Ring amplifier for a rotary phone?

Question

I have one of those old rotary phones from Western electric. I was thinking f getting a ringer amplifier for my phone. Would the amplifier work for a phone that's old ? I don't think my phone has a ringer and if it does, it's either broken or I don't know how to make it work. I know it's plugged in right because I can mmake calls and when the other phones in the house rings, I can pick up the phone and answer. The main problem is the bell. How would the ringer amplifier help me? Should I bring my phone in so they can get the right size or brand for my phone? Sources?

Answer 1

If you have a Western Electric 500 type telephone (you can look on the bottom and it would probably read 500 C/D) then you don't require an amplifier.  These phones were often wired for "party line" ringing which was multiple houses using the same telephone line.  They used to distinguish each home by different ringing.  This involved rewiring the ringer inside the telephone.

All you should have to do is open up the telephone (there are two screws on the bottom - one at the front and one at the rear of the phone, then lift off the cover).  Look for the ringer with two brass bells.  It will have four wires coming from the bottom of it - a red wire, a black wire, a gray wire and a gray with red stripes/dots wire.  Find the black ringer wire and if it is on the "G" s***w terminal, move it to the L1 s***w terminal.  See the attached photo:

http://www.porticus.org/bell/images/500r...

Your phone should now ring.  These phones will wake the dead so you don't need an amplifier.  There are other types of Western Electric such as the 300 series or Princess series but the wiring change should be esentially the same.

Answer 2

the product you linked to will work... it has a speaker and a strobe light. it will ring and flash when someone is calling..

Answer 3

this is one of the best brands and not to expensive!!

http://www.antonline.com/p_CE-125-NX_241...

ps. your link doesn't work...