How to use old mechanical outdoor ringer?

[helpful55]

I am wanting to use an old (70's?) style mechanical outdoor phone ringer with my obi system. I know that most of the modern phones have a very low REN #. I have two of those on this line already. I don't know for sure even if this outdoor ringer is working properly, but I think it probably is ok. When I connect it I get a short ring duration and the volume is pretty lame. That is what I have seen before when a line is overburdened with ringers. I know how loud these usually are. With an obi and no connection to a landline the obi has to supply the power for the ringers and I see that the AC adapter supplies a max of 1 Amp @ 12 volts to operate the obi and supply ringers. I don't know what the obi has available for the ringers. Does anyone know and if it doesn't have the proper power does anyone know how I can make this oldie ringer work? I don't want to harm my obi so I am not using this for now. Thanks for any help.

[drgeoff]

OBi device specs say the Maximum Ringer Load is 5 REN.

I think your next move should be to ascertain that the ringer is working properly. Do you have a relative or friend with a traditional telco line you can use to check the ringer?

[ianobi]

You can also try altering the OBi ringer voltage / frequency / waveform at:
Physical Interfaces > PHONE Port > Ringer

Ring boosters are commercially available depending where you live. US version here:
http://www.sandman.com/longloop.html

There is also a UK version.

[helpful55]

Great, thanks for all of the info drgeoff and ianobi.

Sure sounds like the obi can ring plenty of phones. I should try to see if I can find out the actual REN of this ringer. And yes I need to try it on a landline to make sure it is ok.

I'll look into the obi ringer settings and if somehow I need a booster I'll check that out.

Thanks again all.

[sailing]

I played with an old Ma Bell phone from the 60's once. I found I had to increase the ringer voltage of the obi to its max setting otherwise I would just hear the ringer buzzing since the hammer never hit the bell.

[helpful55]

Ok, great sailing. I'm not surprised that something needs to be different as there is a big difference between what it takes to operate a few electronic components or operating an old power sucking mechanical ringer. This is on my long list of important things to do, so I'll work with that later.

I'm just happy that I am back on my obi since about February. I had to use a motel wireless network for a while. The obi wouldn't work and I ultimately found that it had to run using a router as it needs it's own IP to operate. Can't share or bridge off a PC. It did work initially with a router I used off my PC LAN, but later on it started messing up and I gave up. Did the headset off the PC for a while, which was not bad, as now I know more about that and I got that all set up properly as an available backup.

[dircom]

you can also setup a relay
get a ringer that works on A/C
and blast to your hearts content