Shop phone Question?

larry merlau

Member
Messages
18,741
Location
Delton, Michigan
i have a shop phone that has the feature of a blinking red light if your where your close enough to see it,, so here comes the real hard question.. could it be connected to alight out in the shop that would blink with a incoming call? another words could i splice in and get the blinking out there too like a blue special in walmart:) so what say yee "great sparky's" we have here:)
 
If your phone is hard wired you should have no trouble finding a strobe or other flashing light like those cited by Jim. If it's wireless, like mine, I don't think you will have many options.
 
Search on phones for the hearing impaired or deaf. So how does a deaf person use a phone, you may ask. They communicate via a TTY type device.

The old way was that the phone had a plug that you could plug a light into and it would blink the light. A new way is it works with a pager and the pager vibrates (you have to wear the pager, of course).

Mike

[Here's some more.]
 
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its hard wired rennie,, but the reviews are saying that they arent as bright as they could be..and in fairly well lit room i am reluctant??? was hoping to get some kind of a red light that would flash..
 
Hi,

Radio Shack sells a unit that you just plug into your telephone outlet. There is a power cord and you just plug any lamp into the flasher unit. It will flash that lamp on with every ringtone. So it will work with hard wired or at the base for cordless; not for cell phones.

It should be easy to make one for a cell phone. Radio Shack and many others sell a very inexpensive (a buck or two) microphone with an attached suction cup; they use them on windows for burgular alarms and a long time ago on guitars to amplify the sound. Stick the suction cup on the cell phone. Have the signal go to any cheap audio amplifier. Have the output from the amplifier close a relay in the power line to the lamp; when the phone ringtone is "ringing." The lamp, or whatever, will flash with each ringtone.

I have not purchased any electronic components for quite-a-while so I am padding my price from what I know. Let's say less than $25 and your labor. See if someplace like Radio Shack has something like that already made. That would be the easy way.

Enjoy,

JimB
 
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ya know my son hooked up a light that worked on a doorbell for me, so if someone needed me, they wouldnt suprise me while I was using a tool. Too dangerous for me, and a light would work.
Problem was no matter where I put the light, Id be so focused on the machine, Id never see the light.

My stepfather had a huge factory and he had a tremendous red light blink and bell whenever the phone rang.
You couldnt hear the ringing, but if you were someone in the factory, youd see the light.

I say use your cell, just set it to vibrate and keep it in your pocket. I feel mine when Im getting a call. I may not pick it up in time, but at least I call back if its important.
 
Hi Again,

I did a bit of a search on Google and came up with the following. Glenn says, "Dad. Google is your friend."

maxiaids.com has a unit that plugs into your wall outlet. You plug any lamp into it. I flashes with the ringtone. $25. You can purchase a strobe light to use instead of your household lamp. Strobes are usually quite bright---brighter than the flash on your camera---call and ask.
Check out a hearing impaired web site.

That does not help with a cell phone. However it would work with the base of a cordless phone set-up or hardwired phone.

I put a 150 watt, bare bulb lamp, with a reflector in the ceiling of my shop for my wife to signal me. I took it out. She had to come out 100% of the time because I would not notice the flashing light. Maybe I should have tried a red lamp. I'll bet one of those rotating mirror lamps like used on police cars would get your attention because it would stimulate the rods in your retina. The rods are the cells in the back of the eye that detect motion and changes in light level.

An honest to gosh strobe light like we used to use in the black and white film cameras would definitely get my attention. A strobe light like used on stage in an auditorium would get the attention of the entire neighborhood. Being realistic; there is an answer out there somewhere and it should not be expensive. There are a few million people in the USA that are hearing impaired. Some business people are surly trying to attend to their needs.

Enjoy,

JimB
 
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allen i am looking for the red light idea, will look for what jim mentioned at radio shack.. i dont use a cell phone, only on trips.

Larry,

Since you are hardwired, I would call about that MAXIaids unit. Check out the maximum wattage your lamp could have. Do they still make red lamps that are made with red glass, not a red film or paint. What kind of wattage can you get. The red glass lamps were so much clearer and appeared so much brighter than the other colored lamps.

I just checked. I could not find that unit at Radio Shack's web site. Maybe a phone call would get a better result.

Enjoy,

JimB
 
I have had several devices and took them back. They did not work as advertised. I think the issue is what we consider this to be worth versus what it will take to do it safely in a world of people ready to sue the manufacturer for anything.

If the device is powered from the phone line which means that it has to activate and run off the ringing signal coming from the teleco switch then there simply is not enough power inthat signal to give you anything in the way of enough light or noise unless they add a battery.

The real answer is going to be to diy and build it yourself. GIven your phone has an output the little light you mention i think you can certainly do something.

What needs to be done is to take that output and see what its driven by. This could act as an input trigger to a circuit that would in my view need to be mains powered. The mains are needed to power the flashing red light.

To drive that one needs to convert/buffer the output from the phone and operate a heavy enough relay to enable the 120v to the red light and its motor if its a strobe. If its a 12v or 24v strobe light then one needs to have a good d.c. supply to drive it and in that kind of case one of these mains adapters would do provided its capable of supplying the output current required at the required 12v or 24v.


In my view the stuff we see is suitable for elderly to get their attention in a home environment but in a shop i dont see them working. This is a diy thing to get what you want inmho. I have taken back too many of them now and given up for the moment till i get my techie hat out and build my own.

I am also not that sure its the right thing to do.

No matter what this is a distraction. That is what concerns me. So one needs to consider how to soften this distraction so its not startling. Kinda like some of the cell phone ring features one gets where the sound starts out gentle then gets louder and louder rather than coming on full ball from the start.
 
Search on phones for the hearing impaired or deaf. So how does a deaf person use a phone, you may ask. They communicate via a TTY type device.

The old way was that the phone had a plug that you could plug a light into and it would blink the light. A new way is it works with a pager and the pager vibrates (you have to wear the pager, of course).

Mike

[Here's some more.]

Actually Mike, today a deaf person can use a captioning telephone. The two companies that I am familiar with are CapTel and CapCall. They typically require 2 hardwire phone lines or 1 hardwired phone line and 1 highspeed internet connection (cable or DSL). I use a CapTel phone which uses a landline and cable modem access.

The incoming audio is transmitted via the high speed internet access to a computer, the computer uses a voice recognition software that is monitored by a human transcriptioinist. The resultant captioning is sent back via high speed internet to a 4"x5" screen on the telephone. There are a lot of errors and like captioning on television, one has to have a sense of humor and a good "Guess" factor when reading captioning. I would not make any serious decisions based on the captioning on the phone. That being said, it is better than nothing.
 
Me? I don't want no friggin phone in my shop. I leave my cell phone in another room and even if I can hear the house phone I often don't answer. I usually wear ear plugs even if I'm not using noisy equipment. My shop is to get away from the rest of the world.
 
Me? I don't want no friggin phone in my shop. I leave my cell phone in another room and even if I can hear the house phone I often don't answer. I usually wear ear plugs even if I'm not using noisy equipment. My shop is to get away from the rest of the world.

well frank, i can understand your thoughts but in my case it is nice to have a warning so when the kids call or a maybe a person looking to hire me for some work it would be good as well..i have a answering service but after 9 rings it picks up because it sometimes takes me that long to get there. this way i can get it before they change there mind:)
 
My pants have extra pockets on the sides and I normally carry a cordless phone in one of them when I am in the shop. I can hear the phone that way even with the table saw running.......not the router table though.
 
Larry,
This doesn’t address the solution you are looking for, but I put my cell phone on ring and vibrate and keep it in my pocket, that way, I can hear or feel a call coming in. Also, it acts as my “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up” button if something should happen to me in the shop and I’m still conscious.
 
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