How to Extend 5 Phone Lines by 15-ft?

How can I extend five phone lines by 15-ft each?

I am in the process of re-organizing the telephone connections at the central panel. Currently, all five phone lines coming from various rooms in my house home run into a distribution block in an area in the basement. Originally, this was OK. Unfortunately, when I finished the basement, I didn't take that area into account, and now that area is very hard to reach. I plan to move the distribution block to a different area that is easily accessible.

The problem is that four out of five phone lines don't have any slack; this means I cannot move them to the new location without extending them somehow. What is the right way to extend them?

Should I use a phone-line junction box? Should I use wire-nuts? Should I use something called Scotchlok connectors in place of wire nuts? Should I turn the end of the phone line into a plug and use a phone line coupler?

Phone line junction box seems to be a logical choice especially for a phone line that has 2-pairs of wires (4 wires total); a junction box is designed to handle 4-wires anyway; this will be a perfect fit. But one phone line has 4-pairs of wire (8 wires total) (it is probably a cat-5 cable). If I use a junction box for a 8-wire phone line, I will lose the potential future use of 4 wires.

Should I use phone line junction box for the lines that have 2-pairs of wires and use cat-5 coupler and plugs for the line that has 4-pairs of wires?

Please note that the junction area will be hidden behind ceiling tiles; therefore, appearance is not an issue. Thanks in advance for any suggestion.

Jay Chan

Reply to
jaykchan
Loading thread data ...

Invest in a punch-down tool and buy a punch down block.

formatting link
This is just first look I tried from a Google search, lots of people sell this stuff. The block that comes up here is for a 25-pair block, you only need a block capable of handling 5. The smaller ones probably exist for sale, but the 25-pair ones are the most popular, may actually cost less. You can skip buying the "shorting clips" by just punching your own shorting jumpers down the middle (from scrap wire). I've seen the actual tools a *lot* cheaper than the one they sell here, I think you can get one for $20.

Find one spot where all existing lines pass (or you can get them to if you re-route.) Install the punch block there. Leave the block with 2 runs of network cable (4 pair each) and run those to your new termination point. You'll have 3 spare pairs, no law against that.

Telco wire is VERY forgiving of splices... No shorts + no opens = it will work. That's the way they do it in the real world, a zillion times a day.

Reply to
I-zheet M'drurz

You omitted some needed informatiom to be certain of a response being applicable.

It -sounds- like you have all analog telephones. But you mentioned CAT-5, which is for digital telephone communications. Or, the CAT-5 may have just been installed when the house was built, and that's what you're now changing, but then you indicate a mix of CAT-5 and other phone wires. An analog phone sysem will have an "REN" stamped on the bottom of it. There is about 40 - 50 VDC between the two used wires, which drops to 6-12 VDC or so when you pick up the phone, and

110Vac during ringing voltages (phone ringing). Digital lines may or may not show you any DC voltage on them, and it will be very low compared to analog lines.Maximum current possible under short circuit will be 100 mA or less when the phones are hung up and not ringing.

IFF these are -analog- phone lines, you can use about any method you want to to extend them. Splices can be made with whatever you wish to use. Analog only needs two wires, the center two in the jacks.

IFF they are digital phone lines, then you need to use CAT-5 connectors (maybe a box from Radio Shack). Don't try to do those by twisting wires because there is an impedance to the cable that depends on wiring positions and spacing, and it must be maintained for best operation of the phones. Simplest way would be just buy a single box for each line, or a gang box, and plug the original lines into it, the plug your extended wiring into the other side, and you're done. CAT-5 on digital lines often uses an 8 pin jack/plugs and the color codes vary. 4 wires minimum are used in a functioning CAT-5 cable. Inside two and outside two.

Do NOT mix 6 pin (analog) and 8 pin (digital) systems together. If it's 8, use 8. If it's 6, use 6. And LABEL and record every wire connection for future repairs/expansions etc. You'll be glad you did.

Kits are available to crimp plugs & jacks onto the applicable phone cords.

HTH

Pop

snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com wrote:

Reply to
Pop

...

...

Umm, unless it's a digital phone line from the telco. More and more showing up all the time now. Or even DSL, which is digital, but uses analog lines, but it's not necessarily all that forgiving of bad splicing habits.

Pop

Reply to
Pop

I would suggest that you buy the button type of Insulation Displacing Connectors (IDCs) and use them to splice on new cable segments on a wire for wire basis. The advantages of the IDCs is that you can apply them without any special tool and they take up less space then a 66 block. You then wire the extended cables to a 66M block that is installed at the new junction location. It is customary to wire the incoming lines to the left side of the 66 bock and then bridge those lines down to additional rows on the same side to match the telephone stations each line will serve. The telephone station wiring is then connected to the pins on the opposite side of the 66M block with one wire per row. Only one conductor is punched down onto any given pin. The bridging clips are used to connect the incoming telco wiring to the interior station wiring. This is done to make trouble shooting easier because removing the bridging clips will isolate any individual station wiring from the outside plant and all other internal station wiring.

-- Tom H

Reply to
HorneTD

Jay, I am guessing you have a "66" block now. If the phone copmpany was doing it they would leave that 66 and punch down another one in the new location ... assuming you can keep that accessible without tearing up too much "building finish". If they did seal it up they would use 10 pink ladies. Shrink tube and solder works too.

Reply to
Greg

Those wouldn't be the IDCs I mentioned in the post to which you replied would they. Why yes they would. Is there an echo in here echo in here echo in here.

-- Tom H

Reply to
HorneTD

Greg posted for all of us....

Never heard this term. What are they?

Reply to
Tekkie

Subject: How to Extend 5 Phone Lines by 15-ft? Newsgroup: alt.home.repair => snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com How can I extend five phone lines by 15-ft each?

You can use a 66 block or B-connectors or Scotchlock connectors.

I wouldn't use wirenuts.

Reply to
G. Morgan

They still make B-connectors, aka pigeon-peckers?

-- Herb snipped-for-privacy@herbstein.com

Reply to
Herb Stein

Subject: Re: How to Extend 5 Phone Lines by 15-ft? Newsgroup: alt.home.repair => Herb Stein >

I use them every day. Never heard them called "pigeon-peckers!"

AKA:

beans peanuts bb's

formatting link

Reply to
G. Morgan

Actually I know about the punch down block that you are referring to. I am planning to install a punch down 110-distribution-block in the new location. I just didn't think of using it as a large junction box. I must admit that using it as a junction box is very attractive. But I can see that I would have a hard time getting it in place in the junction location (cannot see the wires individually).

I think I will use a jack-and-plug combo to join two sections of phone line. This probably will have the least amount of untwisted wires (not that this makes a difference for voice-grade phone line). Thanks for your suggestion anyway.

Jay Chan

Reply to
jaykchan

All the phone lines are for analog use. The DSL line is not involved in this discussion because the phone company has added a DSL splitter box to separate the DSL line from all the other phone lines that are strictly for voices.

Most of the phone lines are old style 4 wires version (red/green/black/yellow). However, there is one line that has 8 wires. I believe it is the recently installed phone line that an electrician installed it for me two years ago. The recently installed line is also for voice only. Actually, I don't know if it is a cat-5 cable or not; I was just guessing based on the fact that it has 8 wires.

I think you are right in saying this. Last night, I tried to use a junction box to connect two phone lines by twisting wires together, and I didn't like it. This was time consuming. I had a feeling that the physical connection was not that great. And I will have a long section of untwisted wires inside the junction box. Of course, I disconnected it. I think I will use a jack-and-plug pair to connect two sections of phone lines together, and house all the jack-and-plug combos in a box or something. I have already had a 110 punch down tool anyway, and I find that making connection to a jack and plug is quite simple. Thanks for the suggestion.

Jay Chan

Reply to
jaykchan

The phone company had a 66-block look-alike thing in the old location. I have no idea if it is a 66 block or not. But the "teeth" in the block look the same as those in a "66 Block Split M" from Leviton. Mine has 6 rows of teeth and 6 teeth in each row.

Anyway, the use of that 66 block will require me to work with that block in the original location. This is hard to do in the original location -- tough to see each wire individually (may be my old eyes). This is exactly the thing that I try to avoid doing.

As mentioned in other of my posts, I will use a jack-and-plug pair to connect two sections of phone lines.

Thanks anyway.

Jay Chan

Reply to
jaykchan

I am not exactly sure if I understand you correctly. The term "IDC" seems to be relevant to the use of a 110 block. The IDC seems to be the connection point in a 110 block. Are you suggesting that I should use a 110 block instead of a 66 block? BTW, I intend to install a 110 Distribution Block in the new location. Therefore, 110 block is not foreign to me. I am just not sure if the IDC that you are referring to imply the use of a 110 block.

I was wondering why they use those bridging clips instead of using wires when I was reading the instruction of a 66 Split M Block. Thanks for the explanation.

Jay Chan

Reply to
jaykchan

Thanks. This means I have many options available (just don't use wire nuts). Currently, I plan to use a jack-and-plug pair to connect two sections of phone lines together. If this approach somehow doesn't work well, I will consider using Scotchlock connectors.

Jay Chan

Reply to
jaykchan

The IDCs I'm talking about are made by 3M and others to splice telephone wiring without the bulk of a 66 or 110 punch down block.

formatting link
is a photograph of what I'm talking about. As others have mentioned they are silicon filled so that there is little risk of the connection corroding open later.

-- Tom H

Reply to
HorneTD

Displacing

should

Thanks

Reply to
phughes200

I saw those IDC before in Home Depot, and I was wondering what they were. Thanks for the link and your explanation. BTW, I got the plugs for making cat-6 patch-cables from the same web page.

Seem like those IDC are great for fixing a small number of individual wires, and their crimping tool is quite low price. This is good. In my case, I need to connect the wires of 5 phone lines; I would have a large number of IDCs hanging around if I used IDCs to connect those phone lines (because I want to connect all wires in each phone line, not just 2 wires each). Therefore, I likely will pass on this one. However, this info will come in handy when I need to fix a small number of wires. Thanks.

Jay Chan

Reply to
jaykchan

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.