sundance-communications.com/forum Forums General General Telephone & Systems Information Little red light on Bell 2500MM

I received this phone today and noticed that it has what seems like a light on it. It is wired to the line voltage but doesn't really look like a light.

The model reads 80322 on the bottom and has MCD as well.

Any info on it?

The phone could have been used in a motel/hotel room. The red light was to indicate waiting messages at the front desk.

If the light flashes when the phone rings it almost definitely is, as Dexman says, a Message Waiting Lamp.

Sam

Yep, the suffix "-MM" indicates that the set is equipped with a message waiting lamp. What ^^ they said.

The reference to "80332" is likely a date of manufacture code.

Thank you all so much for your help!

How could I make this light function?

with an answering machine?

Need voice mail service to trigger the light.

Well, yes - but with a little determination and a lot of lunacy.........

Use the voltage that lights the lamp on the answering machine to close a relay that will switch enough DC voltage to light the lamp. Or seperate the lamp from the telephone line and use a separate pair to feed AC to it.

We used to say: "Give me a couple of 17B (relays) and I can make anything do anything."

;-)


Sam

Any clue as to how much AC to feed it?

-Partyline4

They typically run on 75-96 volts (DC).

80332 = three hundred, thirty-second day of 1980.
That's called "Julian" date coding in industry.

In Western Electric land, a 2500Y is a M/W (message waiting) phone. A 2500YM is the same thing, with "M"odular cords. A 2500YMG has the addition of a polarity "G"uard.

A 2500M has A-lead control wiring, and a 2500MMG is the modular polarity guard version.

Is your phone a Western Electric / AT&T model?

I would hesitate trying to apply voltage to the telephone just to prove that you can make the lamp work, because you would also need to switch it off just before you get dial tone, to avoid releasing the smoke.

In the real world, the lamp is activated by circuitry in the hotel PBX that sends an intermittent voltage superimposed on the T&R. it will flicker on incoming calls without any modification or potential danger.