Attaching a new phone plug to a cable

[Alan D.]

Hello everyone, I have a phone extension cord pulled from one side of a room to another one (around the room, under the carpet). The thing is that the extension cord is way too long, which results in big bundle of unused cable at the "output" location. I'd like to cut the cable down, and re-attach a new phone plug onto the new end. My y question is - is there a way of attaching a plug onto the cable without that special "crimping" tool. I don't really feel like buying this tool just to do a one time job (I will if I need to) but thought that perhaps there's another way of doing this. I'd greatly appreciate any information or advice. Thank you in advance.

Best regards,

Alan D.

[Greg]

The short answer is no. I have done it with a small screwdriver, one contact at a time but I ended up breaking the strain relief. I suppose if you get the touch you could do it. You can put a wall socket there and use a patch cord.

[willshak]

I've put plugs on shortened phone wires and installed phone jacks in the wall for phone wires that I strung myself. I did not have the special crimp tool. I just used a pair of pliers to set the crimp tabs. Don't ask me for a step-by-step tutorial because I did this about 15 years ago.

[Seth Goodman]

They used to sell RJ11 plugs that you could screw the wires onto, rather than crimping. They were quite expensive (like 10x what a crimp connector cost), but if you only need one...

Radio Shack or a good hardware store probably has what you need.

[Jamie]

As others have noted it is probably possible to do without a crimping tool, but the other side of the coin what are the costs and benefits of just buying the tool. You can probably get a cheap one for under 10 bucks, well worth avoiding possible headaches from an improperly installed connector.

Acutally, I realize I have at least two plastic ones lying around that probably came with some installation kit. Want one? Paypal me 5 bucks and I'll mail one to you ;-) Email this address and I'll send you my real email address and contact info.

[xrongor]

screw the tool. buy the size of cord you need.

randy

[Jamie]

If you could buy phone cords in increments of 6" anywhere from 3 feet to 50 feet, that might work. But you can't which pretty much seems to be his problem. The reality is, you can probably buy a tool, some bulk wire and a box of connectors for barely more than you would pay for a single pre-made cord. And then you've got the stuff next time you need to do it.

[JustDave]

Cut the plug and a few inches of wire off the cord. Cut off the excess wire. Re-splice the red and green wires - twist will work, solder is better. Tape joint. Done.

[xrongor]

ya, in the long run it will probably pay for itself...

randy

[ameijers]

Bet you never tried to splice cheap modular flat cable. Ain't no red and green to it, if it is the typical clear/silver stuff, and most cases, just microscopic copper strands, almost foil. I have done it, but it was tedious and not very reliable. OP should just buy a shorter cable, or wire a real outlet (using surface mount, if needed, with cable hidden in carpet crack behind tack strip, if it is wall-to-wall), or just chill out and restring the wire, and tuck the rolled-up excess in a less noticable spot like behind a table or something. It would be cheaper than buying the crimping tool and bag of connectors, probably.

aem sends...

[Alan D.]

Hello Everyone; Thank you for all your suggestions and interesting comments. As a matter of fact I have already solved the problem (?) by borrowing a tool from a friend (hehe, should have checked with him before) and buying a box of plugs from Home Depot. This wasn't really an issue of money (since the tool is cheap - i.e. around 10 CDN) but rather trying to find out if the tool is the only way of solving the problem. Never the less it was really interesting to see how many approaches were taken by so many people. Thank you again for taking your time to respond to my question. I just started to read this group recently (after having been a first tme home owner for the past 2 weeks) and have to admit, that this is one of the most (if not THE most) interesting and informative groups I have encountered so far on the usenet. Again, I greatly appreciate everyone's input. Have a great weekend.

Best regards,

Alan D.

[Jamie]

Nice to know that people are getting some benefit out of this beyond the Bush/Kerry debate!

[willshak]

There are Bush-Kerry messages in here? Everything I see in here is on topic for home repair. I have a bunch of filters set, so I don't see the garbage, though. Maybe that's the reason I don't see any.

[Jamie]

Hmm, good idea... I never though to check my newsreader, perhaps there's a way I can ignore a topic. There are a bunch of topics that frequently dominate the lower-half of my newreader... seem to have nearly as much traffic as actual home-improvement related questions.

Re: Bush & Cheney = Retard & Crook platform Re: Heavy bag of misinformation

Re: Kerry should work at IHOP. not run for president

Pol: Lee Iacocca drops Bush, backs Kerry

[Lawrence Wasserman]

Don't bother trying to install a new plug; cut off about a foot of cable with the old plug, cut down the remaining cable to the length you want, then splice the individual wires of the remaining cable with the 1 foot pigtail of the original plug.

[Stormin Mormon]

You could probably buy a ten pack of the ends, and then slip the cut off wire in, and press the little metal contacts in with a hammer and a slotted jewlers screw driver.

[Greg]

A hammer is overkill. One of those pocket screwdrivers electronics stores used to give away is perfect with hand pressure. The trick is seating the strain relief without breaking it.