Wiring a payphone to cell phone

[WeeBo]

Hello, long time lurker first time poster.
I thought this would be a great place to ask, I googled a bit on a the topic but the results were crap.

I acquired an older Bell payphone, did as much as I could with exploring the innards, but now I need to do more with it.  I have a few spare cell phones.  My idea was to stick a cellphone inside and be able to use the handset and dial pad on the front of the payphone.  Reception might be a little iffy, but I was thinking of using the outer shell/housing as a make shift antenna. 
I was thinking of using the handset to audio jack hack inside the case, and wiring the buttons to the stripped down push pad inside the cell phone, alas at the moment all I have are touch screen phones that work, wonder if that would still be possible.  I think hanging up and making the phone ready to dial might be a challenge, as the number has to be dialled before the call button can be pressed.
The hanging up could be controlled by wiring the cradle to the actual hangup button, so when the receiver is put down the contact is made to the hangup/power pad on the stripped down phone.

If anyone has any ideas or suggestions please feel free to contribute, still don't know if I'm making this more comlicated than I have to

[rbcp]

Welcome to the forums!

http://phonelabs.com/prd05.asp this thing looks old and I didn't read much of the page, but I think products like this still exist for more modern cell phones, where you can put your cell phone into a dock when you get home and it runs all of your home phones from your cell phone.

You might also consider doing all of this with some kind of a blue tooth controller instead of an actual cell phone.

The way I run my pay phone is by using MagicJack.  It's $20/year for a VoiP line with unlimited everything.  I know that has nothing to do with what you're asking, but that could be another option if you just want your pay phone to work.

[WeeBo]

Hi rbcp,
I've looked into the cradles/docks as well (that page in particular was one of the products), but I thought that would be too easy.
I thought of putting all the guts in the coin change box since than I just have to take out the box and change the battery that way, leaving it "wireless"...unless the handset won't work without some sort of power, but I think the 3.5mm jack should be plenty.
I also think that I will have to use either the # or * key to actually dial the number...but I might miss those keys
I have a few cdma phone laying around that I want to use since than I can just keep everything one number.


EDIT - I didn't think of the ringer....crap.

[nyphonejacks]

id probably just use something like this http://www.myxlink.com/index.aspx

[WeeBo]

id probably just use something like this http://www.myxlink.com/index.aspx

Hey, thanks for the suggestion as well. Both of the products mentioned by you and rbcp are great, but the idea is _not_ to use them.  That's the challenging part

It's more interesting when you take shit apart and figure it out yourself   Where is the fun of just plugging something in  

[nyphonejacks]

then you are going to have to be handy with a soldering iron, i would say to hardwire each button on the phone to its corresponding button on the phone...

i would probably remove the switch hook since it would be useless and put 2 additional buttons there, one for send and one for end... or you could use a 3 pole momentary switch where one direction would be send, and the other direction would be end... if your machine skills are good enough maybe you could integrate this with the coin return knob...

or.. you could set up a relay to the switch hook that when you hang up the handset it momentarily triggers a relay that activates the end button..

EDIT - but i still think just using a bluetooth adapter would be easier and more functional... but if you got the free time and just want a project..

post some pics, or a youtube video of your progress if you decide to do anything with this..

[WeeBo]

Hey,
see that's what I'm talking about. Soldering is not an issue, not great with sm but regular soldering.. I can pull it off
I really like the idea of the relay, I thought of using the coin return button to end the call, since that would be pretty simple, once its pushed in far enough, it makes contact call is ended.  I'm not too keen on adding buttons as I want to keep this looking as original from the outside as possible
I have two spare arduinos laying around that I thought of throwing in there since I could just wire in the buttons to the I/O pins. 
This is just a side project, I would love to have this usable on the wall, or take it with you anywhere...now that's a wireless phone   pfffttt bag phones.... I got a payphone strapped to my back. 
As well,. I always document my work...mostly for my own sake to figure out where some of the small parts belong, I'll try to keep this updated, thanks for the input

[nyphonejacks]

i recommend the relay because with out it the end button would be constantly held down when the phone was on hook...

[WeeBo]

which in turn would shut the phone off.....My own mediocre attempt at humor has been highly amusing to myself.
This is why I was looking for input thanks, as I have an axicom mini/hobby relay, I think I'll end up using that.
Well you just saved me some issues later on, thanks

[WeeBo]

A little update,
Found a phone sans touch screen, i knew I had a few,
I got it all ripped apart at the moment, gonna start soldering the cell keypad to payphone pad, I think I got it figured out, at the least...at the end of the day I'll be able to dial the cell phone with the surrogate pad. 
Taking pics as I go along if anyone cares
Might have a vid posted tonight...depending how far I get.
The soldering is gonna be a pain as I don't have any solid core wiring just stranded (using scraps)

EDIT : I Forgot how much I love doing soldering with shaky hands after three cups of coffee...and i forgot to check if the cell phone powers on.. hindsight?

[nyphonejacks]

i just love relays... i have really only had experience installing them the past year or two... mostly just for door buzzers, but eventually i would like to set up some type of smart home wiring using a bunch of relays - a bit pointless to do when i am renting an apartment but who knows perhaps some day, if i can get my wife to go along with it (or do it when she is gone and not tell her, then call up and remotely mess with the lights when she is home and I am away - ive had fun caller ID spoofing her from various family members and government agencies)

i would love to see progress pix or video of your project when you are done..

[WeeBo]

Well here is a quick video of the phone keypad and cell....this is just a quick vid, I'll post everything else when it's done
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/CyNqsQHLAIc&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/CyNqsQHLAIc&rel=1</a>

[WeeBo]

i just love relays... i have really only had experience installing them the past year or two... mostly just for door buzzers, but eventually i would like to set up some type of smart home wiring using a bunch of relays - a bit pointless to do when i am renting an apartment but who knows perhaps some day, if i can get my wife to go along with it (or do it when she is gone and not tell her, then call up and remotely mess with the lights when she is home and I am away - ive had fun caller ID spoofing her from various family members and government agencies)

i would love to see progress pix or video of your project when you are done..

Get a few arduinos or even just one, a net shield, a bunch of photoeyes and LED's and make a make shift security system, you can control anytyhing. I have a few pics of when I did mine, they're not great, it was just of the WIP but I can post them. It is so much fun, you can also attach temp sensors, light sensors, make it do stuff by sms...I could keep going, arduino is a great project starter.

[nyphonejacks]

looks like you made a lot of progress already...

seems like all that is left is mounting it and figuring out how to get the audio into the handset... maybe using the headset jack might be easier than trying to connect to the internal mic and speaker of the phone itself?

[Mickster]

Cool project there Weebo! Looks real nice.