Telephone socket extension wiring question

[andyman123]

Hi all, thanks for taking the time to read and respond.

As can be seen in the picture; this is the main telephone socket into my house (BT). I have run a 4 stranded (Green, Black, Yellow, Red) in black sheathing cable to an extension in my other room.

Presently the main socket works and is wired as follows:
White/Blue - 5 - (Green - 4 strand)
White/orange - 4 - (Black - 4 strand)
Orange/white - 3 - (Yellow - 4 strand)
Blue/white - 2 (Red - 4 strand)

The above wiring has tone and I can make and accept calls.

Extension wiring - From the 4 strand cable can you advise of the following:
1) Whether I have the correct wiring above
2) If not, what is the correct wiring
3) What is my exertions wiring - I presume it would be the same corresponding connections as from the master socket.

I have wired the above and get no tone in my extension socket, so either the phone socket is faulty or the wiring is incorrect. I'm thinking the latter.

If you can correct me I would be very appreciative.

Regards

Andyman123

 

[sparkymarka]

Stranded cable is no good in " push down connectors , use the correct cable

 

[EFLImpudence]

As long as you wire from and to the same numbered terminal, it should work.
Are all your wires making contact?

 

[Iggifer]

Stranded cable is no good in " push down connectors , use the correct cable

He just means 2-pair. He's referring to it as 4-stranded cable with coloured strands

 

[flameport]

The above wiring has tone and I can make and accept calls.

Which wiring? The other extension on the white/colour wiring? Or the master socket itself?

What tool did you use to connect the new wiring to the terminals in the plate shown and the new extension socket?

 

[andyman123]

The tool that I used was a specific tool that is used to push down the telephone wire into the appropriate connectors.

In order to make a proper connection do you think that I should strip the wire to ensure I get a proper connection?

 

[Spark123]

No, the IDC terminal doesn't require the wire to be stripped. Stranded cable isn't very suitable for IDC terminals though, they are made for solid core telephone cable.

 

[jg321]

It does look like flat stranded cable to me - you'll struggle to get a good contact in those IDC connectors, which are designed for solid core cable. If you do manage to get it to work, it'll be unreliable, likely to fail at any time, and will totally ruin any broadband, potentially even if you don't connect the router to the end of it (it'll still pick up interference).

I very strongly recommend you get and run some CW1308 cable instead.

 

[andyman123]

Thank you for your comments so far. It is going to be very difficult for me to get a new cable to the exsisting position of the extension telephone socket. Therefore, would it be possible for me to connect my exsisting cable to some more appropriate telephone cable and then terminate this into the socket?

Would this work?

 

[jg321]

You're then going to have the problem of getting a connector which accepts both solid and stranded cable.

Do you use broadband on your telephone line, or is your internet via Virgin Media? If you do have broadband through your phone line, where is the router in relation to this socket?

 

[andyman123]

Thank you for your response. In answer to your question, yes I have sky broadband which is provided currently by my master telephone socket and that is where the router is positioned. However, the purpose of the telephone extension (secondary sockets) is that I am wanting to move all of my media including router and sky etc to a designated media area in a different room.

 

[jg321]

OK - trust me when I say that you do not want to run your broadband over that cable - if it is indeed untwisted pair. Even a short length of it will considerably slow your broadband down. If it's a few metres, or worse still anywhere near a power cable, forget it. In case you're wondering about my experience with this, I have 10 years experience in the ISP industry (and 5+ years on top of that in general IT). Not telling you this to brag - but just to assure you that I know what I'm talking about here.

I know it's a pain, but you really need to rethink your plans here. Anything other than CW1308 at a minimum is not a good idea, and will cause you problems in the long run. I'd actually suggest running Cat5e/Cat6 cable - as you can use that as phone cable in the short term, and in future, if needed, you can run Ethernet over it.

I've done this similar my recently purchased 1930s semi, and I've already reconfigured things a little to allow my TiVO boxes to share recorded programmes.

 

[SimonH2]

Also, do yourself a favour and get an "interstitial filter plate" for the master socket. This splits out the xDSL signal at the master socket, and isolates it from the phone signal. You then extend it with a separate pair if you want your router elsewhere in the house.

As the others have said, these terminals are designed for solid cores. They will often work with stranded, but only when they are the only cores in the terminal, and usually also only if the terminals haven't been used for solid cores before. If you try and mix wire types in one terminal, as you have done here with solid cores followed by stranded, then the terminals generally don't make contact with one or other of the wires.

If you really really can't replace the cable, then you can get the small white junction boxes with one set of punchdowns and one set of screw terminals. Or you could get the soldering iron and heatshrink out

 

[jg321]

Also, do yourself a favour and get an "interstitial filter plate" for the master socket.

Agreed. Good shout.

If you really really can't replace the cable, then you can get the small white junction boxes with one set of punchdowns and one set of screw terminals. Or you could get the soldering iron and heatshrink out

Both of these are good options. If your broadband is pretty good already, and you can live with some loss of speed, then you might get away with the cable you have. Only way to find out is to try. Also bear in mind that ADSL (normal broadband)/VDSL (fibre to the cabinet) connections tend to react quickly to poor line conditions (e.g. putting in a crappy extension cable!), and then recover much more slowly, even if the poor conditions are rectified. If your broadband is marginal to begin with, I would seriously not recommend trying this new cable.

 

[rsgaz]

They will often work with stranded, but only when they are the only cores in the terminal, and usually also only if the terminals haven't been used for solid cores before.

then you might get away with the cable you have. Only way to find out is to try.

Agreed, IDC terminals are designed to take two wires in each slot, of the same size. Andyman123, what exactly is the cable you have used? Do you have the reel still or a link to what you bought? Or is there any lettering printed on it? Especially if it says AWG or mm² on it anywhere.

The master socket is wired incorrectly in the first place. The original wires should be connected to the other part of the faceplate, not the part in the picture. This would then free up the IDC connections in the picture for your new cable, which, even if it turns out to be 26AWG stranded for example, may still work.