Quote:
Originally Posted by Gez_pw6 Hi,
The house is wired with cat5 and terminated in a patch panel. I now want to use some of the RJ45 ports for telephone. What do I need to conect/split the BT master socket to provide me with a number of ports to patch to the patch panel? I am aware that I can only have 4 extensions (REN4). Or can this number be increased?
Thanks
Gerard |
You may be able to have many more than 4 devices connected, most modern kit uses far less than 1 REN but they are still listed at 1 REN as they cannot show fractions/decimals.
Depending on how many connections you want to make then it could be easier to keep it simple by using a BT socket splitters plugged into the master socket than then BT-RJ45 patch leads to the patch panel - very simple to put together and easy to disconnect if you have any problems/faults to trace. This is what I did as I mainly use DECT wirless phones around the house so only had 2 hard-wired phone connections to make.
The alterntivie (as other posters have indicated) requires some spare ports on the patch panel and requires you to common the connections across several ports - simply punch down cable across all pin 1 then pin 2 etc. You use as many ports as you need for telephone handsets/kit. You only actually need to common up the BT pin 2 & 5 cables as these are all that are used by modern equipment.
At the room end you then simply use the appropriate RJ45-BT baluns to allow you to connect your telephones.