Home Automation - Phone wiring choices / limitations
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mike-the-diy'er
01-25-04, 11:05 AM
Hi guys, this is a follow-up to my earlier post on complete new home structured wiring. I am at the connections stage now.
From the coax cable perspective - piece of cake, got it down.
From the network cable perspective also fairly straightforward and I believe I have it down. I have picked the 568B standard and will stick to it on both ends (unless of course I screw-up one)
One issue I have discovered on the RJ45 connectors (male) is that it is very difficult to get the individual wires pulled all the way down into the black insert prior to crimping. Also my Cat 6 cable has the inside wire seperator that is hard to clip close without cutting one of the wires. I hope to get better as I progress. My two test tries still had about 1/4" of the outer shief (sp) away from the end of the connector.
Telephone is a different issue however. First off I am using the Leviton Quickport products, and for phone will use their 6 position RJ11 female port. I will have 2 seperate phone lines into the house. Line A will be our home #, Line B is the business #. We try to keep the two phone ##'s very segregated. (kids don't get to use the business line)
Questions / Issues:
1. What pin ##'s correspond to the correct locations on the Leviton plug. Best I can determine is: Line A (Red = pin #3, Green = pin #4) Line B ( Yellow = pin # 5. Black = pin #2). I first figured that out myself , then confirmed it using Levitons color code on the side. DAH!!! Am I right?
2. While I have plenty of flexability with my cable, faceplates & ports, I believe I have device limitations. These device limitations may make me wire certain plugs differently. Specifically we have some 1 line phones, 2 line phones, & a 1 line fax/phone combo.
Will a 1 line phone work as normal when I have wired a plug for 2 lines?
Can a 1 line phone recieve only Line B, when it is connected to a plug wired for 2 lines?
When I only want line B in the office, should I wire (connect) for only that line? I am worried that I will confuse the fax/phone device if I wire it for both lines. FYI its connection plug only uses the two most inner pins (pins #3 & #4).
I had originally thought I would wire all plugs the same expecting to wire each single RJ11 plug for 2 phone lines. But now I am questionning that plan.
Your help is greatly appeciated. I have found this wiring is not hard, but you need to think it through prior to doing it. Unlike primary electrical wiring, Black is not always Black, nor is it always the "hot" wire.
Thanks
From the coax cable perspective - piece of cake, got it down.
From the network cable perspective also fairly straightforward and I believe I have it down. I have picked the 568B standard and will stick to it on both ends (unless of course I screw-up one)
One issue I have discovered on the RJ45 connectors (male) is that it is very difficult to get the individual wires pulled all the way down into the black insert prior to crimping. Also my Cat 6 cable has the inside wire seperator that is hard to clip close without cutting one of the wires. I hope to get better as I progress. My two test tries still had about 1/4" of the outer shief (sp) away from the end of the connector.
Telephone is a different issue however. First off I am using the Leviton Quickport products, and for phone will use their 6 position RJ11 female port. I will have 2 seperate phone lines into the house. Line A will be our home #, Line B is the business #. We try to keep the two phone ##'s very segregated. (kids don't get to use the business line)
Questions / Issues:
1. What pin ##'s correspond to the correct locations on the Leviton plug. Best I can determine is: Line A (Red = pin #3, Green = pin #4) Line B ( Yellow = pin # 5. Black = pin #2). I first figured that out myself , then confirmed it using Levitons color code on the side. DAH!!! Am I right?
2. While I have plenty of flexability with my cable, faceplates & ports, I believe I have device limitations. These device limitations may make me wire certain plugs differently. Specifically we have some 1 line phones, 2 line phones, & a 1 line fax/phone combo.
Will a 1 line phone work as normal when I have wired a plug for 2 lines?
Can a 1 line phone recieve only Line B, when it is connected to a plug wired for 2 lines?
When I only want line B in the office, should I wire (connect) for only that line? I am worried that I will confuse the fax/phone device if I wire it for both lines. FYI its connection plug only uses the two most inner pins (pins #3 & #4).
I had originally thought I would wire all plugs the same expecting to wire each single RJ11 plug for 2 phone lines. But now I am questionning that plan.
Your help is greatly appeciated. I have found this wiring is not hard, but you need to think it through prior to doing it. Unlike primary electrical wiring, Black is not always Black, nor is it always the "hot" wire.
Thanks
SafeWatch
01-25-04, 11:46 AM
It sounds like you pretty much have it down. To get a better understanding of what I'm talking about, and to see some pics of how phone wiring works, take a look at http://phonewiring.safewatchservice.com - it will explain better.
Essentially, on RJ11 jacks and plugs, line 1 is the two inner pins, line 2 is the two outter pins (take a look at the link.) So, any 1 line device is only going to use the 2 inner pins. A 2 line device is going to have line 1 on the inner pins and line 2 on the outter pins.
Now, to relate the pins and lines to wire colors, think of the inner pins as the Red and Green wires (or Blue/White if you have Cat5.)
If you want use line 1 on a 1 line device, just connect the Red/Green from the line to the Red/Green terminals on the jack (essentially, the Red/Green terminals are the inner pins on the jack - line 1.) If you want to use line 2 on a 1 line device, connect the Black/Yellow wires to the Red/Green terminals on the jack - this will put line 2 on the inner pins.
If you want to make it really easy, you just wire all the jacks the same (Red-Red/Green-Green/Black-Black/Yellow-Yellow) and get a plug-in Line splitter from the Shack or pretty much any electronics store or department. A Line Splitter usually has 3 jacks on it - Line 1, Line 2, and Line 1&2. That way, you can wire everything the same and just plugs these splitters in - then you just connect the phone to whatever jack you want to use.
Good luck!
Essentially, on RJ11 jacks and plugs, line 1 is the two inner pins, line 2 is the two outter pins (take a look at the link.) So, any 1 line device is only going to use the 2 inner pins. A 2 line device is going to have line 1 on the inner pins and line 2 on the outter pins.
Now, to relate the pins and lines to wire colors, think of the inner pins as the Red and Green wires (or Blue/White if you have Cat5.)
If you want use line 1 on a 1 line device, just connect the Red/Green from the line to the Red/Green terminals on the jack (essentially, the Red/Green terminals are the inner pins on the jack - line 1.) If you want to use line 2 on a 1 line device, connect the Black/Yellow wires to the Red/Green terminals on the jack - this will put line 2 on the inner pins.
If you want to make it really easy, you just wire all the jacks the same (Red-Red/Green-Green/Black-Black/Yellow-Yellow) and get a plug-in Line splitter from the Shack or pretty much any electronics store or department. A Line Splitter usually has 3 jacks on it - Line 1, Line 2, and Line 1&2. That way, you can wire everything the same and just plugs these splitters in - then you just connect the phone to whatever jack you want to use.
Good luck!
mike-the-diy'er
02-06-04, 05:17 PM
One more question, it probably should go in the forum above this, but wanted to keep in the same thread since I have background info here.
In my home run location I have a 66 block to connect the phone lines. I have 18 or so total locations, however to save a few $$ right now(with this new house we are broke now) I have simply put blank faceplates on 6 of those locations. The wires (CAT 6) are simply left cut with nothing on the ends of them.
My question is can I go ahead and punch them down on the 66 block? Or should I leave them completely unconnected in the home run location?
Do you (I) have to worry about signal degradeation (sp) for phone lines in your house? My best guess is that I ran around 700' of wire to those 18 locations just for the phone.
On the 66 Block I already know how to link up each of the rows for the incoming wires from the phone company. Actually it is phone, TV, & data from the same cable provider.
I am almost done now, all the end connections have been made, I now have to connect up at the home run loctation and then get the service brought into the house. We will see how many connections I screwed up.
Mike
In my home run location I have a 66 block to connect the phone lines. I have 18 or so total locations, however to save a few $$ right now(with this new house we are broke now) I have simply put blank faceplates on 6 of those locations. The wires (CAT 6) are simply left cut with nothing on the ends of them.
My question is can I go ahead and punch them down on the 66 block? Or should I leave them completely unconnected in the home run location?
Do you (I) have to worry about signal degradeation (sp) for phone lines in your house? My best guess is that I ran around 700' of wire to those 18 locations just for the phone.
On the 66 Block I already know how to link up each of the rows for the incoming wires from the phone company. Actually it is phone, TV, & data from the same cable provider.
I am almost done now, all the end connections have been made, I now have to connect up at the home run loctation and then get the service brought into the house. We will see how many connections I screwed up.
Mike
Vector
02-17-04, 02:38 PM
Originally posted by mike-the-diy'er
My question is can I go ahead and punch them down on the 66 block? Or should I leave them completely unconnected in the home run location?
Best to leave them unterminated on both ends until you can finish it entirely. The voltage on a ring signal is enough to create a spark under some conditions (I've seen it).
Do you (I) have to worry about signal degradeation (sp) for phone lines in your house? My best guess is that I ran around 700' of wire to those 18 locations just for the phone.
Not from the wire itself. If you try to hook up 18 phones at one time you will likely see issues due to the limited current supply from the telco.
I am almost done now, all the end connections have been made, I now have to connect up at the home run loctation and then get the service brought into the house. We will see how many connections I screwed up.
If you can swing it, test your connections before the service is connected. The telco won't help you out at all, and things can be harder to diagnose when the serivice is live (though they should provide a disconnect). A cheap 4-pair tester shouldn't run too much.
My question is can I go ahead and punch them down on the 66 block? Or should I leave them completely unconnected in the home run location?
Best to leave them unterminated on both ends until you can finish it entirely. The voltage on a ring signal is enough to create a spark under some conditions (I've seen it).
Do you (I) have to worry about signal degradeation (sp) for phone lines in your house? My best guess is that I ran around 700' of wire to those 18 locations just for the phone.
Not from the wire itself. If you try to hook up 18 phones at one time you will likely see issues due to the limited current supply from the telco.
I am almost done now, all the end connections have been made, I now have to connect up at the home run loctation and then get the service brought into the house. We will see how many connections I screwed up.
If you can swing it, test your connections before the service is connected. The telco won't help you out at all, and things can be harder to diagnose when the serivice is live (though they should provide a disconnect). A cheap 4-pair tester shouldn't run too much.