Home phone extension wiring

kevpgtips

Hi everyone.

I am trying to replace a non functioning external phone extension cable (it comes from the master socket in the bedroom outside the house and into the lounge) but obviously I cannot replace the wire without removing the socket. How do I wire this back in after replacing the wire? In fact, it may not need replacing if I simply re-wire the cable to the socket but I'm concerned that when I pull the socket off I will not be able to reconnect it.

Thanks for your help,

Kevin.

penrhyn

You will need a Krone tool to reinsert the cables into the socket.

You can get cheap plastic ones from the diy store.

kevpgtips

Once I have the tool, how does it work? Will it come with info or will it be self explanatory? Cheers for the advice.

penrhyn

Loads of stuff on the Youtube.

Here is one, note the guy is using the expensive version of the tool.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0Lq-WQO02k

spottedray

Hello Penrhyn, as to the tool required to push the wires into the idc terminals you could get away with using a very small flat bladed screw driver. Not best practice but it will work. To use the idc tool put a short length over the terminal and simply press down with the stubbier part of the tool facing the middle of the plate. You do not have to remove the insulation as the terminals bite a hole into it making a contact with the copper core of the wire (in theory at least). Sometimes this does not make a proper contact. Personally I strip off the insulation and double over the wire then press it into the contacts and that works fine for me.
I'm wondering why the extension does not work. Do you suspect a break in the length of the cable leading to it, or loose connection perhaps?

cajef

spottedray wrote: »

Hello Penrhyn, as to the tool required to push the wires into the idc terminals you could get away with using a very small flat bladed screw driver. Not best practice but it will work.

Do NOT use a screwdriver to push wires into IDC terminals, it will splay the terminal apart and can lead to all sorts of troubles with intermittent connection, ask any openreach engineer how many faults they have been called out to where people have used a screwdriver.

Sometimes this does not make a proper contact.

Because people have used a screwdriver, I have never had a problem when using a proper Krone tool and I have done many IDC terminations.

spike7451

cajef wrote: »

Do NOT use a screwdriver to push wires into IDC terminals, it will splay the terminal apart and can lead to all sorts of troubles with intermittent connection, ask any openreach engineer how many faults they have been called out to where people have used a screwdriver.



Because people have used a screwdriver, I have never had a problem when using a proper Krone tool and I have done many IDC terminations.

One hundred percent correct!! Do NOT use a screwdriver or a knife!Use the correct tool for the job.I myself have been to faults where I have ended up replacing a phone socket or 77a because the wrong tool has been used.I have even had to levy a charge for £50 a few times because the affected sockets were extension sockets & therefore not part of the equipment covered by NTL/VM & the customer wanted them working.
So by all means,use the incorrect tool if you want but be prepared that if it doesn't work properly & you call out an engineer,be prepared to pay up.

Owain_Moneysaver

spottedray wrote: »

You do not have to remove the insulation as the terminals bite a hole into it making a contact with the copper core of the wire (in theory at least). Sometimes this does not make a proper contact. Personally I strip off the insulation and double over the wire then press it into the contacts and that works fine for me.

No, no and thrice no. The insulation displacement part of the connection holds the wire steady and the actual connection should form a gas-tight, corrosion-resistant connection.

They are extremely reliable. The most common problem is cheap extension kits which use thin wire which doesn't comply with the standard and which falls out of the connector.

spottedray

What a load of rubbish this all is. As an experiment earlier tonight I pulled off my master socket face plate with idc terminals (not nte5, one from the pound shop) and wired the incoming into 2+5 about 20 times not only with an idc tool but a credit card and hey presto I'm writing to you now. I yanked the wires out and then pressed them back in. No static, broadband speeds consistent, what a load of mystical rubbish.

spike7451

spottedray wrote: »

What a load of rubbish this all is. As an experiment earlier tonight I pulled off my master socket face plate with idc terminals (not nte5, one from the pound shop) and wired the incoming into 2+5 about 20 times not only with an idc tool but a credit card and hey presto I'm writing to you now. I yanked the wires out and then pressed them back in. No static, broadband speeds consistent, what a load of mystical rubbish.

Really...so someone such as myself,who is by trade,a telecomms engineer since 1998 & has fixed countless faults on phone lines as well as installed hundreds of phone lines,jumpered thousands of cross connects as well as countless connections in the street cabinets, is talking rubbish....

Do you know what one of the most common faults on a phone line is?

It's corrosion in the Krone strip caused by the drop cable being connected with the wrong tool or a worn Krone tool.

cajef

spottedray wrote: »

What a load of rubbish this all is. As an experiment earlier tonight I pulled off my master socket face plate with idc terminals (not nte5, one from the pound shop) and wired the incoming into 2+5 about 20 times not only with an idc tool but a credit card and hey presto I'm writing to you now. I yanked the wires out and then pressed them back in. No static, broadband speeds consistent, what a load of mystical rubbish.

Posters with years of experience in fault finding on telecoms equipment have told you the problems it can cause so if you want to do it that is up to you.

Do not come on this forum and give bad advice to people telling them they do not need to use the proper tool and how to bodge connections which can and does lead to intermittent faults in the future.