rewiring a WE 500 wall telephone

[classiccaprice]

Hey, I just bought a red WE 500 rotary wall phone (circa 1962) from the thrift shop. What is the best way to use this with my modular plugs in the house? Can I modify the phone? Help!

 

[classiccaprice]

doh, I must be tired, it's a 554, not 500! Sorry for the typos!

 

[customline]

Try this.......

You need to get a rotary phone modular adapter. These were made when the change to modular was being made and every home still had a rotary. It's a plate with an adjustable modular jack on the back. The jack just moves up and down to meet your modular jack in the wall. It will have three wires and will connect to three terminals in your phone. Don't mess with any other wires in the phone! You will have to find this item already mounted on the back of an early eighties rotary because it will not be in a store or a Radio Shack. Start scouring flea markets or garage sales for those eighties rotaries with this particular adapter. When you find it, just notice how the adapter is wired into the rotary phone.

 

[classiccaprice]

any one have one of these?

what do they look like? I went web searching with no avail online.

 

[nurdlinger]

Try these guys...

I bought a modular backplate adapter for a WE354 phone a year or two ago. I think it was from these guys.

http://www.oldphones.com/servlet/Detail?no=103

 

[toggleswitch]

Or just get a phone cord that is intended to connect a phone to a jack.

The wall side will have a modular jack, and the other side has spades/lugs for the end.

Connect the spades to the phone.

Mount the phone to the wall NEAR the jack, just as was done before jacks. Then plug the modular jack side into a wall or baseboard jack.

Hope this helps.

~It will have three wires and will connect to three terminals in your phone.

This confuses me. The three wire system was out-of-style a LONG LONG time ago.

Wall wires:
Red+Green= Line 1
Black + yellow= Line 2

Therefore with a one-line system and phone only two conductors are needed, unless I'm mis-infomred or not understanding what your phone is..........

 

[frontaloadotmy]

Why bother doing it modular?

Just get some regular old phone wire and attach it, staple the wire to the wall and paint it or fish it through the hol-
low and mount the phone over where it comes through your sheet rock.