Household Telephone Wiring
- Solid Color Cabling
- Four Wire cable (two lines)
- Original Eight Wire cabling
- Category 5 cabling
- Household Telephone Wiring Diagram
Solid Color Cabling
Four Wire Cables
| Wire Pair |
Wire # | Tip/Ring |
| 1 | 1 | T |
| 2 | R | |
| 2 | 3 | T |
| 4 | R |
The chart above shows basic telephone wiring on a four wire jack. You only use two wires to make a phone line. To wire an extension for a phone line you must extend the loop by wiring in the same color wire at the jack.
Eight Wire Cabling
| Wire Pair |
Wire # | Tip/Ring |
| 1 | 1 | T |
| 2 | R | |
| 2 | 3 | T |
| 4 | R | |
| 3 | 5 | T |
| 6 | R | |
| 4 | 7 | T |
| 8 | R |
Striped Cabling
| Wire Pair |
Wire | Tip/Ring |
| 1 | 1 | T |
| 2 | R | |
| 2 | 3 | T |
| 4 | R | |
| 3 | 5 | T |
| 6 | R | |
| 4 | 7 | T |
| 8 | R |
Household Wiring Diagram
On standard 4-wire solid color wiring (common in most households) you can wire up your jacks as follows. Just remember that red and green make a pair. Also remember that black and yellow make a pair.
You must swap the tip and ring for the correct pair with the other pair when converting between extensions.
| Wiring Jack 2-lines |
Wiring Jack |
Wiring Jack |
\ \ T R Line 2 |
\ \ T R Line 2 T R Line 1 T R / \/ \_______/__/ __/\________/ |
________ / \ \ /\ /-------\--\ T R Line 2 T R T R Line 1 T R / \/ \_______/__/ \________/ |
|
TIP= GREEN / BLACK |
LINE 1 PAIR = GREEN/RED | |
| RING= RED / YELLOW | LINE 2 PAIR = BLACK/YELLOW | |
Always keep in mind that someone else may have screwed up the wiring before you got there. Be prepared with a phone you can afford to break and use it to test the connection as you build. The phone system will send 48 volts DC to the phone to run the 'ringer'. If the phone is incorrectly wired, you may burn out the phone.