AE Starlite does not ring

[Willytx]

My black Starlite (Darkstar) doesn't ring. I don't think it is the ringer itself, on the base it is stamped ...121 MSL. The first of the numbers are covered by a sticker. But I assume the SL is for straight line ringer. Inside, there is one wire disconnected and has the end covered with masking tape. Quality.

The disconnected wire is the blue one marked with an arrow.
It is a different wire than the one coming from the dial. This wire looks more green in reality than in the photo, and I do think it comes from the ringer. Not that it is easy to see through that tangle of wires. So just where does it go?

BTW, this Starlite doesn't light up, and never did. Was there a kit for converting this?

[stub]

Willytx ,
           No kit for the light. Move your capacitor over and see what network you have, mine is a WA 1154A and is wired like this- line in  L1 - 10     L2 - 8
                                               Ringer - Red to  9 and green to 10  blue and black -not used
                                               Capacitor- one side to 9 the other side to 8
Hope this helps!  192 is the wall version, yours is a 182 desk set.           click on picture to enlarge if needed.    stub

[Willytx]

Thanks for the info. Mine must be the alternate dimension model. Oy, what a tangled mess. The network is the same as yours, WA1154A.

Let's see, The capacitor is hooked to terminals 16 and 8. The green ringer wire is on 16, the red is on 10. That is the blue wire from the ringer with the masking tape on it. And, under the capacitor was the black ringer wire, the spade lug nicely insulated with scotch tape. 

It is a bit late for major surgery but I know what I will be doing in the morning.
Thanks again.

[Willytx]

Here's a shot of it.

[stub]

Willytx ,
             You can remove the line-in black and yellow, not used any more.   stub

[Willytx]

It rings! Thanks for the help.

I rewired it all the way your phone is. How it all got discombobulated is anyone's guess. The black and yellow wires are safely insulated and tucked away. I will find a nice round black line cord to go with the phone.

This would have been reported yesterday but my internet connection tanked. Virgin Mobile is doing what it can to drive away us Unlimited* customers. But I digress.....

*(Unlimited is no longer truly unlimited, now 5GB per month limit)

[stub]

Willytx,
           That's great. These old phones get alot of help in their wiring before we get them 
            I sent you a PM as you were posting. Glad to help.
            You know , there is no known cure for this phone collecting bug going around     stub

[Willytx]

It amazes me that the phone still worked, even with all the wiring rearranged. At some point, you'd think the phone would explode on an incoming call.

Is there a different model number for this phone/network/no light rotary? The TCI page doesn't have a wiring diagram for this one.

Thanks again for the help. now the phone goes back to its spot next to the metal clarinet lamp. The best use for a metal clarinet is a lamp.

[AE_Collector]

Willytx:

Your Starlite was originally set up to have illuminated dial as you can see that it has the 4 screws along one side of the baseplate. These were used as bunching points to connect the AC coming into the phone to the dial illumination wires. Notice that in stubs picture the base has the places for the screw terminals but the actual screws are not there.

However your phone has the non illuminating dial. Maybe it was swapped out at some time. You can easily tell a non illuminating dial by the absense of two extra black leads on the back OR just look at the number plate. If the letters are BELOW the number rather than ABOVE the number (like normal) then it is a non illuminating Starlite dial. I bet you hadn't noticed the odd number/letter configuration on your Starlite until I mentioned it!

Terry

[Dennis Markham]

Terry, do some of the Starlites illuminate the dial using a transformer, similar to the Princess phones and then some of them had the A/C power cord?  I have a couple of Starlites with the letters ABOVE the number so I'm assuming with a transformer those will illuminate (since they don't have the A/C power cord)? 

I also notice that some of the earlier Starlites have two plungers where later ones have just one.

[stub]

Dennis Markham,
                        Those with the AC cord on them use two 27 K ohm resistors in each line of the cord and a  0to 2 meg. ohm variable pot. to adjust the brightness. The others use a current limiting resistor plug , fused ( two 47 k ohm resistors and 1 amp fuse in each side of the plug.
                        If you have some that won't light up they can be repaire if not broken into.  stub                           
                               http://tinyurl.com/3u6zczr

[AE_Collector]

Hi Dennis:

Starlites always used 110VAC to illuminate so they didn't need a transformer. The first version had the AC power cord right into the base but very shortly after that they redesigned them so that the AC went into the base through a 4th and 5th conductor (Black & Blue) in the set cord. The reason was that they moved the current limiting resistors out of the base of the phone and into a little rectangular AC plug that plugged into the AC outlet. Then lamp cord took the AC from the current limiting plug to the set block wehre it connected to the black and blue set cord conductors.

This made it so the AC going to the phone was "current limited" (5 MA or so max - IE not quite enough to KILL you) rather than having full current available into the phone and limiting it inside the phone. That (original set up didn't so much good when you dropped the phone into the bathtub while taking a bath.

The best thing to do is check for normal numbers/letters AND notice that it has a clear plastic number plate that is back painted with either silver or gold paint. If so open it up and see that it has 2 additional black leads (think they were always black) coming off of the dial to those screw terminals down one side of the base. Finally it needs the black and blue set cord leads out to the current limited plug. No reason OTHER THAN SAFETY that you can't hook it straight to AC power to test it at least.

There was always a NON ILLUMINATING version of the SAtarlite available even when most models did illuminate but they weren't very common until the eventually did away with illumination completely.

A starlite with a single plunger (one side only) is too new to have ever had an illuminating dial. Thes 182's (Starlite desk) are pretty much the equivilent of the 80E phones (quality wise).

Terry

[Adam]

Hey, Terry, thanks for explaining the Starlite AC details.  Being a Western Electric guy, I never had a complete understanding of the different variations.

[stub]

Terry,
        Thanks for the numbers thing . I would have never noticed.
         BTW all of your AE Electroluminescent Dial Lights get repaired, on the house.  stub

[Dennis Markham]

Thank you Terry & Stub for the information.  I have gathered six or seven of these Starlites and never paid much attention to the details.  The only one (of mine) that I've see light up is the one I have with the AC cord.  I'll have to investigate a little closer.  I don't even think I've connected them all to the phone line to test them.