I need suggestions for an ATA that *ACTUALLY* provides high-power ringing

[Dr Neon]

Good day everyone!

I have found myself backed in to an absolute pickle of a situation, and I am hopeful that a member here may have found themselves in a similar situation before and can lend some advice.

I am trying to set up a modern Cortelco 250000-VBA-27M (Made in USA version with NEON message waiting indicator) for use with VOIP.

Here is my conundrum:

The first ATA I attempted to use was a Cisco SPA122. This provided a lackluster ring from the ringing mechanism, but it did ring, and the neon VMWI lit up during ringing. This would have been "okaaaay" with me, except for the fact that the Cisco SPA122 does not support NEON voice mail waiting indicators, which entirely defeats the purpose of having the voice mail waiting indicator.

The second ATA I attempted to use was a Grandstream HT801. This flipped my problem completely around; the neon VMWI does NOT light up as expected for ringing but does when I have a voicemail. Worse, the ringer itself does not ring at all, only buzzes. I made sure to enable "High Power Ringing", but it made no difference at all. I also hooked up a modern 250012-VBA-20M (same phone, but blue and no VMWI) to try that, and it gave such a weak ring that I'd struggle to hear it even being in the same room.

So it seems that these modern Cortelco phones, at least the ones made in the USA, require ACTUAL high power ringing voltage/current, and neither of these two ATA devices are able to quite make the cut.

This is where I hope someone can help suggest a new ATA device for me to use, my requirements are as follows:

1. Support actual high-power ringing so that I can ring these modern Cortelco phones

2. Support NEON voice mail waiting indicators so that I can actually use that feature of the phone

This seems to be a hard combination to find so far, but I hope one of you can help!

Thank you!

[dsk]

It that ringer, the kind with a steel ball moving between the gongs, or with a clapper?

[5415551212]

I am not too familiar with visual message waiting indication (VMWI) however
the Cortelco manual says

"Message Waiting Lamp – The 57MD and 27MD versions phones
have a 90V neon message waiting lamp. This will provide
message indication on systems equipped for 90V signaling."

It does indeed appear the Cisco only supports 24-48 volt lamps:
https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/ios/voice/fxs/configuration/guide/15_1/fxs_15_1_cg_book/fxsdcvmwi.html

[5415551212]

You might look into a ring booster;
https://vikingelectronics.com/products/rg-10a/

[Dr Neon]

It that ringer, the kind with a steel ball moving between the gongs, or with a clapper?

It uses the modern steel ball mechanism, so unfortunately no bias spring to adjust.

You might look into a ring booster;
https://vikingelectronics.com/products/rg-10a/

I've seen those, and although it may solve the problem, I'd prefer to just purchase an ATA that does the job correctly in the first place rather than have to assemble a conga-line of assorted boxes just to make a phone ring. They're also a pretty penny, around $150 each.

[HarrySmith]

Those ball bearing ringers are known to fail. I have had several that did. Out of maybe 8 I had one that actually worked. Before you condemn your ATA I would test it with a regular dual gong ringer.

[TelePlay]

Those ball bearing ringers are known to fail.

Can you post a picture of one?

[HarrySmith]

There are a couple of pictures in my 3554 topic here:

https://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=28102.msg269729#msg269729

[TelePlay]

This one? Can't see the clapper. How does it work, hit the gongs?

[HarrySmith]

The ball bearing (circled in blue) in the center goes back & forth to hit the gongs.

[TelePlay]

The ball bearing (circled in blue) in the center goes back & forth to hit the gongs.

So what's holding the ball bearing off of the surfaces? Or is it free floating and if free floating, is it just a dirty ball bearing, a ball bearing with a flat side, crud on the plastic holding it in place, a bad magnet?

I've never seen one of these but seems susceptible to mechanical failure.

[Dr Neon]

Those ball bearing ringers are known to fail. I have had several that did. Out of maybe 8 I had one that actually worked. Before you condemn your ATA I would test it with a regular dual gong ringer.

Are they known to be faulty right out of the box? This is a new production phone, purchased directly from a Cortelco distributor. The manufacturing date on this one is 7/23. I had one other, now on the way back to the distributor, that had similar (slightly worse) behavior and a similar date.

So what's holding the ball bearing off of the surfaces? Or is it free floating and if free floating, is it just a dirty ball bearing, a ball bearing with a flat side, crud on the plastic holding it in place, a bad magnet?

I've never seen one of these but seems susceptible to mechanical failure.

The ceramic magnet holds the ball stationary between the bells at rest, and then as best as I can tell the oscillating magnetic field of the coil with ringing voltage applied should induce enough motion in the ball to overcome the force of the magnet and cause it to bounce off of each of the bells. The plastic volume knob introduces a small shim of plastic against one of the bells to lessen the impact of the ball bearing against one of the bells. The shim is in the shape of a long triangle, with more plastic blocking the ball bearing the further the knob is turned to the quiet position. Since the phone is brand new, I don't think it should be dirty (and it doesn't appear to be dirty).

[HarrySmith]

I never bothered to look into one. I just replaced them with regular dual gong ringers. I cannot tell you how they are supposed to work or what the failures are.

[5415551212]

Are they known to be faulty right out of the box? This is a new production phone, purchased directly from a Cortelco distributor. The manufacturing date on this one is 7/23. I had one other, now on the way back to the distributor, that had similar (slightly worse) behavior and a similar date.

Just curious what are you using these new phones for? An office or hotel or something?

[Dr Neon]

Just curious what are you using these new phones for? An office or hotel or something?

Just for use as my home phone. The MWI is a really nice feature to have to know when someone has left a voicemail for me on my virtual mailbox.