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Voice over Internet Protocol (VoiP) phone service and pulse dialing

Started by Konrad, January 07, 2009, 12:48:00 PM

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Marcelo L.

Quote from: Phonesrfun on November 08, 2011, 11:38:31 PM
Quote from: Marcelo L. on November 08, 2011, 08:49:10 PM
Thanks very much! Do you need any pictures to use as a reference?

It would help.  You took a couple early on in this thread, but if you can do a couple more, the more detail the better.  Kellogg ringers are pretty commonplace, so I am expecting that I can find something for you.

Hope this helps!  :)









Phonesrfun

-Bill G

Bill

Marcelo -

Sorry that a new screw wasn't the right answer. Rather than discarding it, if this were my unit I would simply drill and tap it to a standard 4-40 thread, and go from there. Authenticity is lost, but I'm not sure anyone would care about such a minor item.

Good luck.

Bill

Phonesrfun

Before drilling and tapping, please wait until I have a chance to check for a screw tonight.  I'll check back at about 8pm pacific time tonight.
-Bill G

Marcelo L.

Bill, thanks for the suggestion. I'm going to hold off until I hear back from Bill G.

Quote from: Bill on November 09, 2011, 12:29:42 PM
Marcelo -

Sorry that a new screw wasn't the right answer. Rather than discarding it, if this were my unit I would simply drill and tap it to a standard 4-40 thread, and go from there. Authenticity is lost, but I'm not sure anyone would care about such a minor item.

Good luck.

Bill

Marcelo L.

Quote from: Phonesrfun on November 09, 2011, 02:06:15 PM
Before drilling and tapping, please wait until I have a chance to check for a screw tonight.  I'll check back at about 8pm pacific time tonight.

Bill, I'll wait to do anything before I hear back from you tonight. Thanks

Phonesrfun

Marcelo:

I found a Kellogg ringer and it works.  the clapper moves freely and the pivot screw and the locking nut are intact.  A little dirty (Barn fresh, as they say), although this has been in the guys cabinet in his basement for a while.

Here are some pictures.  I will PM you with some more particulars.  The PM does not have a way of posting pictures that I am aware of.

-Bill G

Marcelo L.


Marcelo L.

Bill, I just checked my mail box and wouldn't you know it; the ringer was sitting there waiting for me.  ;D

Just two days from WA to NY!!! :)

I gotta get dinner started but afterwords I'm going to play with the ringer and see if I can't get it ringing right.

Thanks again!


Phonesrfun

-Bill G

Marcelo L.

Quote from: Phonesrfun on November 12, 2011, 09:15:57 PM
Wow, Sometimes the USPS really surprises me!



UPDATE: I just installed the pivot screw from the ringer you sent me, adjusted the bells a bit and she rings beautifully now!  :)

I'll post a video in a bit.

Thanks again!


Marcelo L.

Here's a video clip of the repaired ringer. Sorry for the poor sound quality, you will need to turn up your computer speakers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNTpTO6T2_o&feature=feedu

I'm definitely happy with how it sounds now. The clapper consistently slaps both bells and the sound is even   and stronger than before. It's still quieter than it would be on a POTS line, but a big improvement overall once that pivot screw was installed.

Phonesrfun

It actually sounds real good to me, but it is hard to judge when I'm not there in the room.

Adding Capacitance in parallel for that age of ringer might help.  The value of the capacitor on the yellow and slate leads of the 195A capacitor can from a 302 is 1/2 mF.  This is wired in series with the ringer.  If you were to put another 1/2 mF capacitor rated at 250 volts across the existing capacitor (in parallel with), the total capacitance will double to be 1mF.  The low resistance ringer coils from the old phones work better with the higher capacitance capacitors.

However, by increasing the capacitance, you will increase the ringer equivalance of that ringer (REN).  Depending on how many other phones you have on your Vonage ATA, that dould drag down the total ringing and other phones on the line may not ring as loudly.

Legacy central offices from the phone company would allow a total REN of 5.  A standard Western Electric 500 has a REN of 1.0  The ringer you currently have as it is currently configured is probably 1.5 or higher.  By putting extra capacitance in parallel, it may make the ringer coils more responsive, but probably would make the REN value of that ringer go over a 2.0.

I do not know what the output of a Vonage ATA is when it comes to ringing oomph.  maybe it's 5.  I just don't know.  It may bear some experimentation to see.

-Bill G

Marcelo L.

Bill,

I was originally looking at something like this:

Viking RG-10A Ring Booster
http://www.vikingelectronics.com/products/view_product.php?pid=219

Would something like that work?

The volume output I'm getting right now really isn't bad and I could definitely live with it since I added that pivot screw, but it would be nice to get it to ring at full strength.

To answer your question; I have two phones hooked up to my Vonage service. The first phone is my Panasonic Cordless (which has the ringer turned off) that is used solely for it's caller ID, cordless capability and answering machine.  The second phone is the 202 with the Kellogg subset; this is the only phone that rings in my house.  

Phonesrfun

I really don't think you will gain anything from buying a booster since you are not loading the line down with lots of phones.  That booster is made to be used where you need many (more than 5) phones to ring at al time on a regular line.  the Vonage ATA should be capable of handling your load just fine.

I think the problem is in the ringer itself.  All ringers are not the same.  Your ringer is a low resistance non-biased ringer that came from a magneto set which used a local battery circuit and a magneto to ring.  Modern ringers are higher in impedance, and biasing helps them be louder too.  A biased ringer is one that has a mechanical tensioning spring that holds the armature and clapper slightly to one side.  Not only does biasing help the ringing process a bit on a common battery circuit, but it helps to avoid bell tinkle while dialing.

You have done a great job of converting the subset from a magneto configuration to a common battery more modern subset.  The style of that particular ringer is just such that you can only get so much out of it.

I would try doubling the capacitance before doing anything else.  If you do try the booster, I would make sure I could return it if it doesn't work out.

Another thing you could do to make sure the problem is not in the power output from the Vonage ATA is to take your phone, subset and all, and go to a friend's house who has a standard phone company provided POTS line and see how it behaves that way.

By the way, I have several phones connected to my Vonage ATA and I have no problem with any ringing at all.
-Bill G