If I run a landline phone (as opposed to a cordless phone) through my digital answering machine, will I still be able to use the phone if the power goes out in my house? Or should I connect the phone directly to the outlet and use a splitter for the answering machine?
Is there a limit to the amount of times you can split a phone line? I read somewhere that you cannot spit a line more than five times. But can I take one of the five split lines and split that again, into two more lines?
Thanks!
You can "split," actually parallel, just about any number of phones. However, if your central office loop is exceptionally long, you might have a problem with some phones ringing. Most answering machines just pass the 2 wires through. You can experiment by plugging a phone into the answering machine jack and connect the line to the answering machine. Then, unplug the power from the anwering machine, simulating a power failure. Check the phone ... it will probably work. BTW, my neighbor has 8 phones in his house. We used to be 30K feet from the central office (this is a long loop) and I assume it worked ok otherwise he would have asked me to look at it. Now we are only about
2 blocks from a remote underground vault, i.e we can now get DSL .... YES!Julie P. wrote:
Thanks Art! The longest stretch of line in my house would be no more than
150 feet from jack to phone.I will try your test. I know my fax machine says its phone will not work if the power goes out, so I assumed it would be similar with a line passing through answering machine.
And I have noticed that one of my phones rings about two or three seconds after the other does, although sometimes it rings at the same time. Strange.
You can only split a line 5 times, this is true.
But yes, you can split each of the splits 5 times as well, and each of those 5 times too.
The combined total of all the splits cannot exceed 2,500,000,197.2 though, so be careful.
You can only lose power to your house if you hook more than one outlet to a clothes hanger, and we all know no one would EVER do that, so why worry?
Thanks. :) I have no more than 10 devices I need to connect to a phone line.
I just need an easy and quick way to ground a few outlets.
You should be trying to correct the violations rather than creating more. The code is to protect you and your house; it is not just some senseless government gibberish like the tax code. Any of your fixes will create ground loops that are potentially dangerous. Well, they would create ground loops if you were actually doing anything, which you probably aren't.
Why? It is not my house. And the landlord won't do anything.
Because you guys have not given me any good advice! What is an easy way to ground one or a few outlets?
Two problems here
#1 Your an idiot
#2 It isn't your house
Leave your landlords wiring alone. If you want something changed get the landlord to do it or hire an electrician. One day, if he's lucky, your going to move and the new tenants don't need the headache from all the kludges you installed in the house with rigged up compressor wiring and half assed grounded outlets.
Steve B.
You're an asshole. I would never leave the wiring I did installed after I move out. And my landlord doesn't care about any modifications I make. Even the modifications she made no not comply with code, and they were done by a certified electrician. Now begone with you troll bitch.
Answering machine probly won't work, unless its battery powered.
But most phones are are still powered off of the telco line, at least the last ones I checked.
Just so long as the total number of devices doesn't exceed your telco's published maximum REN limitation, otherwise they would need to reset at the CO to insure that all your stations will ring on incoming calls--there are usually added charges involved here.
You'll know you have too many ringers bridged to the line if some of the bells only produce a partial or "sick sounding" ring...
Also realize that if you have several extension phones and then everybody in the household picks up and is trying to listen in at the same time, you will get a fairly large signal loss--often to the point where the conversation may not even be audible at some or all of the stations.
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