atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Other TDM Phone Systems Antique Telephones How do you set up an old payphone for home use

I just purchased an old Gray Manufacturing payphone and I would like to adjust the wiring to use it as a home phone.

Is there anyone that knows how to do this?

I am not sure of the model number

If you have the keys you can just remove the coin box and let the coins fall into coin box chamber. Otherwise you'll need the model number to get the wiring diagram. Is this a single slot or 3 slot payphone? You can probably just hook up the tip and ring and make it work for you, but I'm not positive about that.

It is a 3 slot payphone.

I hooked up the red wire to L1, yellow to g and green to L2 however the phone is still dead.
There is a seperate black wire and when I played around with it I could get a dial tone but then the phone would not hang up.

There is a number tapped inside the phone L52697 and since it is written and posted throughout the inside I think it may be the model number but someone painted this phone and I think they painted over the modle number.

There are also 4 wires loose by the bell box
they are red, blu, black and one has a red cylinder filter on it with a white wire tip on it.

The old payphones were ground start and when you put the coins in they would put a ground on the tip and connect to the C.O. L1 and L2 are the correct locations for the tip L1 and ring L2 and really should be all you need to get dial tone, but of course that depends on how the network is wire and how it's wired through the totalizer (determines if the correct coins have been placed). I have never really wired a payphone for home use, but I'm sure someone here has. Stick around I'm sure you'll get some good suggestions to get this working.

Matt1964 over in the 1A2 forum just wired one up for home use. He might be able to help. If he doesn't pop in right away try sending him a PM.

Sam

this forum just went active today

(your our first poster )



as word gets out I expect where going to see a lot of expertise here
so if you don't get a answer today it should be along soon

If I remember correctly (L52697) is the list number. Another type number to look for is one that starts with KS. The KS stands for (Kearny Standard) for Bells Labs out of Kearny New Jersey. But I will also tell you that you will find several of these type of numbers because they relate to each part. I have not worked with these numbers in 20 years so I may not be 100% accurate. Somebody will correct me if I'm wrong.

Is there ANYTHING you guys don't know about POTS? :toast:

3 slot? 197/195 with a network subset. 235 without. Dial Tone goes to the subset, then to the set. Look for spring contacts on the backboard where the upper housing drops in.

Single slot (1A) uses the drop shoot with info sent electronically. All others were mechnical.

Larry, your KS is so right on.....

Is it a Bell System payphone or an Automatic Electric?

Kitta does it have a LAN port?
:rofl: :rofl:

Sorry just trying to get a laugh.

If it's from Gray, I would expect to see an AE part number like LPB-, LPA, LPC, etc. The next two digits tell if it's prepay, post pay, semi post pay, etc. A prepay AE would be something like LPB-82-55. Normally the AE payphones (no subset required) would have an metal plate on the top portion of the housing, above the dial and before the advertising sign. The stamping will indicate the model number and hence how it will need to be wired.

L

How about LPA 8255?

I also want to thank you all for the warm welcome.

And Mr. Daniel as if I know what a LAN port is in the first place(hope that brings a chuckle...).

Kitta, Hard to tell what you need to do without photos of what you have with the insides pictured. This is because some of them dont have ringers or networks which are required to operate the phone and many were refurbished and parts changed over the years.
Rob

How do I post pictures in here?

upload your pictures to a site like photobucket (you can get a free account) then copy the URL

when you post here hit the image button and paste the url in as prompted

or you could email me or any of the other mods the pictures and we will post them for you

I finally got the pictures loaded.



I want to thank you for all your time and help.


~K

(I resized it for you )

wow that is big I will try to make it smaller then post the rest.

Sorry
~k

(I resized it for you )

This is the front of the phone there is a loose blue wire just hanging there.



I am really sorry these are so big.
I reduced them as much as I could and they still are huge on here.

I reduced them to a manageable size for you. :thumb: You can now copy them to your folders and use them as you see fit.

Hmmm. Looks like a slot machine waiting for a sucker, to me! Seriously, looks like you've got a network, a bell, is it rotary dial? (looks like it in 3rd pic.) And a lot of patches and jury-rigging! That's going to probably take a little more knowledge than can be supplied here. But, I'll defer to the old payphone pros. I've only rewired a couple. John C.

Might give these guys a call to see if they have a diagram or maybe can point you to someone who does. I just googled it, probably other sites out there.

480 pages history of payphone, booths & signs. Numerous charts; 112 pages of early payphones with over 14 name brands; 200 pages dealing with the 1912-1972 3-slotters. Characteristics, changes, patents, parts and accessories; 55 pages of booths with over 15 name brands and 92 pages with 800 signs.

web page

Thank You for resizing them for me WRichey. I had some great soft wear but my daughter crashed my computer and I never got it back.

This is a rotary dial, Gray Manufacturing Payphone (Gray later became Western Telephone).

Thank You Matt1964 I will certainly give them a try tomorrow.

My husband doesn't know that much about phones but he has his degree in electronics so if we could find a diagram for this phone he could fix it. I know there is something that you have to do to change it from a payphone to a regular phone and I would love to find out what and get this going.

When I did a search on Google I found a blog that told me how to wire the outside line to the phone but as I said it had an extra black wire which seems to be the pivotal wire. I can get a dial tone if I hook it to certain spots, however the phone will not hang up and my phone line goes to busy. Could there be a problem with the reciever cradle?

It's definitely 100% Automatic Electric with a Teltronics retrofit. All that should be required for the dial tone connection is green and red going to L1 and L2. Terminal G, the yellow and black wires are insignificant. Make sure that nothing is connected to terminal G at all.

This advice assumes that your phone line is actually on the green and red wires coming into the set. The fact that your having moved the incoming black wire around draws dial tone leads me to believe that your phone line may actually be on the black/yellow pair, not on the green/red which is the norm.

The loose blue wire is just part of the coin mechanism and will not have any effect on dial tone making it through for use as a regular telephone set. It's safe to assume that it was originally connected to the microswitch near where the wire ends on one of the soldered lugs.

As for the ringer connections: The red wire should go to the same L2 terminal with your phone line, the wire coming from the other end of the red capacitor should go to the same L1 terminal with your phone line and the black/blue leads should be insulated from each other and stored. I'm rusty on AE ringer wiring colors, but you might need to connect the black and blue wires together in order for it to ring. Try it either way, but don't hold them while testing.

Whether the set was pre- or post-pay, connection to a standard phone line will still result in dial tone making it through and operating as a standard rotary-dial telephone set. It was the line type and central office equipment that determined the type of payment/escrow required.

I didn't know that Teltronics made payphone parts...I only knew of their SRX phone systems.

:bow: Thank You so much Ed, :bow: I am going to go and do this now! If I can't get it going my husband will get it done tomorrow. :dance: :banana:

Jeff:

Temporary hijack:

Teltronics had a subsidiary in a joint-venture with Brand/Rex Cable that specialized in replacement telco hardware, like 1A2 line cards, pay phone internal components and protected interface devices prior to the divestiture of AT&T.

Since AT&T (WECO) knew the divestiture was coming and GTE (AE) wasn't far behind them, they both scaled back on a lot of their original factory manufacturing. Once divestiture was complete, their operating telcos would no longer be obligated to purchase their hardware. Since WE and AE would be alone and on their own, they didn't want to get stuck with too much inventory. They elected to focus on the manufacture of products that they could sell to the general public, like cable and jacks.

Companies like Brand/Rex-Teltronics, Melco, Tone Commander, Precision Components and Teltone picked up on this and made a few bucks in the process, though short-lived.

I am thrilled to say it works! :toast:
Thanks to everyone that popped in and helpped.
Many Thanks to you Ed! :thumb:

Glad to see you got it working and thanks for letting us know.

hi,

not a reply, just a question. i want to buy a new old stock, never installed payphone from a seller. it looks to be a GTE 1a1. i say this because i beleive, GTE has the single coin slot and coin return on the right, and the original fortress phones(at&t?) were on the left. problem is, seller doesnt have the keys! i was told by a friend that these phones have a "relock" design, so if i drill the locks, when the locks drop out, the phone locks up permenately. is this true? can i get keys for this phone? anyway to get inside without keys???

thanks...bob