atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Other TDM Phone Systems Antique Telephones WE 2554 touchtone keypad

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?