telphone wire confusion

[Mlope]

I have a 30 year old house wired for phones.
the wire consists of 12 strands, all color coded. So which wires do I use to connect a modern phone jack??

[bdog]

Ouch! 12 wires! Phones only require 2 wires. Most phone cable has 4 wires, red,green,yellow and black. Most of the time only the red and green are connected. I recently added a second line to my house. I simply connected the yellow and black wires to the incoming lines the phone company put in. I then got a two port jack and connected the green and red to one and the yellow and black to the other. As far as which wire goes to which pin, I don't know. I just looked at the existing wiring and replicated it it. I don't know if this is the right way to do it, or even if it is up to code, but it works great. The phone company was here the other day because my junction box was leaking water. They looked at my wiring and didn't say anything so I guess it isn't that bad.

[bell1]

Just like BDOG said, any two wires will do.Just remember which ones you use, in case you want to add another phone jack in another part of your home.

[smunzli]

Mlope

what are the colors of the wires? it sounds like someone use 6 pair to wire your house.

[jad1097]

The easiest way to be sure is to go outside to the phone box(installed where the line comes into the house) and see what wires are hooked up and use those wires only.

[bell1]

Hey Smunzli
If he has "6 pair" wiring in his home,more than likely the colors are:
1. blue blue/white
2. orange orange/white
3. green green/white
4. brown brown/white
5. slate slate/white ( "slate" is gray " )
6. red red/blue

Normally the "blue blue/white" pair is used for the first number installed, then the "orange orange/white" pair, ect.

[smunzli]

bell1

i know the color code for six pair, i just wanted to find out what colors he had.

by the way your tip and rings for the white binders are backwards.

its white-blue blue-white, your red binder is correct.

[bell1]

Hey Smunzli
You are correct.I was in a hurry when I posted the message and didn't want to bother him with the "Tip and Ring" stuff.
I have not seen too many homes wired with six pair, and only one wired with "house cable" (25 pairs).That home was used as a campaign headquaters at one time.