Wiring up extra eircom phone points

DT

Hi all

I am trying to put in some extra phone points in my house. The cabling is already done with cat5 but at the moment only the one in the hall is connected.
I have been told that all I have to do is to go to the main point in the hall and connect a pair of wires from the unattached cat5 cable (I chose the blue pair cos that is what is being used for the incoming cable) and then go to the other points in the house and attach the blue pair of both cables to a new phone socket and that will loop it around the house, as long as I connect both cat5 cables at each point.
I have done this but I am not getting any dial tone when I plug in the phone in any of the other rooms, even though it is still working in the hall.
Q: does the order matter, i.e. I am guessing that the second cable in the hall runs to one of the other points (the living room?) which then goes to the next and so on. So if I want to connect the two upstairs then I have to do the living room first?
Q: I have done the living room but I am not getting any dial tone, is there something fundamental that i am missing. I am using a cordless phone, could this have anything to do with it?

oscarBravo

Originally posted by DT
I have done this but I am not getting any dial tone when I plug in the phone in any of the other rooms, even though it is still working in the hall.

Potentially stupid question: did you screw the cover back onto the Eircom master socket after you wired up the extensions? There's a magnet in the cover that closes a reed switch, so the extensions won't work if the cover is off.

Q: does the order matter

No.

Q: I have done the living room but I am not getting any dial tone, is there something fundamental that i am missing. I am using a cordless phone, could this have anything to do with it?

Maybe. I'd get it working with a very basic handset first, then try the cordless.

DT

Thanks for that Paul

I know I didn't put the cover back on the master socket on when I was testing it first, I didn't know about the magnet in the cover so I didn't realise it made a difference. I can't remember for sure whether I tested again after I put it back, I thought I had but maybe not. I will try it again tonight and also try a regular phone and see if that makes any difference.

Cheers

Dave

Redshift

Are you on the correct terminals in the extension sockets? Depending on the type you usually connect the line onto the terminals with the red and green wires attached.

DT

Thanks for the responses.
I tried it with the main socket back on and still no luck. The extension is wired to the red and green terminals. I am a bit stumped at this stage.
The main socket has two sets of terminals S1/S2 and L1/L2. I have wired the second cat5 cable to the one that the phone is working of, the major blue to L1 and the minor blue to L2 (does it matter which way round?). I have then wired both minor blues to one terminal at the extension point and the two major blues to the other terminal. Does this sound right, is there anything else I should have done.

macronot

This is the way you should have it.

connect main socket terminal L1 to ext socket terminal L1
ie Major blue main socket L1 -- ext socket L1

connect main socket terminal L2 to ext socket terminal L2
ie Minor blue main socket L2 -- ext socket L2

if your extenstion socket is unmarked it is the two center wires - you will have to test with the phone to find out which wire is which.

If they are wrong you will still here a dial tone but will not be able to dial out.

DT

The extension socket that I have does not have L1/L2 and S1/S2 termainals (I couldn't find one in the eircom store). All they had was one with the four coloured terminals, do the red and green correspond to L1/L2, and if so does it matter which way round?

Thanks

Dave

macronot

Originally posted by DT
The extension socket that I have does not have L1/L2 and S1/S2 termainals (I couldn't find one in the eircom store). All they had was one with the four coloured terminals, do the red and green correspond to L1/L2, and if so does it matter which way round?

Thanks

Dave

I'm not sure about the colour coding.

The standard socket has four wires and out of the four wire the middle two are used. Yes it does matter in which order they are used. You will have to match it up with the existing connected wire.

You should probably get yourself two lengths of wire and a phone and test the green and red terminals. You can hold them with your fingers in place as the voltage on the phone system is very low.

Red Alert

--> Ring voltage is 100V so be careful!

Redshift

Originally posted by Red Alert
--> Ring voltage is 100V so be careful!

Correct, When your phone rings your line switches from 50 volts DC to 100 volts AC enough to give you a little shock but unlikely to cause you any harm.

DT

Thanks for the warnings, didn't have a chance to look at it last night, too much footie on. But I will have another go tonight and see how I do.

Ronan H

Howayis, great website, hope i can find some help here...

In the Eircom thing again, my main socket is wired up and the phones working etc... Theres a socket in the kitchen with a group of wires connected (no S1, L1 markings etc...) except for an orange wire and an orange / white wire which are just spare at the moment as such. Any quick fixes for where they go? There are other sockets upstairs which are the same too i assume...

I was reading the info. posted already and couldnt get enough from it to solve the problem. The house is brand new by the way...

Any help would be greatly appreciated, ill be damned if im gonna get an electrician to do it if i can do it myself...

Cheers,

Head

kdouglas

if the phone lines are working fine then leave well enough alone, most phone cables ive seen are 6 or 8 core cables, but the phone system only actually uses two wires, in this case there may be spare/unconnected wires.
if your phones arent working then it is likely that the phone sockets were wired up wrong.

(feel free to correct me if im wrong)

galwaydude18

ya if they other phones are not working it probably means they are wired up wrong! the best way to do something like that is get one working first keep testing till it works then do that for the rest of them as well! you will eventually get it to work with all to information you have been given in this thread!

Zapho

Yeah its pretty ok to mess around with it. I was pretty much doing the exact same thing, and just took a guess as to where the wires connect to the main box. I messed around until I got a dial tone. After that, I just screwed them back together. Also make sure that none of the 2 wires are touching, eg if you have them bared back too much and the tips touch, cuz this will short out the phone line. It won't damage it, just stop it from working until you fix it.

Ronan H

Sorry guys i think i didnt make my initial post very clear, lemme try again!

The main phone line IS working and there are 4 other sockets round the house, but they are NOT wired up fully, they have a few coloured wires which are connected to a central thing, blue, red etc... Also there are the two wires which are not connected to anything, they are an orange wire and an orange / white wire, its them buggers that im not sure about, as to where they go like...

Ill try to post a duagram of the inside of the box to let ye know what exactly is going on, it might make things a bit clearer. Again thanks for the help guys, much appreciated, best wishes to ye all for Xmas & New Year!

Ro

galwaydude18

Theres No Need To Connect Up The Orange And Orange / White Wires! Use The Bottom Connections To Connect The Blue Wires! You Should Then Get A Tone On Your Phone!