[bunyboy]

so.. i have an old second line master socket in the spare room which id like to reconnect to my main line and just use as an extension to plug my computer into for the internet..

i followed the wire from this socket down the stairs, the hallway and to the front door where is has been cut off 6 inches to the right of a junction box.. the main black bt line comes in thru a hole in the wood work above the front door to this junction box and a white wire (similar to the one thats cut off from the spare room) goes out the other side of the junction box, thru the wall and to my main line downstairs in the living room...

my question is:

if i can get the cut wire from the spare room to reach this junction box then what wires do i need to put where toget the upstairs line to work as an extension of the main line...

ive taken a picture of the junction box (with the lid off) to give an idea of what im dealing with but i dont have the facility to post it.. so if anyone thinks they can advise me i could mail it to them and be very grateful!

thanks

[panny300]

if i remember correctly you can't use a master socket as an extension,just replace it with a extension socket, hardly cost anything,then use pins 2-3and 5 from the master to the extension
as long as you match the 3 cable colours from master to extension you will be fine

[WeirdFish]

Firstly, do you have broadband? I'm guesing not but I've asked just in case. If you have is it self install with micro filters or engineer installed with a single fixed filter on your main box?

Presuming you havent got broadband then panny300 is pretty much right.

There is no reason why you cant have 2 master socket on the circuit so I wouldnt worry too much about that. Is the socket in the bedroom a split frontplate one, basically can you remove the bottom half of the socket front?

Ideally, to comply to regulations you should run the extn from the other socket not the junction box but u wont be the first to use the main junction box

The colour codes for the line are, blue with white band on pin 2, white with blue band on pin 5 and the bell circuit is orange with white band on pin 3. If you keep the master socket in the bedroom you need'nt worry about pin 3. If by some chance it old cable (4 core with 4 solid colours) then the colours are blue pin 2, orange pin 5, then either green or brown as the bell circuit on pin 3. Like panny300 says tho, as long as the colours match either end it'll work.

If you use the junction box then you're probably gonna need to keep the master in the bedroom coz the bell circuit wont have been backfed from the main socket in the hall to the junction box.

If when you do it and you one of your phones continuously rings then reverse the wires on pins 2 & 5 on the new socket.

HTH

Steve

[bunyboy]

someone else has told me its actually better if the socket in the spare room is a master socket (which it is, exactly as you described - i think it was a second line for the previous owner of the house)...

my only confusion still is which colours go where.. in the current junction box none of the wires are going to the number 2 slot.. its lost me.. the layout is:

the main black line outside has two wires going to 5 (orange) & 6 (white) on the top left of the junction box and the ones going out to my master socket downstairs are white with blue to 5, blue with white to 6, orange with white to 7 & white with orange to 8.. these are directly below the main line..

i hope that makes sense!
what next?

ps. i could actually go to the master socket downstairs but it would mean sending wire past the main junction box and thru the wall into the living room.. interestingly the master socket downstairs isnt as easily accessible as the one upstairs.. it still has all the extra bits but no removable cover.. you have to take the whole thing off the wall and all the bits are on the back inside the hole in the wall..

[bunyboy]

pps. i dont have broadband YET
getting the spare room socket to work is part of the process leading to me getting braodband though!
as the computer running it will be in the spare room (hopefully with a wireless modem/router hooked up so my other half can connect to the broadband thru her laptop roaming the house)..

[WeirdFish]

Right, the main line in is as u say the orange & white. Dont worry about it being on 5 & 6 of the juntion box. The proper pin no.s are only needed on the sockets.

What you need to do is copy the connections that are there, this will stop any confusion. Connect white/blue to 5 on junction to 2 on socket then connect blue/white to 6 on junction to 5 on socket.

If the wiring on the second line was done correctly in the first place you shouldnt need to open the socket. just connect the blues wires as I've said, plug a phone in upstairs and see if you get dial tone. As its a master socket the ringing will work if theres dial tone.

Like I said before you may need to reverse the the pair of blue wires that feed upstairs.

If you want to run from the other socket let me know as theres more involved.

BTW an old credit card works as a makeshift inserter on the push connectors.

[bunyboy]

thats great.. confusion gone!
except..
do i just put them on top of the matching wires that are already there?

and..
what did you mean by "if you want to run from the other socket" ?
i am being a complete idiot or are you talking techie? run what?

(the only thing i can think is you mean run the upstairs socket from my main line in the living room rather than going from the junction box? i dont see a need to run it from the main socket unless this junction box solution is dangerous are will degrade the signal or anything?)

thanks.. you're a star!

ps. what about the orange with white and white with orange? what do they do?
pps. okay - so my confusion wasnt gone at all!

[WeirdFish]

You can put them on top of the others yes, the connectors are designed to take 3 wires each.

Yes you are right as to wot I meant. Its not dangerous or service affecting to use the junction box. In an ideal world you shouldnt use it coz that part of the network belongs to BT, but dont worry you wont be the only one to have done it, not by a long way

The orange wire is used to link pin 3 in all sockets so you only have a capacitor (used in the ringing) in the main socket. But as your using another main you dont need to do that. If you had extension sockets (without capacitor) and didnt connect pin 3 then you would have dial tone ok but the phones wouldnt ring.

The white/orange wire is connected to make things tidy, it doesnt do anything on a normal line. (it is used on switchboard systems)

One thing I will say is that BT are really hot on charging for non network stuff nowdays so if you get a fault in the future I would disconnect you upstairs socket from teh junction box just to make sure its not that thats causing the fault. In simple terms, if you disconnect it and the fault goes away you know its not a bt problem. BT only repair up to the main socket (unless its on a engineer installed extn which carries a 1 year warranty).

Remember its only 50volt with very low amps so you aint gonna blow anything up

[bunyboy]

ok - so i hooked them all up and nothing happened.. no dail tone, no nothing.. i must be doing something wrong..
i got a second junction box today.. coz the wire from the spare room was 6 inches away from the original junction box i got a 2nd junction box, hooked the spare room wire up to it and a short length of wire out the other side and into the existing junction box..

this 2nd junction box only has 6 connectors (the original has 8) but i guessed that shouldnt make a difference as im only using 5 & 6 in on the top and matching it on the way out..

am i doing something wrong?

[WeirdFish]

The junction boxes are nothing special, just connectors. what r u using to insert the wires? It may help to strip them back a bit.

[bunyboy]

a credit card and a device that i got with the new junction box.. it works a treat on the new box but not very well on the old one.. thats where the credit card comes in..

i just checked the socket in the spare room and the blue with white wire is connected to the B connector
and the white with blue to the A connector..

strip them back a bit? what, to the bare wire? under the colours?

[bunyboy]

so.. i cant figure it.. (havent tried stripping back the wires - i assume u mean take off the plastic coating?).. but i have cancelled out the idea that the already existing wiring is damaged as i tried draping a whole new wire down the stairs and into my second junction box but its still dead.. i must be doing something wrong here!

(in the socket in the bedroom the blue white wire goes to the B connector and the white blue wire goes to the A coonector.. is that right?)

this is what ive got so far..

IN SPARE ROOM SOCKET:
blue white to B
white blue to A

other end of that lead goes to new junction box:
blue white to bottom row 5
white blue to bottom row 6

new 6 inches of lead out of new junction box:
blue white to top row 5
white blue to top row 6

new 6 inches of lead into old junction box:
blue white to bottom row 5 (on top of already existing main line wire)
white blue to bottom row 6 (on top of already existing main line wire)

and thats it..
anything wrong with that set up?

[WeirdFish]

The A & B on the upstairs socket do the same as 2 & 5 so thats ok.

When I say strip back I mean expose the bare wire. I'm wondering why the tool doesnt work too well on the old box.

From wot you've said it sounds like it can only be a bad connection at the junction boxes.

Just to make sure the new box is the same type, some dont link the pins across, I would either connect the wires to the same connectors or remove them from the junction box, temporarily strip them back and twist them together.

[bunyboy]

i tried stripping them back a little and being extra sure they were fully in the connectors and suddenly hey presto it works! im typing this via my new spare room phone extension! no more wire down the stairs!

thanks a million!

[WeirdFish]

you're welcome.