Telephone extensions woes

[craig51]

Ok.

I have a master socket. Coming into this is a red and black wire which I can see is connected to A and B. This socket works fine as does broadband.

I ran some 4 core wire to a cupboard and connected the red and black only to terminals 2 and 5 in the extensions and also in the screw of plate on the master socket. This socket works aswell, so phone and broadband all good.

Now, I need one more extension, so did exactly the same as above, ran a wire from the first extension, and connected red and black , the same connectors (2 and 5) and nothing, no dial tone , nothing .

I tried changing the socket in case it was faulty and even the wire extension in case it had a break in it and again nothing.

So, master socket and extension 1 works fine, it's the second extension I can't get to work at all. Why oh why!

 

[tomy]

If it is on the idc terminals it probably hasnt made a connection properly as they dont always if there is already another wire in there

 

[bernardgreen]

Red and Black

Is this flat cable with stranded wires laid side by side ? ( as apposed to round cable with core wires twisted in pairs )

If it is stranded wire then the IDC (push down) terminals will not make proper contact with the wire. IDC are designed for solid core wire.

 

[cajar]

+1 for wrong cable used. sounds like alarm cable? and if so you're lucky the first extension works.

Either rerun using the proper cable, or jelly crimp or use a screw terminal at the first extension socket to give you a tail of 4 inches of the correct cable and push that into the IDC to give you a firmer connection. Bit of a bodge but will get you working until you can face rerunning the cable.

 

[craig51]

Thanks all.

I went to b&q and just bought their 15m kit which came with 4 core wire and a socket. I cut the cable into 7m and then terminated it into the first box, then bought a second box with the hope of a second extension but just couldn't get it to work. I will take your advise and buy a screw box instead of the idc ones I have just now. I did try to ram them down but clearly not enough.

 

[flameport]

I did try to ram them down but clearly not enough.

Rammed with what? If it wasn't the proper IDC tool, then the socket contacts are now ruined.

The proper tool requires 1 press of the handle to secure and trim the wires.