Krone connection strip curiosity...

[twocvbloke]

I got myself a BT branded 20-pair Krone connection box (BT terminology has it as "Box, Connection 201D") at last the other day, and have been staring down the middle of the connection strips at what look to be pins that can be pushed apart, and as with anything I buy, it got me wondering...

Are those meant for connecting tools up without removing the wires, or are they for isolating lines/extensions for when you're working on them? Or both?

I've never really dealt with anything more than telephone sockets and my Nortel's connection box when it comes to IDC stuff, and I've never noticed anything like this before, so I thought I'd ask & share pics anyway...

[dsk]

Yes, and you may plug in test probes, patch wires, and lightning protection etc.
If you make an internet search :    
goo.gl/pA1n6
you find lots of info.

dsk

[twocvbloke]

Hmm, seems quite clever, could be handy if I got a test lead to connect up to my linesman phones to test connections out... 

I took a quick look inside the connection box from the Nortel system and it too has similar bits in the middle of the line connections...

[twocvbloke]

Considering the option, its not bad to be 50  
The worst problem is, people expect me to grow up... I love to play

dsk

You sure that wasn't meant for here?:

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=9205

[dsk]

Oops, it wasn't like that before   

dsk

[AE_Collector]

The connecting points on all of this sort of connection block/terminal is referred to as IDC. Insulation Displacement Connectors. The proper tool drives the insulated wire into the metal pins displacing the plastic insulation where the wire is pinched into the contact. Quick and Easy compared to what I did yesterday, fired up (plugged in and waited) the big old "American Beauty" soldering iron!

Other similar connections are called 110 (AT&T) and BIX (Nortel) and of course there is the older "66" type quick connect blocks. These days probably the majority of Data type jacks and inserts have 110 terminations on the back of them, at least in North America. Krone is more common in Europe.

Terry

[twocvbloke]

Krone is more common in Europe.

Yep, with BT being a heavy user of their stuff, pretty much every telephone socket in the british home is connected by krone-type connectors, though there are screw-terminal versions of BT sockets, which are cheap copies usually...

I've not played with this krone box yet though, it's been sat in the same place since I took the pics above, mostly cos I want to get some 10 or 20-pair cable to use with it, so I have more than 4 colour pairs that comes with CAT5...