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Hooking up two phones ... bad transmitter ...help ?????

Started by xtal_01, March 09, 2019, 12:08:09 AM

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xtal_01

OK ... trying to hook two of these phones together ... a Federal (1920's) and a Leich 1929

They ring each other great.

I had to put new receiver cords on both.

The Leich had a damaged receiver.  I got another one from Mary at Phoneco.

I put some C and D batteries into them (I guessed at 3 volts )???

I get "some" sound out of each.

I can hear sound in the Federals receiver when talking into the Leich ... sound quality is very very bad.

I can not hear sound from the Leich when talking into the Federal.  I can here a "scrapping" noise when I run my finger on the Federal transmitter.

This makes me think the Federal transmitter might be bad .... and the Leich not much better.

Can these be fixed or replaced or ?????

I am not expecting much but I would think these phones must have worked ... you must have been able to make out the person on the other end or why have a phone.  I really can't make out speech on either.

Any thoughts or ideas?

Thanks .... Mike

RB

Hi Mike.
I don't know much about those transmitters.
But if you take a paper clip, and short the transmitter briefly,
you shud hear a loud click or pop in the rec.
the xmitter in my candle was shot, the mica breaks, and the carbon falls out.

xtal_01

Omg !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The things you don't think about.  Rick just sent me an e-mail.  He asked: "while talking on the phones are they laying on their back or standing up ...."  He explained the carbon had to "fall" between the plates.

Sooooooo, I screwed the to a piece of wood and stood them up ...

AMAZING!!!!!!!

They work great!  You definitely need to talk directly into the mouth piece (I have never touched a candle stick phone but I am guessing they are the same) but it is clear as a bell on the receiver!

Thanks so much to Rick and to very one who helped out !!!!!!!!!!!

A good clean up .... make some repro #6 batteries with labels from the late 20's or early 30's and they should be ready to display.

Mike


xtal_01

Last night I worked till 3 in the morning trying to get these two old magneto phones to work.  They would ring each other but no sound ... just static.  I changed out the Leich receiver (had to use the insides of mine but my shell and cap was cracked ... got a original Leich shell and some new cords from Phoneco).  I was just baffled ... I checked every wire ... thought maybe the transmitters were dead.

Omg !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The things you don't think about.  Rick just sent me an e-mail.  He asked: "while talking on the phones are they laying on their back or standing up ...."  He explained the carbon had to "fall" between the plates.

Sooooooo, I screwed the to a piece of wood and stood them up ...

AMAZING!!!!!!!

They work great!  You definitely need to talk directly into the mouth piece (I have never touched a candle stick phone but I am guessing they are the same) but it is clear as a bell on the receiver!

Thanks so much to Rick and to very one who helped out !!!!!!!!!!!

A good clean up .... make some repro #6 batteries with labels from the late 20's or early 30's and they should be ready to display.

Mike

xtal_01

I just realized ... it's my phones birthday!

As most of you read, Rick told me to  stand up my phones and tonight I got old magneto phones working!

I was just looking at the tag and realized the Leich was made on March 9, 1929 !!!!!!!!!

It is serendipitous that it came back to life 90 years from the date it was built!

Mike

shadow67

That is awesome. Glad you got them working. I love my magneto phones.

HarrySmith

CONGRATS! It is always great to finally get them working. It is usually a simple thing we overlook. I also learned something today, I did not know about standing them up.
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

tubaman

Great result!
The upright bit is not something I would have thought of either, but now its been stated it makes perfect sense.
:)

xtal_01

So, my last quest (for the moment) ... batteries.

I did find some reproduction #6 batteries out here but fairly expensive ... I would like to make my own. 

I did find a few battery labels are "free" to download.

I found a site where you can buy them ... but I would rather not pay if I don't have to (I think he is selling them for $28 for two labels ... he had lots of chooses).

Does anyone have any old battery labels they want to share?

As I said, I have searched the web and found a few ... for example, I have one of the "WE Blue Bell" labels but there is at least 5 versions available.  If possible, I would like to find some from the late 20's - early 30's to match the phones.

Thanks .... Mike

dsk

#9
I made battery replicas of plastic tubing (roof downpipes??) some old screw terminals and self-made Scandinavian labels.  I do not have any backup on those labels, they are on photobucket, and photobucket does not come up now  >:(

Here are 3 links, I hope it works:

https://goo.gl/8J92jM

https://goo.gl/kHfeLx

And one USA made:

https://goo.gl/YrJTqm

dsk

HowardPgh

Those old "solid back" transmitters only work when they are in the vertical position. Sometimes when they are laying around, the carbon granules settle into a clump and render the transmitter insensitive. Take the transmitter unit out of its mount and tap it on its edge on a table in several points around its circumference, that should loosen up the carbon and restore the sensitivity. If you look at really old handsets the transmitter is held vertical when in use and has a horn to direct the the sound to it. Ie: Erricson and Kellogg Grabaphones.
Howard

MagnetoDave

Quote from: xtal_01 on March 09, 2019, 12:08:09 AM
I put some C and D batteries into them (I guessed at 3 volts )???
I see you are using only two cells in parallel. For more talking power, try using more cells wired in series-parallel.

Right now I'm using 4 D cells, wired series parallel (3v total), but people on the other end say that my voice is not so loud when I'm talking. I can shout to compensate, but I'd rather not. So instead I'm planning on expanding the battery power to 4.5 volts, using 6 batteries total, wired in series-parallel.

dsk

By my experience the modern AA batteries has enough juice to not need any parallell for transmitter power, the most common are 2 in series, but some phones needs 3.  If you have an meter where you may read milliamps, you may put that in series, and adjust voltage up to sending a current of 20 to 30 mA. (not more).

Of course the smaller batteries does not last as long as the bigger, but still surprisingly long time. 

dsk

dsk

#13
The last batteries I can remember when we still  had magneto service looked like those in this ad:

https://goo.gl/BSSm4v  (link will die when ad become inactive)

dsk

dsk

You may find more pictures here: https://www.europeana.eu/portal/no/record/2022608/TELE_TELE_TKU_3708.html
(scroll down on the page)  And even more here: https://goo.gl/W8qwCB
dsk