ringer booster

[princessphone]

Can someone tell me something about ringer boosters.
I have about 6 ringing Princesses and thinking of adding a couple more. With 6, the ringing is starting to sound a bit strained.
There' s a couple of boosters on the market (Viking RG-10A) and Sandman Booster II). These are described as voltage boosters. I would have assumed that they would be called current boosters, and I think that is what I need.
When the lights started to dim on my Princesses, the problem was solved (with members help) by means of a transformer (Edwards 598) with a higher amp rating. Although a home-run power line to each phone was required.
I'm a bit skeptical about boosting the voltage. Is it perhaps that the voltage drops too much because of all the extra loads? Are they assuming with extra phones there's probably extra length of wiring, thus more voltage drop? What would happen if some of the phones were taken out of service? Would the voltage surge up and perhaps cause some damage?
Has someone had any experience with boosters?

Something else,
Had this 702B which didn't ring. The forum ("princess phone not ringing") solved the problem. It was an open coil on ringer. I replaced the ringer, works OK but it sounds a bit off. Is there a special way of mounting the gong? I read that it is eccentric but it doesn't look it.
Any comments would much appreciated. John DeJonge 


   

[TelePlay]

Did you read through this topic? It may help or others may just offer suggestions here.

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=219.0

[twocvbloke]

Is there a special way of mounting the gong? I read that it is eccentric but it doesn't look it.

The eccentric offset is only slight, as it doesn't take much to set the gap between the clapper and the gong to the right spacing...

What I do with my ringers (bar the cheap chinese things or the Cortelco-type ball-bearing chucker ringers) is to loosen the gong screw slightly, push the clapper over to the gong that needs adjustment, and then turn the gong until there's about a millimetre (not sure what that is in old money) of an air gap, that usually works well for me, the gap is essential to allow the clapper to strike the gong but not stay in contact with it for too long thus making it clattery and muted, or for the gong to be too far away so that the clapper just barely tickles it and sounds weak, you want it to be just in-between for it to sound nice...

Just takes a little tweaking, you'll get there I'm sure, just remember to tighten up the screw at the end though...

[paul-f]

We solved the REN issue here by mounting one WE 592 ringer on the wall of the cellar stairway and disconnecting (or turning off) the ringers on all the active phones.  (Anything with an electronic ringer gets immediately disabled.)

The sound travels nicely up to the second floor through the air space in the wall and can be heard everywhere in the house.  Simply find and pick up the nearest phone.  They're easy to spot in the kitchen, living room, family room, master bedroom, office, shop and garage.

The only issue is when you (or an unsuspecting guest) happens to be going up the steps when the phone rings -- about a foot from your ear.

For demos or testing, I can hook up lots of phones to telephone line simulators one of two Panasonic 61610s or a small 1A2 system.

[dsk]

At our cabin, I have used a gsm adapter and a dialgizmo to get my rotary connected to the world.  The ringing was not enough to 2 ringers, at least not loud enough, so I wired for grounded ringing, added a relay and capacitor to turn on the ringer generator: http://tinyurl.com/o94jnyc
and now everything is just fine!

dsk

[princessphone]

Thanks twocvbloke, Got the ringer/gong adjusted and now she sounds just fine.

Re: booster. Emailed the Viking RG-10A company for info, but no response yet. Called the Sandman BoosterII company. Got a lot of tech talk which was over my head but assured me that their unit would not over boost the voltage. I think he said the max was 85-90 volts.
Eventually I'll probably buy one and keep you posted with results.
Thank you all for your responses. John DeJonge 

[poplar1]

You might also condider a hybrid key system such as the Panasonic 616 or 61610. For about the same price (or less?), you'll have more than just a ring booster, and it will easily ring at least 16 single line phones. You'll also be able to call from one phone to another, answer an outside call from any phone and dial 9 for an outside ine.

One word of caution for anyone connecting Princess phones or phones such as 500M or 500MM: you should connect only one pair of wires from the Panasonic to each single line phone. In other words, don't plug a Princess or old Trimline with incandescent lamp directly to a station port of the 616/61610.

[TelePlay]

. . . don't plug a Princess or old Trimline with incandescent lamp directly to a station port of the 616/61610.

Please explain further, why, why not and if possible how to correctly install a phone with a lamp on a 616.

[poplar1]

The second pair (outside pins in the jack on the face of the Panasonic) is a data pair, necessary only when using a multi-line Panasonic phone. If you connect a Princess directly to this jack--unless you use a 2-conductor line cord or remove the lamp in the Princess--you will be shorting out this pair--probably not a good idea.

The way to get around this is to connect the Princess to a separate jack or connecting block, and use this jack/block as a junction box. From the junction, run only one pair (red and green--tip and ring) to the Panasonic. Connect your transformer to the other two terminals in the junction box. Then connect the black and white wires (from a hardwired 702 or 2702 Princess) or the black and yellow wires (from a hardwired 701B or a modular 702 or 2702) to the terminals with the transformer.

That way, only one pair (tip and ring)of the phone is connected to the Panasonic Key System, and the other pair is connected to the transformer for the dial/night-light.

. . . don't plug a Princess or old Trimline with incandescent lamp directly to a station port of the 616/61610.

Please explain further, why, why not and if possible how to correctly install a phone with a lamp on a 616.

[TelePlay]

Thanks, poplar1. Very understandable and good information for anyone wanting to do this.

[princessphone]

Like to share response from the Viking  company:
John,
As stated in the RG-10A Technical Practice, it "boosts ringing power", and does so by having additional current driving capabilities, so it does exactly what you're thinking it needs to do. The maximum ringing voltage the RG-10A outputs is about 90VAC when ringing only one phone, which is no higher than a typical phone line provides when ringing one phone. The difference is, when many phones are added, since the RG-10A has more current drive, it will not lose as much ringing voltage as a typical phone line, so it takes more phones before the ringing starts to sounds weak.
The RG-10A will not pass internet data through it, so it will have to be added after the modem, and have a filter in front of it.
Thank you. Mike Busby, Product Specialist Viking Electronics, inc 1531 Industrial St Hudson,WI 54016

From the specs,  the Viking company duplicates the voltage in "saw-tooth ring waves" whereas the Sandman Booster company promotes their duplication as true "sine waves" as does the phone company, to better recognize the "signals" in the transmission.
Can anyone tell me if the wave of AC voltage ( square, sine, or sawtooth) will make a difference in the ringer sound?

Procured a couple more Princesses. Do you think Dennis will allow me to change my handle to " Lord of the Rings"? 

   

[Scotophor]

Obviously the waveform of the ringing signal can not affect the tone of the sound made by the gong when struck by the clapper, but it may have some effect on the speed and rhythm at which the clapper oscillates. For example, a square-wave signal might make the clapper move quicker and thus strike the gong harder (making the ringing louder). It might also cause the clapper armature to spend more time at rest at each end of its oscillation. A ringer that has a clapper which hangs loosely on the armature might thus strike each gong more than once with each oscillation, giving more of a "buzzy" sound than a clean ringing. But that should be able to be adjusted out by moving the gongs farther from the clapper. So at worst, a different ringing waveform might make you want to do some minor adjustment to your ringers, and may somewhat change the non-bell "mechanical" undertone of the ring, which probably nobody but you is going to notice, and even then only if you're very close to the phone when it rings.

[princessphone]

Thanks Scotophor,
I would think that the real issue would be how well my phone system recognizes the  add-on features (call waiting, call display, etc) in the way the current is delivered. I hope what I just wrote makes sense.
Anyway, I just bought a Viking RG-10 on EBay for $125.00 with free shipping, and I'll keep everyone posted.
John DeJonge   

[princessphone]

As promised here's a follow up on the ring booster.
The Viking RG-10A arrived and was installed in no time. I just plugged it in, in front of my Leviton Expansion Board. I'm very pleased how well it works. I have 9 ringing Princesses hooked up ( plus a couple non ringing Princesses) and a modern ringing phone as well. All the bells ring with a good robust sound. All the features that we have (call waiting, caller ID, long distance indicator (double ring) etc, function properly.
I called a technician at Viking to explain the functions of the 2 LED indicator lights on the unit. The "POWER" LED is on when it is plugged in and this same LED flashes rapidly when someone calls and the phone(s) are ringing. The "LOOP" LED comes on when a handset is off-hook.
When the electricity power (we call it hydro) is off/out,  the phones will still work in a normal way.
Tim, the Viking technician (worked there 23 years) mentioned that if one of the phones is not operating well or has a faulty ringer, the RG-10A may wrongly assume/sense that someone has picked up that phone and as a result the phones will/may not ring.
The instruction/specification brochure is dated Dec 21, 2006, so these units must have been around for a while.
Lord of the Rings   
 

[mariepr]

Does anyone have experience with the earlier Viking RG-4 booster?  It's about half the price of the RG-10 and gives an equivalent of 4 REN compared to 12 REN on the larger unit.  Much smaller in physical size too.  The specs however state that it's not rotary compatible - odd when the phone and line connections are screw terminals.   Don't quite understand how a phone dials out would affect the incoming ring signal.  Any thoughts from the technocrats here?

https://www.vikingelectronics.com/products/pdf/rg-4.pdf
https://www.vikingelectronics.com/products/pdf/rg-10a.pdf