Cat3 Phone cabling

[projectpete]

Hello,

I just wired my phones in my house with cat3. The phone company hooked up the one wire I have coming in from outside, now I have all my lines in the closet, what hardware or patch panel do i need to get all the phone lines working?

 

[ISDNman]

Many ways to do this.

Proably the simplest more-than-simply-adequate solution for a novice is the installation block from Mike Sandman:

http://www.sandman.com/pdf/Page107.pdf

 

[Dexman]

Working in the Telecom field, I mounted a few 66/50 blocks in the basement and punched the wires to the telephones down on the blocks.

Electronics stores usually sell a device that looks like a rectangular box with an RJ-11 plug on the end. Inside the box is a place where you can terminate up to 4 different wire runs to the phone jacks.

(I'm not sure what the block is exactly called, but maybe someone can identify the exact product I'm thinking of.

You would wire a standard RJ-11x jack to the end of the wire that feeds from the outside, inser the RJ-11 plug into the jack and terminate the drops from the phone jacks into the appropriate slots inside the rectangular box.

 

[phoneguy55]

You could terminate all cables on a 66 block and daisy chain the white/blue together. Then put your dial tone on White/blue.

 

[projectpete]

I was looking to get this but it says only cat5e

http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDU...earchResults.jsp&MID=9876&N=2984+6253&pos=n02

, do i just use my cat3 cable with an RJ-45 connector using pins 5&6 on the RJ-45 connector?

 

[Dexman]

The link sends me to a general search page on Home Depot's site.

 

[projectpete]

sorry i noticed that, here is a batter link

http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDU...cgelceffdfgidgmk.0&MID=9876&prod_id=100396701

, do i just use my cat3 cable with an RJ-45 connector using pins 5&6 on the RJ-45 connector?

 

[Dexman]

The module looks like it is to be used with another device. I'd probably pass on that one. Also, I would avoid mixing RJ-45 and RJ-11 at all costs.

I am still looking on the Internet to see if I can find the block I described in my earlier post. It would be perfect for your application.

 

[Dexman]

Found it. The device is called a Telephone Junction Box. Here is a link to a picture:

http://media.doitbest.com/products/502014.gif

This should work quite nicely.

 

[projectpete]

so what i need to do is put the phone line coming in from the telco on this

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=63493-578-PH60602&lpage=none

then conect this to it

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=144630-578-PH60616&lpage=none

and split all the lines using the junction box?

to wire the junction box do i just match all the colors, ie for all 5 phone lines i put all yellow cable on yellow screw, etc

 

[Dexman]

Kinda/sorta.

Each one of those junction boxes will handle 1 or 2 telephone lines. If you have (5) telephone lines in your dwelling, you would need 3 of those boxes.

If you have 5 cables going to various jacks around the house, the junction box provides termination for up to 4 cables. You would have to do some splicing to get the 5th cable connected, but splicing can come back to bite you later on if it is not done properly.

One option to having 5 jacks scattered around the house would be to go with an expandable cordless telephone system. In such a setup, you have 1 base unit which requires a telephone jack, and a series of expansion handsets that only need to be plugged into an AC outlet to keep their batteries charged.

VTech, AT&T (made by VTech since 2000), Panasonic and Uniden offer such phones.

 

[projectpete]

or i can just buy this and split one line to all 5 as well as my coax?

http://www.phonegeeks.com/phonvidwirce.html

 

[Dexman]

That looks like it would work too. As long as you have the required tools, such as a 110 punchdown.

 

[projectpete]

yes i can get them from work, it just looks easier and cleaner than all those junction boxes. i am going to see if there is a store local in orlando that would have the same sort of thing.

thanks for all your help!

P.S. i am using all cat5 next time!

 

[Dexman]

I'd might even go up to CAT 6E and not have to think about re-wiring for the next 20 or so years!

 

[aarenot]

http://catalog.graybar.com/servlet/BugsEye

might want a crimper for these as well. they will take three wires, so connect the telephone line, two jumper wires, crimp. run each jumper wire to another crimp, with another jumper, and one cable, or to two cables, when you are down to the last cables.

repeat for the other wire the line comes in on.

not pretty, not easily changed, cheap, and quick.

this is a 3m or scotch product, called a 'ur'

i use these type with the gel in them on rare occasion. they do provide a connection which does not expose wire, or current, so they are safer in some environments than bare wire connections. in high moisture levels, or anywhere that you do not have room for proper terminstions.

this is pretty much the only option i use for splicing, if i splice at all.

 

[Bob3470]

Use a BIX Panel if you have them in your area. Dont use terminations that daisey chain the pairs. Use jumper wire for that.