Converting a Belgian candlestick telephone to UK.
 

Good afternoon all
I recently purchased a brass candlestick telephone from a collector's fair and I believe it is Belgian.
I want to convert it to work on UK network but am unsure how to do it. Any advice would be appreciated.

The line cord fitted to the telephone currently has no socket on the end.
It has 3 coloured wires, white, orange and red. The white wire is currently connected to the left hand terminal, the red to the middle and the orange to the right hand terminal. Which colour wires of the UK cord do I connect? There are no numbers on the terminals.

I have attached an image for reference.
Thanks, Dean :-)

Re: Converting a Belgian candlestick telephone to UK.
 

Relatively modern, I think I can see a tone ringer in there.
Unless someone recognises the model, I would proceed as follows.

Obtain a line cord with the "BT" plug on one end and cut off whatever is at the other.
You will have four wires in a flat row, you are initially interested in the outer two wires only, try connecting them to the various combinations of terminals where the three wires go now, you should hear the dial-tone when you have the right pair. The third terminal is probably just anti-tinkle and you may not need it.

Graham.
G3ZVT

Re: Converting a Belgian candlestick telephone to UK.
 

Thanks Graham, I'll give that a try.

Re: Converting a Belgian candlestick telephone to UK.
 

The limited information I have on the Dutch telephone plug is that it has 4 pins -- The 2 sides of the line, local earth, extension bell. An extra bell could be wired between the 'extension bell' pin and the appropriate side of the line, putting it in series with the bell (and ring capacitor) in the telephone. If there was no extra bell, then the 'extension bell' pin has to be shorted to the appropriate side of the line to complete the bell (ringer) circuit.

My guess is that with 3 wires the one that is missing is 'earth', which would only be used for party lines and the like.

With the telephone off-hook, try measuring the resistance between each pair of wires with an ohmmeter (preferably analogue). If you can find a pair that gives DC continuity, connect those to the outside 2 wires of the BT line cord. Most likely the telephone will then work apart from the fact that it will not ring on incoming calls. Then try connecting the last wire to each of the other 2 in turn (leaving them connected to the BT cord) and hopefully one connection will get it to work including ringing.

Re: Converting a Belgian candlestick telephone to UK.
 

If the third wire is "anti-tinkle", it may need to be connected to the pin that goes to the ringing capacitor in the master socket for the 'phone to ring - but best to start as suggested above by Graham, then only go down this route if you find everything else works except the ringer.

Again the easiest way to check which of the two inner wires is connected to the capacitor is by trial and error. Beware, however, that an incoming ringing current packs a punch if it passes through the human body - not lethal, but painful!

edit: Tony beat me to it while I was composing my post.

Re: Converting a Belgian candlestick telephone to UK.
 

I think anti-tinkle was very much a British thing, I have yet to find any other country which did it. I must say I wonder why BT thought it was so important not to have bell tinkle...


I generally find it is best now to ignore the anti-tinkle wire and the master socket's capacitor (which may not be present on some ASDL filters as a lot of modern telephones don't need it) and just wire the telephone for a 2 wire line and connect it to the outside wires of the BT plug.

Re: Converting a Belgian candlestick telephone to UK.
 

Not sure BT would give a damn, but the GPO was a different matter ;D

Re: Converting a Belgian candlestick telephone to UK.
 

The tinkle could be quite useful in indicating when an extension was in use, and sometimes the other gong would indicate when they had hung up.

I am sure bell tinkle featured in some old whodoneit, perhaps one with Margaret Rutherford playing Miss Marple.

Not the one with the party-line however,
"You needed take that tone with me young man... Indeed I do have a crime to report... Murder. Murder most foul".

Graham.
G3ZVT