esmonddp@jupiter.crd.ge.com (Daniel P. Esmond) (12/29/89)
HELP!HELP!HELP!HELP!HELP!HELP!HELP!HELP!HELP!HELP!HELP!HELP!HELP! Last night I went to change a phone jack from a four pronger to a modular, in the house that I rent. Opening the old outlet I found two sets of wires feeding to the outlet (not unusual), and proceeded to change the plate. Touching a wire I recieved a HV shock which didn't surprise me, but what did surprise me is that the other phones in the house didn't ring the same time I received the shock. Grabbing my meter I tested the line, and sure enough there is a constant 120 volts on the green wire. Being curious I began to trace the wires throughout the house and found that all the outlets were wired daisy chain fashion, and there is an AC transformer in the loop. The secondary is only 16 volts, so trying to locate the source of the high potential I disconnected the main line from the loop. The loop went dead, and the main line still had 120 volts open circuit coming into the house. Do all phone lines feed 120 volts constant? What is the transformer for? Why are all the phones daisy chained instead of parallel? I don't want to smoke a brand new $200 phone and answering combo, but I do want to get this hooked up as soon as possible (hopefully tonight). I thought phone lines ran a low voltage trickle and rang the line with about 75 volts. What could the constant 120 volts be for? Will it damage my stuff? Thanks!Thanks!Thanks!Thanks!Thanks!Thanks!Thanks!Thanks!Thanks! - Dan esmond@crd.ge.com
peg@psuecl.bitnet (PAUL E. GANTER) (12/29/89)
In article <4370@crdgw1.crd.ge.com>, esmonddp@jupiter.crd.ge.com (Daniel P. Esmond) writes: > HELP!HELP!HELP!HELP!HELP!HELP!HELP!HELP!HELP!HELP!HELP!HELP!HELP! > > Grabbing my meter I tested the line, and sure enough there is a > constant 120 volts on the green wire. Being curious I began to trace > the wires throughout the house and found that all the outlets were > wired daisy chain fashion, and there is an AC transformer in the > loop. The secondary is only 16 volts, so trying to locate the > source of the high potential I disconnected the main line from the > loop. The loop went dead, and the main line still had 120 volts > open circuit coming into the house. > > Do all phone lines feed 120 volts constant? > What is the transformer for? > Why are all the phones daisy chained instead of parallel? Sounds like some very weird things were done in this house! The transformer you describe was probably used to power dial lights for several phones in the house. A lot of those were recalled for being fire hazards--you should probably trash it immediately!! It might be shorted, thus putting 120 VAC on the old 16 VAC line. As for the normal (two-wire) line, it certainly shouldn't be daisy-chained--in fact, I don't see how the phones could work if it is. My proposed solution: trash the transformer and check again. If 120 VAC still there you should probably let your landlord and the phone company figure it out--if things are that screwed they should probably be rewired!! Good luck! Paul
hbg6@citek.UUCP (John Schuch) (12/30/89)
In article <4370@crdgw1.crd.ge.com> esmonddp@jupiter.crd.ge.com (Daniel P. Esmond) writes: >Grabbing my meter I tested the line, and sure enough there is a >constant 120 volts on the green wire. Being curious I began to trace >....... >wired daisy chain fashion, and there is an AC transformer in the >loop. The secondary is only 16 volts, so trying to locate the > >- Dan The 16Vac transformer usually drives the LEDs which light up the dial on 'trim line' style phones. If you don't have those phones, possibly someone else did and left the transformer. I usually remove it and toss it into my shop junk box ( I'll find a use for them SOME day :-) ). I also had a brief problem with HVac on a phone line but it went away when the phone company swung the wires over to the next pole so than the phone wires were not parallel to the 440Vac power lines into the shop. We toasted two modems before we figured it out. [John]