Just bought my FIRST Candlestick....Need some help!

[Partyline4]

I just bought this Western Electric Candlestick at a junk shop for $55. That includes the ringer box, and the battery box. I thought it was a pretty good deal for something almost 100 years old... The unit is very heavy and solid..The transmitter looks good as well as the receiver.

Anyways, I hooked up the candlestick's 3 wires to my old 302, and the receiver works great, but I can barely be heard from the transmitter when calling across town. I am wondering if there is something wrong with the transmitter, I've had it apart, and everything looks good.  Maybe a high resistance model?

My main curiosity is how to make it where I can be heard normally. I don't plan on doing any restoration work to it for a while. I love the way it looks sitting on my desk, frayed wires and all.

I have included various pictures of what I have, and hope they aid in this phone's decryption.

Thanks a lot.

[TelePlay]

Anyways, I hooked up the candlestick's 3 wires to my old 302, and the receiver works great, but I can barely be heard from the transmitter when calling across town.

Nice find well worth the money.

How or where exactly did you hook it up to your 302?

[Partyline4]

I just corresponded the colors with the 302's leads. Red to red, green to green...etc.

This is of course for the handset wires. The 302 only has three leads, just as this candelstick does.

Maybe I have something hooked up incorrectly?

Should this transmitter work with the 302 network?

[poplar1]

Are you connecting the red and green from the phone to L1 and L2-Y in the 302, and the yellow to GND? If so, you are connecting only the receiver, and connecting it directly to the outside line. The transmitter won't work at all since it is not connected.

While the phone is not really compatible with the 302 base, you might start by connecting the red wire to R on the induction coil, the green wire to GN on the induction coil and the yellow wire to L2-Y on the induction coil. This is still not the complete circuit but is better than trying to connect the candlestick directly to L1 and L2-Y.

[Partyline4]

POPLAR1 That seems to have done the trick! Got some good sidetone and hoping I can be heard on this call to grandad!

Thanks!

[Partyline4]

Wait a minute.....I just took the transmitter apart, rattled it around and yelled into it, hooked it up the way a normal 302 is hooked up, and I now get really good sidetone....Maybe the transmitter was stuck or something??

[poplar1]

In a "normal" 302, the receiver (white) is connected to GN, the transmitter (black) is connected to BK on the dial (which connects to L2-Y when the phone is off-hook), and the common transmitter/receiver wire (red) is connected to R on the induction coil. Is that what you mean by normal?

[TelePlay]

Wait a minute.....I just took the transmitter apart, rattled it around and yelled into it, hooked it up the way a normal 302 is hooked up, and I now get really good sidetone....Maybe the transmitter was stuck or something??

It is the case that the carbon granules within the transmitter can become clumped together and tapping the element gently can break up these chunks providing better response. This is the case with all carbon capsule transmitters but the newer ones seem less likely to clump.

There is a topic somewhere on the forum as to how to break up the clumping short of removing the cap, which you really don't want to do for a few reasons.

===================

Here are one:

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=8908.0

T1 and newer have the crimped carbon capsule; stick transmitters granules are held in place by thin mica sheets which can be replaced but not easily without a lot of experience.