. Any suggestions as to where to start or what to try?
Probably needs to be wired correctly. Check the wires where the ringer wires connect to the network. The red ringer wire should be connected to L2, along with the red line cord wire.
The black ringer wire is probably connected to the G terminal. If it is, move it to L1 where the green line cord wire is connected.
See if that works.
Quote from: Phonesrfun on October 10, 2010, 12:00:19 PM
Probably needs to be wired correctly. Check the wires where the ringer wires connect to the network. The red ringer wire should be connected to L2, along with the red line cord wire.
The black ringer wire is probably connected to the G terminal. If it is, move it to L1 where the green line cord wire is connected.
See if that works.
The red is connected to L2 and back to L1. This is a newer 2500 and the ringer has 4 wires. It is wired as follows:
Black: L1
Red: L2
Slate: K
Slate/red: (can't find the label, presumably terminal A)
I dug out a couple of ugly beige 2500s (also 1980s units with a 4-wire ringer) that I got a good price on but never used and those don't ring either, oddly enough. Pulled out my last spare, an pre-80s unit with a 2-wire ringer, and it was ringing weakly. Moving the bias spring fixed that one. Odd how the newer 2500s won't ring but the older ones will. I do have a lot of jacks, the house is wired with cat5e and the phone jacks are run from two ChannelPlus DMT-24 distribution models. Most all phones have a strong ring but the capper on these 2500s isn't moving at all.
Quote from: Jim S. on October 09, 2010, 06:08:44 PM
Most of the old phones are a pretty simple fix.
Jim
That's one of the things I like about this collecting nitch. 90% of the time it only needs a simple adjustment or moving a wire.
Just like D/P's qoute at the top of the page:
"The phone is a remarkably complex, simple device,
and very rarely ever needs repairs, once you fix them." - Dan/Panther
Jim
Any other ideas? It must be something unique to these 80s 4-wire ringer units. Doesn't seem likely that all three would have a bad ringer coil...
Are you testing them 1 at a time with only the test phone hooked to the line?
Jim
Quote from: Jim S. on October 10, 2010, 03:17:56 PM
Are you testing them 1 at a time with only the test phone hooked to the line?
Jim
Now I am :) Without the other phones connected it rings perfectly. It had occurred to me that it may not be getting enough juice to ring since I have about 13 or 14 phones connected but since the other phones do ring and the clapper on this one and the other two 80s units wasn't moving at all I didn't think it was the most likely reason. Turns out it was. Anyway, I'm glad that it's working correctly. The fact that it doesn't ring with the other phones hooked up does not matter as the rest are loud enough. Thanks for the suggestions.
You need a PBX, they are actually quite fun and come in handy when you're bored and have too much spare time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILUvbF62yB4 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILUvbF62yB4)
Quote from: Brinybay on October 10, 2010, 05:23:11 PM
You need a PBX, they are actually quite fun and come in handy when you're bored and have too much spare time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILUvbF62yB4 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILUvbF62yB4)
Actually I plan to build an Asterisk PBX sometime or another. I got a good deal on a 1u server and it's sitting there waiting until the $550 Digium card trickles to the top of my "stuff I need to buy" list. :)
Quote from: Brinybay on October 10, 2010, 05:23:11 PM
You need a PBX, they are actually quite fun and come in handy when you're bored and have too much spare time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILUvbF62yB4 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILUvbF62yB4)
Some people have absolutely too much fun with their phones. ;D Great show, Maestro!!
Asterisk is very neat and very easy to put together. All you need is an old PC (who doesn't have an old PC laying around?) and a $50 ATA easily obtainable from eBay.
I am happy to help anyone here with their Asterisk system! Check out my Asterisk system's home page, http://www.massapequatelephone.com/ (http://www.massapequatelephone.com/).
-Dave Haber
Massapequa Telephone
Eventually I want to get on c*net.
I have been on this forum for 10-11 months. It has made me start setting up my phone room and revamp my phone shed.
These projects are still going on. I have also dug out my 616's. I don't dare start playing with them yet.
c*net needs to wait awhile.
Jim
Quote from: masstel on October 10, 2010, 06:39:32 PM
Asterisk is very neat and very easy to put together. All you need is an old PC (who doesn't have an old PC laying around?) and a $50 ATA easily obtainable from eBay.
I am happy to help anyone here with their Asterisk system! Check out my Asterisk system's home page, http://www.massapequatelephone.com/ (http://www.massapequatelephone.com/).
-Dave Haber
Massapequa Telephone
Does the configuration I'm planning sound reasonable to you? I currently have two ChannelPlus (DMT-24) 24-port distribution modules. Phone line goes into one, the other is hanging off that one. About 32 cat5e cables going from those two to phone jacks throughout the house. Was planning on putting a Digium AEX411E card in the available server I have and run a cable from the first DMT-24 (the one connected to the telco line) to the FXO port on the Digium, disconnect the second DMT-24 from the first and connect it to the FXS port.
Ultimately what I'm after is to have a couple of analog phones directly connected to the telco so they aren't dependent on the availability of the server or power, etc. (the first DMT-24), the remaining analog phones connected to the Asterisk PBX (the second DMT-24) and then a couple of nice voip smart phones connected to the network.
I'm not sure I'm grasping totally your plan. The ChannelPlus DMT-24's look cool but they're a bit pricy and nothing it seems to me that you couldn't do with a bunch of $1.99 modular wall jacks.
Would you be only running the POTS line through an FXO port on the Asterisk to your stations? Or also do that and connect some phones directly to the POTS line? (Perhaps a drawn map of what you want to do would help explain it.)
I must tell you, I was a "phone man" for several decades, and as such never expected to be in a condition of not having a POTS line hardwired to the PSTN at my residence. But after I started working with Asterisk as my home system and getting outgoing and incoming service from my VoIP provider, I've totally disconnected my POTS line, I've been without it for going on a whole year, and I don't miss it! :-)
Quote from: masstel on October 10, 2010, 08:25:41 PM
I'm not sure I'm grasping totally your plan. The ChannelPlus DMT-24's look cool but they're a bit pricy and nothing it seems to me that you couldn't do with a bunch of $1.99 modular wall jacks.
Would you be only running the POTS line through an FXO port on the Asterisk to your stations? Or also do that and connect some phones directly to the POTS line? (Perhaps a drawn map of what you want to do would help explain it.)
I must tell you, I was a "phone man" for several decades, and as such never expected to be in a condition of not having a POTS line hardwired to the PSTN at my residence. But after I started working with Asterisk as my home system and getting outgoing and incoming service from my VoIP provider, I've totally disconnected my POTS line, I've been without it for going on a whole year, and I don't miss it! :-)
I already have the DMT-24s, the structured wiring people put them in when I built my house. I want the PBX and voip functionality of Asterisk inside the house but I want the reliability of a regular POTS line going out. So - I want to just run the telco line from my current DMT-24 into the Asterisk system. And since I have so many analog phones that I don't want to get rid of, I want to interface them into Asterisk via the second DMT-24. Then if I buy a couple of voip phones I can just connect them to my LAN. Make sense?
Once again, I'm not grasping it, sorry. Either the phones in your local wiring plan are connected to a POTS line, or they're connected to an extension on the Asterisk PBX (which could have been set up to be able to interact with the POTS line). It sounds like you're saying both...
Quote from: masstel on October 10, 2010, 08:36:49 PM
Once again, I'm not grasping it, sorry. Either the phones in your local wiring plan are connected to a POTS line, or they're connected to an extension on the Asterisk PBX (which could have been set up to be able to interact with the POTS line). It sounds like you're saying both...
I want to run the POTS line through the DMT-42 to the Digium Card rather than disconnecting the DMT-42 and running it straight to the Asterisk Digium card. That way I can still have a couple of phones also plugged into the DMT-24 that are independent of Asterisk.
The other DMT-24 I would run to the FXS port on the Digium card. Most of my analog phones would be connected to this DMT-24 which would allow me to control them from Asterisk.
I guess my questions are a) would it work to have the telco line going through the DMT-24 and a line coming out and going into Asterisk to provide telco connectivity and b) can I use the second DMT-24 as a splitter for my analog phones? I don't suppose they would be addressable individually as extensions in that configuration...
Ah, OK, so yes, you want to do both.
I have never personally had a POTS line connected to an FXO port on an Asterisk system AND directly to phones at the same time, but I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work. You would get two unsynchronized rings though, when the POTS line rang, one ring on the POTS phones and a separate ring on the phones ringing through the PBX.
Yes, you could run all the other phones off of one Asterisk extension, but that would be a waste of the PBX. Phones would not be able to call each other, phones would not be able to transfer calls to each other. The whole house could only be on one call at a time. It sort of defeats the purpose of having the PBX.
In my place, I have 5 phones, two extensions in my office, bedroom, kitchen and living room. Calls ring into the phone in my office and I can pick up the call from any extension using the group call pickup code (which I made 11 in my system, for ease of use from rotary phones). I can transfer calls from one extension to another, and I can be on an outside call in my office while a visitor can be on a totally separate outside call in the living room.
Perhaps the only thing cooler than owning vintage phones is the ability to make calls from one of your vintage phones to another! :)
Not only that, but the dial plan in your Asterisk is totally your wish is its command! You want to pick up one of your vintage phones and make another phone ring by dialing your childhood telephone number? You can! It's really cool!
-Dave
Quote from: masstel on October 10, 2010, 09:03:21 PM
Ah, OK, so yes, you want to do both.
I have never personally had a POTS line connected to an FXO port on an Asterisk system AND directly to phones at the same time, but I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work. You would get two unsynchronized rings though, when the POTS line rang, one ring on the POTS phones and a separate ring on the phones ringing through the PBX.
Yes, you could run all the other phones off of one Asterisk extension, but that would be a waste of the PBX. Phones would not be able to call each other, phones would not be able to transfer calls to each other. The whole house could only be on one call at a time. It sort of defeats the purpose of having the PBX.
In my place, I have 5 phones, two extensions in my office, bedroom, kitchen and living room. Calls ring into the phone in my office and I can pick up the call from any extension using the group call pickup code (which I made 11 in my system, for ease of use from rotary phones). I can transfer calls from one extension to another, and I can be on an outside call in my office while a visitor can be on a totally separate outside call in the living room.
Perhaps the only thing cooler than owning vintage phones is the ability to make calls from one of your vintage phones to another! :)
-Dave
As for having some phones and the Asterisk system on the same FXO port, I would figure something out about the ring. Probably just disable the ringer on the phones or put them in a room where they wouldn't be heard in the rest of the house.
Concerning having the other phones connected to one Asterisk extension, yeah, not optimal. But if I want to use the analog phones as individual extensions wouldn't I need some sort of expensive analog multiplexer like an Astribank USB channel bank?
And of course, regardless, I plan to have a couple of voip phones on the LAN that would be individual extensions.
Yes, for multiple Asterisk extensions you could go with an expensive channel bank arrangement. Several C*NETters have gone that route.
It's not necessary, however. Extension ports are about $25.00 each if you get ATAs. They're about $50.00 for ATAs with two FXS ports. I have two of them here, plus a third single FXS port ATA in my living room, for a total of five extensions. Done this way you could at least share multiple groups of phones in the same area having one extension for each group.
Yes, IP phones would also augment the PBX capabilities of having more extensions.
-Dave
Quote from: masstel on October 10, 2010, 10:41:43 PM
Yes, for multiple Asterisk extensions you could go with an expensive channel bank arrangement. Several C*NETters have gone that route.
It's not necessary, however. Extension ports are about $25.00 each if you get ATAs. They're about $50.00 for ATAs with two FXS ports. I have two of them here, plus a third single FXS port ATA in my living room, for a total of five extensions. Done this way you could at least share multiple groups of phones in the same area having one extension for each group.
Yes, IP phones would also augment the PBX capabilities of having more extensions.
-Dave
I've considered ATAs as an option before but was undecided about how to handle the analogue phones. My house is wired for networking and everywhere there is a network jack there is a phone jack, 1 - 3 in each room, plus five walls phones, so I have plenty of available jacks. I've got a couple of modems and a few callerid displays as well as about 13 analogue phones actually plugged in. Some of the phones are more for display (a 1939 model 302 in the front entryway for example) while others are for convenience (bathrooms, garage, kitchen, etc). The only phones that would make sense to have their own extensions would be my office, the guest bedroom and possibly the den. The rest could all be on the same extension. So maybe an ATA would be appropriate for a couple of phones. My office would definitely be a voip multimedia phone. The rest of the phones could go on my DMT-24 connected to the FXS port on the Asterisk server. The modems, callerid units and a couple of emergency phones would be on the other DMT-24 which is connected to the telco. A line out of that one would go to the FXO port on the Asterisk. I originally thought that I would put all the analogue phones on some sort of channel bank and just be done with it but those things are just too expensive, especially for a bunch of phones that don't need their own extensions.
So maybe you've swung me in the ATA direction. Discussing the requirements with somebody helps in visualizing the right hardware configuration. What brand and model are your ATAs? What sort of switch are they connected to? Any auto-negotiation problems?
You can again do both. You can install a couple of ATAs centrally and use your house wiring to connect the phones to them. Then you can also install some ATAs at the phone locations.
That's what I've done, on a smaller scale. I have two two-port ATAs located at my Asterisk switch. The first ATA serves the two extensions that are located in that room, my office. The next ATA is plugged into the house wiring, and my jacks in my bedroom and kitchen have been reconfigured so that one jack works on the first house wire pair and the other jack is connected to the second pair. For my phone in the living room, I simply have no phone jack near it at all. So, I have an ATA installed on my network right at that location that makes that phone work.
The ATAs I use are made by Grandstream, specifically, the Grandstream HT-502. They are small, very easy to configure, and most of all, accept Rotary Dialing, which is rare for ATAs. The HT-502 contains two FXS ports. You can also get an HT-503 which contains one FXS port and one FXO port, that will allow you to cheaply interface your POTS line to your Asterisk system. I own three of these ATAs, and have personally recommended them to two other friends who are now also using them on my system remotely. These are great ATAs and can be found at very good prices on eBay.
If you want a networked IP phone system, the only way to go is Asterisk, it's the best and it's free. You just download it and install it on an old PC that you probably already have in the back of your closet. Once it's up and working it doesn't even need a monitor and keyboard, because for maintenance you log into it remotely on your network. It is designed to do exactly what we're discussing, so it's all automatically compatible.
-Dave
Quote from: Jim Stettler on October 09, 2010, 04:08:50 PMWelcome to the forum jah,
Simple things first.
Try moving the bias spring.
It is that piece of wire that runs next to the clapper. You can shift it's position by the gongs.
Just flip it into the other side of the holder. and then test it again.
Jim
This did it for me!! Helped me fix up an old office phone from my grandfather's accounting firm, now it's ringing strong on an Ooma with two other rotary phones and a Dialgizmo :) Thanks much!!