Repairing a phone handset

I have an elderly Binatone CTT500 caller display corded handset, which did what I needed of a desk telephone.

It's now faulty: when it's plugged in to the BT line, but on-hook, the off-hook light flashes rapidly, the display dims in time to the flashing, and there's a clicking in the earpiece. Off-hook, the light is on steadly, no dimming, no noises. It appears to work for outgoing calls; not sure about incoming, and don't want to chance it affecting other phones on the same line. Another handset works fine on the same socket, through the same ADSL filter.

Might it be repairable without a circuit diagram?

"Just bin it - it doesn't owe you anything!" Well, no, but:

a) I don't like binning things

b) I can't find an adequate replacement. The BT Decor 2200 I've bought is about to go back to Tesco, as the display is unreadable more than a couple of degrees off-axis, and various reviews haven't revealed a single phone with a good display. Any suggestions? Must be two-piece, corded, caller display; ideally also hands-free with inbuilt directory.

Reply to
Kevin
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Loads of binatone phones that appear to fit the bill on ebay

Reply to
Bob Minchin

Basically it is shot, from the symptoms possibly a dead electrolytic... You might be able to mend it but how do you value your time?

Try Binatone 410 cheapest new from Argos. My fundamental requirement was "does not require a wall wart to function" so it is battery powered. Whilst I wouldn't describe the display as good it is a decent size, informative and legible from 60 degrees off axis.

Reply to
Martin Brown

Perhaps something in the Doro range? They seem to cater for those with disabilities but as a result they have large readable displays on some models. Not necessarily this one

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The manual can be downloaded from a link at the bottom of the page detailing each of their phones. The short list descriptions don't list all of the facilities (such as caller ID and the 30 phone book memory). You need the manual(s).

Reply to
alan

Its probably impossible to fix as you will no doubt just find a chip inside and if its been trashed in some way, nobody will understand what its done or indeed have a spare. This happened to me with a portable radio based on a chip once. Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff

I think the RNIB have one that talks as well. Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff

Thanks for the comments, gentlefolk.

I'd have liked to repair it, just for the satisfaction of it. I suppose I could try to work out which bits of it have a higher voltage applied when it's off-hook and plugged in to the BT line, to see if it narrows down the area a faulty component might be in.

From reading the reviews of various Binatone models,it seems that many of them only display the caller's number, not his name. Some members of this household are better at names than numbers, and I'm happy enough to indulge this by populating the directory. I'll try to find some Doro models to look at, too.

I wonder why handsets seem to be stuck in a 1980 timewarp of electronic design? I suppose only old fogies use them these days.

Reply to
Kevin

Hang on, we don't all have caller info enabled. Also I have seen some where you can put in names even audio memos etc, but there do seem to be a lot of callers either suppressing their numbers or are forced to do so either by the fact that its voip or from inside a company. Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff

Many of the phone suppliers seem to be responding to customer complaints about cold calling by offering boxes that block incoming calls with number withheld, unknown, international etc.

If you routinely withhold your number you may find that in future that it is difficult to contact anyone by way of the phone

Only cold calling scum withhold numbers so its no great loss if their calls get dropped.

Reply to
alan

alan wrote on Dec 1, 2013:

Where I am local hospitals withhold the number, as do the police.

Reply to
Mike Lane

It is the duty of every right thinking person to NOT answer such calls. Our hospital gave up withholding their number because of problems contacting patients. Eventually the police will give out a generic number if everyone refuses to answer.

Tim

Reply to
Tim+

If these two public organisations wish to be considered in the same league as the cold callers then so be it - no great loss.

If you get a phone call from someone saying that they are a police officer it's more likely to be a scam.

I don't block calls but all are answered by an answer-phone and my caller ID box records the number of calls I receive.

Despite being registered with the TPS in the past 3 weeks I've had around 4 calls a day with the number withheld. A few weeks back I got 22 silent calls in a 12 hour period. Most callers don't leave a message but around 1 in 10 is an automated message offering to help me claim back incorrectly sold insurance or offering discounts at Euro Disney.

I know of others with similar experiences with cold calling. I'll bet most people would elect to block a once in blue moon call from your local hospital or the police rather than being bombarded with s**t calls on a daily basis.

Reply to
alan

Having peered inside it again, trying to pretend I had a clue what I was doing, I gave up and put it back together. An hour later, I thought: "I wonder...", put the batteries back in, and plugged it back into its socket. It had lost everything in its memory, for which I have some sympathy, but the rest had clearly refreshed and reinvigorated it, and it now works perfectly.

"What did you do?"

"Oh, it needed a hard system re-set"

Reply to
Kevin

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