atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Other TDM Phone Systems 1A2 and Comkey Telephones & Systems Cortelco 2566 1A2 5 line phone - Convert to UK?

Thanks Sam and all on this board for some great advice and help.
I finally got the ringer working at half past midnight, put the phone back together and then couldn't stop ringing it from my mobile.
Reminds me now of watching Cagney & Lacey in the 80's, hearing all those fab rings in the cop shop!
Shame that in the UK our phones go 'ring, ring.......ring, ring' as against 'r i n g.....r i n g' as they do in the US.
Can't believe I paid £6 for it, brand new in box with wiring diagram and new plastic inserts.

Mike.

Take a picture of it

Glad to hear you got it working! :thumb:

You actually could get the light working on line 1 (at least lighting up when you picked up the phone) if you wanted to....

Take a 10VAC transformer. Wire one side of the output to the White/Green wire and wire the other side to the White/Orange wire. Then wire the Orange/White wire to the Green/White wire.

When you go off hook the switchook contacts will short the W/O pair, this should light the lamp (wired to the W/G pair). You won't have any flash on incoming ring, but it will be something different.

BTW - you can go a little lower on the transformer voltage (6-8 volts would work too) but any higher will burn out the lamp fairly quickly.

Sam

Thanks Sam,

Wasn't going to bother getting the light to work, but I think I'm being bitten by the bug and now fancy getting it going.

What does the input of the transformer has to be, 90 volts?

Do you have a link to a site which sells a recommended one, I can then hunt for the equivelant in the UK.

Kind regards,

Mike.

Kind regards,

Mike.

Mepmoop -

The lamps run on 10VAC, so anything that puts out 10VAC at some minimal amperage would work. If you could come up with a plug in 240V ->10V transformer that should do it.(If such a thing exists). This side of the pond we would use a 120->10V for doorbells and the like.

Please understand this is a complete Rube Goldberg cludge (does that translate?). Ordinarily when you picked up the phone and depressed a line key that O/W short would operate a relay on a circuit board in a Key Service Unit that would switch 10VAC from a power supply to light the lamp on the W/G pair, etc. etc.

Over the years there have been a number of folks from the UK who have enquired about getting 1A2 sets to work. If you check some of the earlier posts in this forum I imagine that you could gather some pretty good info.

Oddly, everyone from the UK who enquires here ALWAYS MENTIONS CAGNEY & LACEY!

What's up with that?

Oh and BTW, while our phones ring at the US cadence of Ring.....(6 sec pause)...Ring etc., a lot of the PBXs I installed over the years used to offer us the option of UK ringing (ring, ring.....ring, ring). A number of firms liked it (thinking [as most Americans do] that all things British are classy). I would often set it up that Calls ringing in from an outside caller rang American and Internal calls rang UK style. It let people know how to answer. (Either "XYZ company", or "This is Sam")

Sam

Sam,

Your instructions are very helpful. I just got an old Western Electric KTU working using the 1st line key, with the light working as well. What are the pairs for the other line keys on these old 1A2-style KTUs?

I don't suppose the ringing would work for any but one line to be wired at a time, without using a KSU, as all lines would need to be jumpered together to the YL/SL pair in order to ring.

Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks for the helpful instructions!

Wh/Bl -1 Tip
Bl/W - 1 Ring
W/O - 1A
O/W - A1
W/Gn - LG
Gn/W - 1 Lamp

W/Br - 2 T
Br/W - 2 R
W/SL - 2A
SL/W - A1
R/BL - LG
BL/R - 2L

R/O pair - 3 T/R
R/Gn pr - 3A/A1
R/Br pr - 3 LG/L

R/SL pr - 4 T/r
Bk/BL pr - 4A/A1
Bk/O pr - 4 LG/L

BK/Gn pr - 5 T/R
Bk/ Bn pr - 5 A/A1
Bk/SL pr - 5 LG/L

Y/BL or Y/O pr - usually assigned to the buzzer for Intercoms

Y/Gn pr - Often assigned as a Lamp for the Hold button (Misc. features)

Y/SL pr - always assigned for the Ringer wired for the "Common Bell"

The Violet group was usually set aside for speakerphone leads. On some sets (2564 series) there was only a 16 pair cable (if I remember correctly) and the violets, all the A1s but the first one and some other leads (Some LGs maybe?) were missing completely.

And no, without a KSU you would need a separate ringer for each line.

Also the correct term is a "Key Telephone" or a "Key Set" a KTU is actually a "Key Telephone Unit" - which is a circuit board that plugs into a KSU (Key Service Unit) - the things that make key telephones work.

Sam

Wow!

And I actually knew the term for a "key set", I just had a brain fart for a second, I guess.

Thanks again for your help!