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Proper line-in wiring for your telephone

Started by TIPandRING, December 27, 2008, 07:27:52 PM

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TIPandRING

As a service to everyone, I'd thought I'd give a quick tutorial on the basics of the demarcation point (point at which telephone service enters you home).  And as an added bonus, discuss the ever-so-important issue of the GROUND connection needed to make an old phone ring.

This unit was actually removed from my house (so this is typical Lincoln Telephone and Telegraph installation circa 1963).

The plywood backing was screwed to a joist near the original fuse box. The house has an aerial drop for phone service so drop entered into the basement.

Reliable (Reliable Electric) Protector R123, the standard of the day...



Now here's some info on this protector device:


A)Acetate-based aerial lead-in wire (2 conductor)
B)Protector block assembly
C)"RING" connection (- Central office power)
D) "GROUND" earth connection
E) "TIP" connection (+ Central office power)
F) Removable screw-in carbon fuse--for lightning and transient protection
G) "Bridle wire"--used in the days before plastic "station wire" was run
H) Ground wire lead--clamped to a nearby cold water pipe or ground rod
I) 3-conductor station wire

With respect to earth ground, the "tip" conductor is a 0 volts potential. The "ring" conductor is at -48 volts potential. The negative voltage was used as the early phone pioneers discovered running a + voltage above earth potential actually caused an electrolysis effect on connections and conductors--they'd corrode much more quickly.  If you take a voltmeter and put the red test lead on the tip connection and the black test lead on the ring connection you'd read +48 VDC.

Now my spheel about the ground connection--not only was this important for lightning protection and transient line surge drain to earth, but was a key element to making the phone ring. Many posts are "I can't get my phone to ring" or the eBay seller saying "everything works, but the phone will not ring for an incoming call"....That's because the yellow wire in the mounting cord is 1/2 of the ringer circuit. In the old days, this was connected back to the ground terminal on the protector--which ultimately lead to earth ground and completed a circuit back to the central office's ring generator that sent out 90 VAC superimposed on the line at approx. 20-30 Hz.

So why's this important?  There's only 2 wires in today's circuitry. TIP and RING. Soooooo. you must either rewire the network inside your phone--move the other ringer wire from the GND/Yellow connection OR do what I do and simply tie the yellow wire in the mounting (base) cord to either the green or the red wire. For example, to get a vintage Automatic Electric (GTE) phone to ring with just 2 wires, you must combine the GREEN tip and the YELLOW ground wire together at the baseboard terminal jack.

The whole idea of even using a 3rd wire at the customers' premises was brought about for party-line ringing where you could connect many more phones one pair of wires but selectively have only one phone ring by alternating tip and ground and ring and ground ringer connections. (other equipment was used as well, but we'll save that for later).

I hope this was informative.

:o

bingster

An excellent and informative post, T&R.  Thanks for that information! :)

I remember back shortly before the breakup, Chesapeake & Potomac came out and bypassed our big old porcelain protector that was installed on a joist in the basement when our house was built in 1936.  They replaced it with a little black protector that looked just like the one in your picture.   They left the old one in place, moving the wires to the new one which they mounted right next to it.  When I left home, I took the old protector, and a few feet of no-longer-used bridle wire (I didn't know it was called that!) as souvenirs.
= DARRIN =



McHeath

Great post!  As my house was built in 66' it has a protector device very similar to the one you picture.  Ours is in the brick skirting around the house, in a metal box that was built in and has a metal door screwed on.  The service feeds from underground.  I did not know that there were fuses in the device, there are a couple of extras in the box.  Didn't know any of that info about the yellow wire and the ground. 

Dan/Panther

I'm a little confused here. I have no yellow wire hooked up at any point in my phone system, yet by attaching the black ringer wire to the green incoming wire, I get my ringers to work, and now by swiitching a few on the 302's I also get ringers without a yellow wire.
The Verizon guy told me they only use 2 wires now, and they aren't even green and Red anymore they are Blue/White, and Blue I believe he said.
Also I find it doesn't matter which way the red and green are connected. So what's the deal ??? In another post, I think Dennis Markham pointed out that veteran phone techs never heard of polarity in the phone system.

D/P

The More People I meet, The More I Love, and MISS My Dog.  Dan Robinson

bingster

Quote from: Dan/Panther on December 28, 2008, 01:40:38 AM
I'm a little confused here. I have no yellow wire hooked up at any point in my phone system, yet by attaching the black ringer wire to the green incoming wire, I get my ringers to work, and now by swiitching a few on the 302's I also get ringers without a yellow wire.
The Verizon guy told me they only use 2 wires now...

;) 'swhat he said:

Quote from: TIPandRING on December 27, 2008, 07:27:52 PMSo why's this important?  There's only 2 wires in today's circuitry. TIP and RING. Soooooo. you must either rewire the network inside your phone--move the other ringer wire from the GND/Yellow connection OR do what I do and simply tie the yellow wire in the mounting (base) cord to either the green or the red wire. For example, to get a vintage Automatic Electric (GTE) phone to ring with just 2 wires, you must combine the GREEN tip and the YELLOW ground wire together at the baseboard terminal jack.

I'm guessing your confusion lies in the yellow in the last sentence referring to the yellow conductor of the mounting cord, rather than the yellow conductor of the station wire.

Incidentally, even though modern techs say they don't use red and green anymore, I'd wager that 95% of all residential telephone wiring uses those two colors.  All the station wire sold in hardware stores uses the old standard colors, too.
= DARRIN =



Dan/Panther

#5
I need to add that this is on my W.E. 500 phones.

Yes I was referring to the mounting wire. The yellow internal wire in the phone is still connected, to the Red mounting wire at L-2.. The black wire from the ringer was moved to L-1. The G terminal is no longer being used.
The yellow wire at the baseboard terminal jack, is now connected to the green wire.
Maybe my confusion comes from terminology.

Define the following for clarification to me please.

Station Wire, I assume means the wire from the phone company.

Mounting cord, I assume is the cord from the phone to the  Baseboard terminal jack.



D/P

The More People I meet, The More I Love, and MISS My Dog.  Dan Robinson

bingster

#6
You have the definitions correct. The yellow conductor of the baseboard station wire is unnecessary, and doesn't figure into the equation at all.  It's the yellow conductor of the phone's mounting cord that's the important thing in T&R's Automatic Electric example, and gets connected under the green screw of the terminal block on the baseboard (along with the green conductor from the mounting cord).
= DARRIN =



TIPandRING

Yes, sorry for any confusion. The Mounting cord refers to the cord from the back of the phone that connects back to the wall outlet or wall terminal block.

Station wire is the wire that runs all over your house/business/apartment from the demarcation point to each wall terminal block or wall jack.

It's the phone itself you must "modify" to make it ring (at least phones made prior to about 1980). You must move the "ground" wire in the mounting cord to either the TIP connection or the RING connection (based on the manufacturer) at the wall connection to make it ring. OR leave the ground wire "dangle" and trace the ringer connections inside the phone and make the modification inside on the network connections so the bell(s) are tied to TIP and RING without needing the ground connection.

I think I'm gonna make a series of these tutorials (if you guys don't mind) :D  Next up will be wiring and color codes.

Bill

TipAndRing -

Before you move on to Part 2, could I suggest that you edit the original post to incorporate the clarifications that came out in the next 10 posts? That way the original post will become a complete standalone tutorial for that topic, ready for printing and saving.

Thanks

Bill

Konrad

Thanks.  I've noticed most home wiring now only has the tip and ring connected and many base cords only have two conductors.  My 1957 vintage 500s work just fine with this setup.  But I have one 500 that's giving me fits and I'll try providing it a ground.

bingster

You mean running an actual ground wire to a cold water pipe or something?  I wouldn't advise that.  The post mentions that grounds were necessary a long time ago, but that he phone system today isn't set up to use grounds, and they serve no purpose.

The point of the post is that you may have to move a wire at the terminal block on the baseboard, or inside the phone to get your phone to ring.  No ground required.
= DARRIN =



Sargeguy

Pretty much.  ANd it had my DSL running through it. ::) I have since upgraded to a Leviton structured cable box with a DSL splitter and a base block for 9 phone lines.  There has been a noticeable improvement in the DSL and the ringer efficiancy.  I can get my 202, 302, and 500 all ringing at once.
Greg Sargeant
Providence, RI
TCI /ATCA #4409

ranch67

New guy here.
after reading all above posts, couldn't you also move the yellow wire to the green post inside the phone?

i have a 1956 WE model 500 as well. it works, but doesnt ring.
i replaced the original wiring that would go from phone to the baseboard with a modular style.

thanks for the help!



TIPandRING

#13
Quote from: ranch67 on January 25, 2009, 05:16:05 PM
New guy here.
after reading all above posts, couldn't you also move the yellow wire to the green post inside the phone?

i have a 1956 WE model 500 as well. it works, but doesnt ring.
i replaced the original wiring that would go from phone to the baseboard with a modular style.

thanks for the help!




Just tying the yellow wire (from the line cord) and the green wire (from the line cord) together inside the phonewill not solve your ringer issue. You'd have to find the wire that comes from the ringer itself and connects under the yellow wire terminal screw (typically black wire from the bell coil) and move that to the green wire terminal.

ranch67

ohhhhhh.
yellow line wire to green post inside phone AND inside phone black wire (from ringer) to green post screw.
i figure i should do this no matter what as i've taken it apart and its big and heavy and in my face. a good thing about phones is they're low voltage.
if i do this, i can move to any phone jack in my house too.