rotary dial phone

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › rotary dial phone

gumboot19

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#205101 29-Oct-2016 18:41

hi . so iv just purchased an old rotary dial phone . it had been rewired with modern day plug . at the antique shop where purchased they plugged it in and it worked . rings out recieved call and rang . now where home it rings out and can recieve a call however it will not sound the ring ring ?
any ideas ? the phone jack on wall only has 2 out of 4 wires connected ..........
any ideas ?

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#1660591 29-Oct-2016 18:49

I have also tried with and without a dsl filter ........

tardtasticx

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#1660634 29-Oct-2016 19:36

Try it at another house maybe? My first thought is that your jack hasn't been wired completely perhaps and isn't providing enough power for the bells to ring.

sbiddle

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#1660640 29-Oct-2016 19:46

A rotary dial won't work on a 2 wire circuit.

gumboot19

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#1660646 29-Oct-2016 20:00

thats what i was thinking . but how do you make your phone jack compatible for 4 wires ???

toejam316

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#1660649 29-Oct-2016 20:03

I believe you just need a ringing adapter - I have no idea where you'd get one from off hand, although I know some of the field techs carry them in their vans.

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richms

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#1660651 29-Oct-2016 20:08

Find an old socket with the capacitor in it. Either a master or an old 2 wire one.

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froob

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#1660655 29-Oct-2016 20:17

What sort of phone socket do you have it plugged into?

I have an old rotary dial phone plugged in at home. It needs a socket with a ringing capacitor in it to make the bells ring, which may be your issue.

My house is wired with structured data cabling, so I use an RJ45 "master socket adapter" which serves this purpose. It also works on an old Telecom "2-wire" phone jack, which has a ringing capacitor on a third pin. Newer phone jacks labelled "2C" don't have the capacitor and work ring the bells.

Edit: Others beat me to it...

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gumboot19

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#1660658 29-Oct-2016 20:21

ok . so i pulled jack cover off wall . has 4 wires but only 2 are used . so what do i need ??
a differnt phone jack and were in business ?

gumboot19

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#1660659 29-Oct-2016 20:22

yes it is a 2C on my wall ..

Bung

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#1660666 29-Oct-2016 20:38

Don't count on being able to pulse dial into the future. Sooner or later your circuit will be on equipment that only accepts DTMF tone dialing.

froob

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#1660667 29-Oct-2016 20:43

gumboot19: yes it is a 2C on my wall ..

In that case, you'll need to swap the socket for one with a capacitor, if you want the bells to ring on the rotary dial phone.

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Bung

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#1660669 29-Oct-2016 20:55

Depending on the type of old phone it probably has a capacitor that could be strapped in. The truth is the old phone is obsolete and just having it connected will make other phones sound worse.

GregF

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#1660680 29-Oct-2016 21:49

If it's any help, I had these sitting on a shelf in the shed - the top one is a 2C to compare, the bottom, an older one, with a large capacitor on it.

I've no idea if it will help, but you're more than welcome to try it - if you want, PM me your details, and I'll chuck it in the post to you.

(I only have all these lying around as I've worked for Telecom/Spark for years in IT based roles, and have had to get really adept at wiring up extensions, as I was forever getting the "Hey, you work for Telecom, can you come fix my phone / add me a new jack point?")

If anyone else with more knowledge knows this won't help, sing out!

Cheers, Greg.

toejam316

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#1660682 29-Oct-2016 21:56

GregF:
If it's any help, I had these sitting on a shelf in the shed - the top one is a 2C to compare, the bottom, an older one, with a large capacitor on it.

I've no idea if it will help, but you're more than welcome to try it - if you want, PM me your details, and I'll chuck it in the post to you.

(I only have all these lying around as I've worked for Telecom/Spark for years in IT based roles, and have had to get really adept at wiring up extensions, as I was forever getting the "Hey, you work for Telecom, can you come fix my phone / add me a new jack point?")

If anyone else with more knowledge knows this won't help, sing out!

Cheers, Greg.

Pretty sure that should do the trick - the other option if you're willing to get into the back of the jack points is to find a suitable capacitor (I can't remember the values off the top of my head) and just terminate it across the jack point. It'll have pretty much the same effect.

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richms

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#1660685 29-Oct-2016 21:59

toejam316:

Pretty sure that should do the trick - the other option if you're willing to get into the back of the jack points is to find a suitable capacitor (I can't remember the values off the top of my head) and just terminate it across the jack point. It'll have pretty much the same effect.

There is no terminal on the board to connect to, and on the 2C outlets there is no pin present either.

It could go into the phone however, just across the terminals where the ringer wire would terminate and one of the line terminals (cant recall the colour) - if it doesnt ring then try the other one.

That would also mean the phone is no longer tied to a single outlet to actually work. Also perhaps add a switch, since those old phones are really annoying when they ring.

Richard rich.ms

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