Need to extend phone wires externally

[earthian]

Hello, I hope that someone can give me some advice. I am an ntl phone user in Manchester (UK). We are currently having an extension built, and I need to disconnect my phone wires at the brown box outside, reposition the wires and then reconnect. My problem is that I cannot source the small connectors that connect the phone wires in the box from the swept T to the wires leading to the phone itself. (Please forgive me if this is hard to understand - I don't know the technical jargon!). The connectors that are there are small translucent plastic cases with the wires sitting between a small (grey) metal plate with four pins on it. I can see no way of opening these little connectors and getting the wires back in afterwards. I have some standard 'terminal blocks' that can be used as junctions (i.e. thread the wire in and screw down), but I don't know whether or not these would suffice.

Any help and advice would be grealty appreciated (and very soon if possible :) )

Thanks.

[rikur]

you'll no doubt get advice from others warning you not to meddle with the installation yourself, breach of T&Cs etc, and a bit difficult to explain if it subsequently goes wrong.

I needed to do a similar mod to my "brown box" in a previous house (C&W fitted it right in the middle of a the bay window so it was the first thing you saw when walking into the room). In my case I found that the other end of the wire (i.e. where the internal telephone socket is) was simply a screw terminal fitting - so I undid the wires at that end (carefully noting which colours were connected where) and threaded the wire back, and then reconnected it.

Alternatively, any decent terminals should do the job for replacing the ones ntl have fitted - but these can suffer a bit over time exposed to the outside damp etc

[earthian]

Thanks for the quick reply rikur. I did consider going from the other end, but it would be much (very much!) easier to go from the 'brown box' end. What I am really unsure of is the terminals I need to use. The only things I have (as I tried to explain before, but my technical jargon is somewhat lacking ;) ) are small 3 amp terminal blocks - the kind of things one would use for normal electrical wires. Would these be suitable terminals, or could you recommend the type of terminals one should use? (I don't really understand if these phone wires act in the same way as normal electrical wire, or if there is some hidden trickery in the sort of terminals ntl used).

Apologies for being a bit thick on this :o:

[Mathias]

They're called JELLY CRIMPS! and secrete a moisture repelent gel when crimped on the phone wires to stop ingress of outside elements into the wiring... Funny you should say, but phone wires ARE electrical but work on much LOWER voltages than you'd find in a mains circuit.. Afraid i can't assist you in where to source these terminals, but would strongly advise that a trained tech handle the job!

[bw41101]

would strongly advise that a trained tech handle the job! I concur the voltages are lower than on a mains circuit - except when someone is trying to ring you then a high voltage pulse is sent down the line to activate the ringer. If you've got a hold of the wiring when this occurs then you'll not need a hairdresser to get that just permed look. :Yikes:

Handle with care.

Si thee

[earthian]

Thanks for the replies everyone. It is all sorted out now.

Sites like this restore one's faith in human nature. :D :D

Kind regards to you all

[PS1]

Its not only when someone is ringing that you can get higher than expected voltage either, isdn lines/highways or dacs are more like 110v-140v,which will give a bit of a kick, especially if you happen to be working in the rain and have wet hands etc. doh. theres alot more to it now than just the old 40-50v. :D