Wiring BT phone extension

poohwinnie5

I need to wire up an NTE5/ Master socket. I have four wires from the BT line: blue, orange, green and brown. Previously, the blue wire was connected to the 'B' and the orange wire to the 'A' connection points in the master socket. The green and brown wires both run off as part of an extension. The green wire connects to a white wire with blue bands whereas the brown wire connects to blue wire with white bands.

The question I have is

Do you only need to connect 2 wires from the main BT line to the master socket i.e. A and B connections, or is an earth connection required?

poohwinnie5

I need to wire up an NTE5/ Master socket. I have four wires from the BT line: blue, orange, green and brown. Previously, the blue wire was connected to the 'B' and the orange wire to the 'A' connection points in the master socket. The green and brown wires both run off as part of an extension. The green wire connects to a white wire with blue bands whereas the brown wire connects to blue wire with white bands.

The question I have is

Do you only need to connect 2 wires from the main BT line to the master socket i.e. A and B connections, or is an earth connection required?

glojo

What an excellent thread ad even though it is approximately 2yrs old it is still VERY helpful.

I have read closely all the helpful tips but my extension telephones will still not ring I am certain it is operator error and should there be two orange wires connected to the number 3 terminal on at least one extension. In other words the orange cable coming in from the main to ext 1 and then the orange cable that goes out to ext 2 and if there is a third extension, then should extension 2 have an orange cable coming in and another that goes out to the third extension?

I hope I have not waffled too much and caused confusion but the frustrating thing is that the extension phones will ring if I have a filter on each extension and yes the main box is indeed an NTE-5 box fitted by BT

Scrounger

Sounds like your ringing wire (terminal 3) is open circuit somewhere - is it connected at the NTE-5 faceplate?

[If you're running adsl, pin 3 is often disconnected at the master socket to improve download speeds].

Scrounger

glojo

Hi Scrounger,
THANK YOU very much for the prompt reply.

I have now studied the NTE-5 and yes it does have the ADSL connection.

The BT supply has the correct two wires that are connected and this allows all the phones to both receive and make calls, but the only telephone that will ring without connecting the orange wire is if I plug a telephone into the main outlet or the test socket.

When I connect the three extensions into the correct coded slots along with the relevant 'number 3' orange wire.. then then two extensions will ring but not the third. I have checked and re-checked the wiring and am sure the correct wires go to the correct slots but the third extension will only ring if I connect an ADSL filter?? It is definitely wired correctly as all three extensions plug into the NTE-5 and an odd coloured wire would be clearly visible.

The NTE-5 is located in the hallway and does not have a phone plugged into the front socket, the three extension telephones are plugged into the relevant NTE-5 slots

All three extensions will receive and make calls but only two will ring

All three have the orange wire connected but the third phone insists on having the ADSL filter connected to get it to ring.

I hope I have explained myself and it is a 'to-do, to do'

Owain_Moneysaver

Do you have 3 wires per slot coming from the NTE? The IDC slot connections usually can take only 2 wires, if you try and force in a third connection may be faulty/erratic.

The other possibility is there are two ways of numbering the connections on the sockets - usually the BT way and the 'other' way - which are the mirror image of each other.

So on the extension socket that isn't ringing try wiring it in reverse i.e. 5-4-3-2 on the extension connect to 2-3-4-5 on the BT

More info

Scrounger

I am still sticking with my original diagnosis - you have an open circuit between the NTE-5 pin 3 and your (3rd - the one that doesn't ring) extension socket pin 3.

It could be a break in the wire or, more likely, a poor connection at the IDC terminal. I would loosen the 3rd extension faceplate and check that the orange wire is securely inserted into its terminal (pin 3).

Ideally, check the continuity with a multimeter.

Scrounger

kmwitservices

I am no stranger to bt wiring as I have just moved eerrmmm the main cable - not telling you may address mr BT - and I have 2 phone lines running to 2 master boxes - 2 wires each - tested can call each phone line from another all okay. wire in an extension from one line to a slave box using NTE master to slave box with numbers. so wire in 5 and 2 from faceplate to slave 5 and 2 pick up phone plugged into slave and no dial, check master and dailtone heard, scratch head and jump up and down then test using adaptor on each end of extension (I have an ethernet/modem cable tester) and positive connection between slave and master, refit face plate and more jumping - no dial tone on slave but there is on the master - so - change NTE for old style BT box (just a note I use an IDC tool) and fit wiring in again 5 and 2 for main cable from BT and 5 and 2 for extension and fit 3 for ringing to extension, back up to slave and fit 5,2 and 3 ( this time used 3 differnet wires as I have run ethernet cable between the 2 boxes) and retest with tester - positive connection, check master with analogue phone (one that does not use battery's or mains to work) and I have a dial tone, back upstairs to slave and !"£$%^&*()_ yep no tone Circles are not this big fustration is a problem right now so if anyone can figure this one out then have a go but I am going to walk away and watch telly till I phone a friend or take 50/50 cheers for now

moneyidiot_2

Hi - A burglar alarm is already wired into the NTE5 Master Socket. Given that your supposed to run extensions in series how do I connect an extension socket to the NTE5? I've tried with 2 Blue/White, 3 Green/White and 5 White/Blue on top of the existing burglar alarm wiring but to no avail...

Thanks in advance