# Forum Home Renovation Electrical  Phone point wiring

## lbg

On telephone cable coming into room I have wires BLACK, BLUE, RED, WHITE
On every phone connection cable, socket, etc.. that I've looked at they have GREEN, YELLOW, RED, BLACK.  
I'm capable of wiring it together, but which color matches with what?

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## leeton

Have a look at this...might help? Telephone Plugs and Sockets for Australia :: Jackson Industries

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## murray44

The phone line should come in from the street on white and blue. 
The phone should be wired so that the middle 2 contacts on the plug are the active ones. Doesn't matter if it's RJ11, 12 or 45, it will always be the 2 contacts in the middle. 
Polarity doesn't matter. 
Murray

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## lbg

thanks Leeton - I'd had a look through this already. It doesn't give me what I'm looking for though - unless I'm reading it wrong?

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## rrobor

From memory red black are a pair as are the others. My advice is wire it up to an old style plug, if you get it wrong it dont work. They always use a four wire cable to the house and use 2 wires. Telephone cable must be designed for shorts and it doesnt matter so it aint gonna go bang.

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## 2x4

I reckon murray44 is spot on the money   
.

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## watson

:What he said:

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## rrobor

My friggin telecom cable is round So middle, outside, inside on a four core cable is not applicable. So as Noel is getting  a bit iffy on this, hook it up on two. If you dont get a dial tone, its wrong.

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## Armers

> On telephone cable coming into room I have wires BLACK, BLUE, RED, WHITE
> On every phone connection cable, socket, etc.. that I've looked at they have GREEN, YELLOW, RED, BLACK.  
> I'm capable of wiring it together, but which color matches with what?

  
Once your inside the house there is no law to which colour matches what, its just common sense to follow the norm. 
White and blue are commonly used for the first line incoming to the house.  
Best way to do it follow the colours as it goes through the house till you get to the socket you want to play with... I would give you a bit more of a detailed explination but i have a license for a reason  :Biggrin: ..  
Good luck with it though, everyone else's comments work.. Also as murray says polatiry doesn't really count anymore, so go with rrobors suggestion, keep trying untill you find it! 
Cheers
Armers

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## Master Splinter

PROTIP: ...although it's only 40-odd volts, don't grip the bare ends in your mouth...

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## 2x4

> My friggin telecom cable is round So middle, outside, inside on a four core cable is not applicable

  Thats funny. :Doh:    
.

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## Armers

> PROTIP: ...although it's only 40-odd volts, don't grip the bare ends in your mouth...

  
not fun.... esp when you ask the client not to make phone calls while when working on the line... what do they do? make a phone call.. yummy ring voltages!  :Biggrin:  Cut and hauling lines when people are trying to call in is shocking too  :Biggrin:  (pun very much intended)  
Armers

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## Haveago1

I have just been through this as the Field Marshall bought an old black bakerlight phone for the front room and I had to get it to match our wiring.  
It had a male plug from the 50's, which I had to match up with a non-operational wall socket left in the room from the 70's which then had to be 'livened up' from a 'modular' plug 15 meters away. 
On the telstra line in and the old existing cabling Blue and White are the only active cables, on the newer stuff it was only red and green.  
If you stick with modular plugs and sockets they will all work together - just plug and play,.....getting the transition from one to the other is the challenge.  
You can only really do this by getting 'traditional' sockets and plugs which accept modular connections. Inside the plugs/sockets each 'prong' is numbered 1 - 6...the active (blue/white or red/green) will be 1 and 5, or 2 and 6 depending upon which way up  they go....have a play with alternating between these two arrangements...

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## murray44

> My friggin telecom cable is round So middle, outside, inside on a four core cable is not applicable. So as Noel is getting a bit iffy on this, hook it up on two. If you dont get a dial tone, its wrong.

  Rob, 
My reference to the "middle 2 contacts", was referring to the RJ plug/socket on the phone, not the cable. 
But as you rightly pointed out, keeping trying all combinations until you get dial tone. You never know what 'standard' others have followed. 
Murray 
p.s. LBG, have you got it going yet?

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## lbg

thanks for all the advice guys! I had a fiddle and tried a number of combinations but have gotten nothing. Next step is to get under the house and make sure the thing is actually hooked up - whilst I'm down there I'll follow through all the cables. (someone before me has run stuff everywhere!) 
i'll keep you posted.

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## murray44

Try and get the phone working first from a known good socket. That way, when you climb under the house, you have only one problem, to find tone on the cable. 
If you climb under without knowing how the phone is cabled you are up against 2 probs, the phone cabling and the house cabling.  
I aoplogise if I'm telling you how to suck eggs but do it logically one step at a time.

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## lbg

thanks murray44 - got it working on an already socketed point. The search for tone begins...

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## murray44

Did you find tone?

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## jaytee

As to not placing cable in mouth, or having ppl ringing - dont do it if rain or thunderstorms nearby ( 20km) as will make you tingle when they jingle!! :Doh: 
jt

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## lbg

Update! After a bit of trying back when I first posted, this has otherwise been on hold. Had some time over xmas so crawled under the house. Found the incoming line and started to trace under the house from the first point. It was hot & dirty and I gave up quick because the crawl space was too low for my ample body. 
A head scratch followed by the use of my multimeter showed me that I had 5.18 volts on the blue/white into the first point. Yay I said - so I went to the loose end and tried there - nothing on any combination of wires. 
Got the fubar out, slightly lifted the bottom of the cupboard and gave the phone cable a tug - out it came!!!  
So, in short - the wire I had been trying to hook up actually never went anywhere and was only about 400mm long. I then found the phone line running through the back of the cupboard so hooked into that and away it went. 
Thanks for all the help guys!

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## watson

:Rotfl:

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