Telephone master - am I totally stupid?

[Chri5]

I thought that the BT line was already on

From what I remember BT ringing is alternating DC via the master capacitor, might be wrong on that one.

Final test before you HAVE to seek BT help would be to wire the earth and voltage wires to pins 2 and 5, polarity doesn't matter, but should you wish A'leg (earth) goes to 5 and B'leg (battery) goes to 2.

Then take a known working plain ordinary telephone (pot) plug it in and see if you get dial tone. If you do, ring the mobile and call line id will tell you the number and then you can check ringing.

 

[Softus]

I thought that the BT line was already on

Really? You can glean that much from the rubbish that this OP has written?

 

[Chri5]

Calm down the OP started the thread with the title

"Telephone master - am I totally stupid?"

so what's the point in getting rude and antsy- it serves no purpose

Have a cuppa and lets see what the OP says..........to this:-

Has the line ever worked?
Have you asked BT to turn it on?
Have you got a BT bill for the place in your name?

 

[Softus]

Ask the OP some questions - what a stroke of genius!

Wish I'd thought of that.

 

[theflyingpig]

I really have made a terrible job of explaining this situation havn't I . .

when I bought the flat the line was still connected in the previous owners name. I contacted BT who told me there were in fact 2 lines to the property, and there are two drop wires entering the flat. there was an amazing amount of internal wiring with sockets in every room. All this internal wiring got ripped out during the renovations, including any master boxes there may have been.

10 days ago I bought what the master from QVS and connected the two most likely wires to it. (to the drop wire that had the four cables, the other is internal wireing but comes in from outside the front door)

last week I phoned BT who said they would charge me the 120 whatever quid to reconnect - but when pressed a little said no, they could reconnect the line without charge. when I tried the line it didn't work - hence me asking for advice here.

so BT have turned it on, I am paying line rental, it doesn't work, though using the multimeter i can see which of the dropwires is active.

its frustrating, though I would have thought only for me. . . .

 

[bernardgreen]

I thought that the BT line was already on

From what I remember BT ringing is alternating DC via the master capacitor, might be wrong on that one.

Most commonly used ringing voltage is the standing negative 50 volts DC in series with 70 volts AC so the result is a near sine wave with peaks at negative 120 volts and positive 20 volts relative to earth.

This passes through the capacitor onto wire 3 to which the bells ( or sounders ) are connected.

It is not unknown for un-used lines to have the standing 50 volts on them but no dial tone. What may have happened here is the number that the previous owner had has been transferred to that persons new address and hence it can be rung. The existing line at the OP's house has no number associated to it and is nothing more than a out of service line that was not dis-connected from the subscriber's unit at the exchange ( hence still has 50 volts on it ) but the subscriber's unit was dis-abled from making or receiving calls as it has no mumber associated with it.

 

[Softus]

You've paid nothing, and you've got nothing.

FFS pay them their f***ing money.

 

[bernardgreen]

thanks all for further information. I bought a multimeter at eh weekend and ID'd the wires - reading -50v between one and earth as suggested earlier. however that ididn't seem to change when i rang the line from mobile, though i could hear it ringing . .
looks like I'm goign to hae to involve the BT ....

Well if it didn't change then the call was ringing to a phone elsewhere........

The number has been re-assigned to another phone line.

If you want phone service you have to involve BT

 

[JOHNBOY42]

thflyingpig...... if you connect the 2 wires on a master socket it will be a and b leg,or a krone connection it will be 5 and 2,plug a telephone in and dial 17070 and that will give you the number of that line( even if tos ) to see if its your line or the other one that was coming into the flat..........any more info required post it and I wll guide you through it.................. John

 

[Softus]

...and if you want some groceries for nothing, just wear a really big coat and trot off down to Tesco. Fill yer basket, walk up to an empty till, and start tapping buttons in the vain hope that you don't need a key to enable it. Any more info required post it and I will guide you through it.

 

[bernardgreen]

...and if you want some groceries for nothing, just wear a really big coat and trot off down to Tesco. Fill yer basket, walk up to an empty till, and start tapping buttons in the vain hope that you don't need a key to enable it. Any more info required post it and I will guide you through it.

Now come on Softus....stick on topic. If he wants free phone calls then all he needs is a phone with a long lead with crocodile clips on the end. Find some open wire phone line, clips on and away he goes.

Same thing with electricity for the home. Just need bigger croc clips and the 11,000 to 230 volt transformer.......

 

[securespark]

What's the big deal here?

If BT have told you that the will set you up FOC, why the %(*^*)%& haven't you called them in instead of mucking about with their equipment?

 

[JOHNBOY42]

Softus , we are all trying to help this person out ,,except you and I have noticed all your remarks are sercastic comments,,its very easy to be critical of other poeples failures,,so whats your problem,, I think you are one of those guys who sits in the pub corner by himself and moans about everything ..............possibly akin to one of the Harry Enfield characters,,,,,the old gits..........Get a life you sad old git

 

[securespark]

On the other hand, in Softus' defence (not that he has any trouble standing up for himself), the OP has claimed to be too mean to fork out money for BT to put his problem right & is f'ing about with their connection.

Now he says they have offered to put it right FOC, but he is still messing.

WHY?

 

[JOHNBOY42]

Securespark,see my earlier posting on BT and their obligations as this is a area which I am very very familiar with so why he has not phoned them is beyond me,,,,,,,,,,,,,,but never mind I was trying to put him/her on the right footing but them comments annoyed me a tad