Telephone cable

[beezee28]

I have an old house which was wired either pre-or just post 50's, when the code is not so strigent. The phone wire is like ancient. It is 3 strand and twisted together with black rubber insulation. I want to know how to feed off this old wire. I know 1 pair (2 wires) will be connected to the Yellow and Green (new standard) but what about the other wire? The way it is connected now is the cable goes into a junction box and then it is tied to the green and yellow at each scr-w and the other is also to a scr-w but not connected to anywire. Should I leave this alone and insulate the end??

 

[Paul Moir]

Re: Telephone cable

Just connect the Red/Green pair and leave the third wire unconnected. The yellow/black pair is "spare".<br /><br />The colour codes hear might be different but I doubt it. I take it the three wire has identifiable conductors right (different insulation colours or something?)

 

[ndemge]

Re: Telephone cable

for phone wire, doesn't really matter much. red/green is the usual line one, black/yellow line 2<br /><br />Old wire -> Cat3/5 <br />Red/Green = Blue pair Line 1<br />Black/Yellow = Orange Pair Line 2<br />Green Pair = Line 3<br />Brown Pair = Line 4

 

[KilroyJC]

Re: Telephone cable

Today's spitball of trivia:<br /><br />In a 3 or 5 wire situation (r-g/w or r-g/y-b/w) the odd wire was used to supply power to a lamp in the phone when it went off-hook. Remember the Princess Phone? That's what the other wire is for. I'd be suprised if the telco is still supplying voltage for it. When I had to have my drop cable (from the pole to the house) replaced a couple years ago, the tech almost begged me not to request that hooked up again, because my house would have been the only one on the block to still have it live. It would have required him to go back to the garage & get a different drop cable, because the new cable does not have that provision anymore, and you can't just "steal a pair" to make that connection.

 

[woodduck17]

Re: Telephone cable

The power for the light on Princess phone was supplied by a transformer plugged into the 110v wall outlet. And yes it was usually wired to the yellow/black pair. All light-up handsets now are powered by the 48v line voltage.