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

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: