A (basic?) question about phone wire - extension sockets

spookylukey

In have un upstairs BT socket in my spare bedroom, coming from that socket is a wire which trails round the skirting and goes through a hole that has been drilled in the top of my bedroom doorframe but when I moved in the wire had been cut.

I bought some BT phone cable crimps



and found an old extension cable but the existing phone wire had 6 cables (blue/white, white/blue, orange/white, white/orange, green/white, white/green) wheras the extension socket had 4 cables (blue/white, white/blue, orange/white, white/orange)

So I connected each of the 4 wires (marked with a red cross on this pic)



The result was this



I then had to take the end of the extension to thread it through the hole and found that only the blue wires were connected



I get a dial tone from the extension so it works which is the main thing but was wondering have I connected the orange wires with the connector crimps unnecessarily? Also does my extension not having any green wires mean anything?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts

Decado23

If I remember rightly, the BT master socket is only connected to the outside world with 2 wires, extension sockets connect to the BT master with 4 wires. Any other wires you happen to have in your cable are surplus to requirements.

old_codger1

I seem to remember you only actually need 2 wires but as if you don't know which ones have been connected at which end, (not to mention it's working, anyway ), I wouldn't worry about it

old_codger1

spookylukey wrote: »

The result was this

BTW, very pretty. Are you involved in flower arranging or something?

spookylukey

old_codger1 wrote: »

BTW, very pretty. Are you involved in flower arranging or something?

Ha, ha - that's my point! It looks hideous so if I can lose two of those clips that are currently connecting the orange wires then it's going to be easier to hide. I don't want to cut them off to find out if it still works as then the wires will be too short to reconnect and also it was really fiddly to do in the first place!

old_codger1

spookylukey wrote: »

Ha, ha - that's my point! It looks hideous so if I can lose two of those clips that are currently connecting the orange wires then it's going to be easier to hide. I don't want to cut them off to find out if it still works as then the wires will be too short to reconnect and also it was really fiddly to do in the first place!

You could simply bare the wires and wrap them around each other, (using a soldering iron to 'silver' them if you've got one), and put some white tape to seperate them.

spookylukey

OK, I think I've possibly just asked the most stupid question in MSE history, and taken photos to prove my point

The orange wires which I spent ages fiddling around trying to connect at the join with crimp clips are NOT connected to the actual socket at the end where the phone is plugged in so of course it's not going to make any difference if I don't connect them at the join Have just cut the crimp clips off the orange cables and am left with a much neater looking join and a working phone. Thanks to all who offered help!

macman

FYI, the orange wire with a white stripe is the bell wire. Older phones needed a power supply to ring the bell. Modern ones don't need this, so the orange wire is redundant. The white wire with orange stripe is a earth, which is not needed on domestic systems.

old_codger1

See... all we needed was an expert and the job's a good'un

Decado23

spookylukey wrote: »

OK, I think I've possibly just asked the most stupid question in MSE history, and taken photos to prove my point

There are no stupid questions (assuming honest requests for help - trolls don't count).

isofa

2 wires all throughout is all you need, disconnect the bell wire as that can just cause interference, especially on ADSL.