Got an old 2554 on Saturday, the keypad is no good.
The existing one is 8 wires, the replacement (electronic) I have here is only 6 wires. Will this work or do I need to find a new old stock part?

Thanks in advance.

Is the phone a Western Electric? Do the colors match (at least the 6 that you have)?

Most WE TT phones need a minimum of 8 leads. I can't speak to other brands, with newer electronic dials.

What's wrong with the original dial? Usually, an old phone man (if you happen to know one) can repair them.

Jeff, I may have a dial for you. Can't check until the week end. I'll let you know.
Ken

Yes, the phone is a Western Electric, 1978 vintage. The colors match, but the new dial is missing white/blue and white wires.

The keys on the right most side do not work.
I accidentally called 911 when trying to call time and weather (931-1212)

Have you cleaned the contacts? Other than the coil being loose that's usually about all that's wrong with them.

Jeff, the following is the method for 35-type dials.

Take a clean piece of good quality bond paper, and make some strips about 1/4 inch wide.

Take the plastic dust guard off the dial, and then look at the edge of the dial, and find the 7 sets of make contacts. There is a set of contacts for each of the 7 tones that create the matrix of 12 digits.

Insert a piece of paper into a set of contacts, then gently pull the paper through the contact set while depressing a button that activates that set.

Repeat for all the sets. It's a wiping action that tries to overcome the friction of the contact pair. It takes a little practice.

Then, look at the "common switch" which is a series of make and break contacts on the rear of the dial. You will notice that whenever you press ANY dial button, the common switch operates.

Use the same method as above for the normally-open sets of contacts. Then, for the normally-closed contacts, press and hold a dial button, insert the paper slip, and then release the dial button, while doing the wiping thing. Repeat for all the common switch contacts.

In your case, the problem is one or possibly two of the sets around the perimeter of the dial, but it makes sense to do all of them, and the common switch, while you're at it.

Thanks 'Uncle' Arthur - I will give that a try!

PM sent.

Sam

Why do I feel old when I see a 2554 listed under "Antique Telephones?"

BTW, How many of us made a quick burnishing tool (contact cleaner) by trimming a crisp dollar bill with our Klein scissors?

I kind of thought someone was going to suggest I use a crisp 100 dollar bill like they did in the CO

Thanks everyone for the help! The phone IS almost 40 years old, so I figured I'd post it here rather than equipment repair.

did you get it working?

He figures that if the phone is older than he is, it must be an antique.

I've got a burnishing tool on the way and I'll investigate further.

I would advise in favor of the bond paper.

I agree. Burnishing tools are meant for use with contacts that are intended to be maintained, such as CO switch relays. Dial pads weren't really meant to need a lot of maintenance activity, thus there isn't a whole lot of contact material there to work with. Since maintenance records were kept back in the leased equipment days (well, supposedly), after the first contact cleaning, the dial was usually replaced if it failed again.

Factory refurbishing usually took care of this anyway since a dial could work for a good five years in the field before any wear started to occur.

Sam sent me a very small PK Neuses contact cleaning tool, or as he called it, a "file for smurfs"

When mechanical dial pads were in every phone, we all carried a Neuses burnishing tool. Of course, we X-Bar PBX people all had them, anyway. Burnishing the contacts on a dial pad should be done very carefully as Ed stated, there's just not a lot of contact material there.

When we ran into a phone that had continued dial pad failures, we would look for the cause. Usually, it was a very dusty or dirty environment. Occasionally we would run across a very high off-hook voltage due to line extenders. When the self contained electronic touch pads that replaced the mechanical ones came out, that was a "solution in a box."

Rcaman

hi,
I have a 1979 WE 2554 that wont break dial tone. I switched the polarity, still wont break dial tone. Have other TT and rotary sets that work on my VOIP system. Could this keypad need cleaning?

Bob

Most likely, yes. The contacts on the back of the dial pad are the culprits.

CBDT (can't break dial tone) could be caused by

1. dirty / out of adjustment common switch contacts

2. dirty / out of adjustment tone (row and column) contacts

3. the two coils (high and low) getting out of tune

4. mis-wiring

Do you hear any tones when you press any buttons?

Do you hear two distinct tones when you press each button?

Do you hear a single tone when you press any two adjacent buttons?

If you hear what seem to be the correct combinations, have you tried "beating" the output of the dial against the output of a known working one?

One other thing to check is the transistor in the tone oscillator circuit. They do fail. I had one in a phone that survived a lightning hit. Everything worked but the transistor was fried. Replaced the transistor and everything worked and is still working to this day.

Rcaman

hi,
I blew out the keypad on the WE 2554 with compressed air, then use a small piece of printer/copier paper, and ran it thru the contacts on the keypad. A lot of dust came out with the compressed air, and some residue on the paper. Put it together and, wahlaa! Breaks dial tone, dials out, and rings in just fine! Never had a dirty contact problem with any rotary or keypad before. First time for everything!!! Thanks to all of you folks for the suggestions! Next project, mounting my GTE fortress payphone in the den! The GF is gonna love this! (well, not really)