BT socket plugs on phones /Extension leads etc.

[HHGTTG]

I don't know whether this type of question can be answered here but it concerns the various colours of the wires that are crimped into those male BT plugs found on landline phones and extension leads etc.

I dissected one old lead and the colours were, L to R, White, Green, Blue, Pink.

I wish to alter my existing extension lead, which at the moment terminates in a multi socket adapter with the springy lever plug moulded into the back. It is this lead I'd like to plug into my Smart Hub 2 for DV when the time comes and a bulky adapter type would be impractical so would like to fit a simple BT plug. 

I can't see how I could ascertain easily if this lead has a different colourway as the lead does not enter the plug directly but enters the adapter body. Even if I strip back a bit of the insulation I might see different wire colours that don't correspond to how they'd enter the 4 pin plugs and crimper I've ordered from eBay.

This may sound very confusing and for that I'm sorry. Basically I'll just want to cut of this clumsy adapter 'plug' and replace it with a simple BT plug. 

[jac_95]

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[WSH]

Unfortunately, phone extension wiring is nowhere near standardised like network wiring.

I'm just a customer, like yourself, so someone here may have a much better solution but if you have cut off the “bulky adapter”, I’d use a multimeter to connect what is left of the wires on that adapter to pins 2 and 5 on the plug bit and see what colours connected to where.  (Unless you have very old phone equipment, 2 and 5 are the only ones you need to worry about).

As another idea, make up a straight through lead with a BT 431 phone plug at each end, (i.e. pin 2 to pin 2, pin 5 to pin 5 etc.)   Plug one end into the multisocket adapter and the other into the SH2.

[HHGTTG]

Thanks but you refer to pin 5 when there are only 4 pins, surely in a 431 plug? Anyway I've ordered a pack of 10 431s from ebay so maybe I jumped the gun.

I might end up by just moving the b...... y DECT phone into the room where the BT hub 2 is and then put the 'satellite' phone in there to where the DECT phone plus base station was . Just interchange them. Grrrh. 

[rbz5416]

BT 431a has six pins but 1 & 6 are never used. Most dispense with pins 1 & 6 entirely to just leave 2-5 present, but the missing pins still retain their number.

[HHGTTG]

Thanks. I was just thinking about feeding the 4 bared conductors into position in the plug expecting them to feed into the appropriate positions which in your explanation will be pins 2 to 5 without fear of going into the wrong position. 

[WSH]

I would not assume they are wired that way at the other end if I were you, but most modern kit does not mind if 2 and 5 are reversed.

(Sorry, I should have explained why they are called 2 and 5 earlier).

[WSH · Accepted solution]

I've also just spotted your comment about "bared conductors". 

Using bared wires will probably short.  Those type of plugs are IDC (Insulation Displacement Connectors).  You put the wires in with the plastic still on and the pins punch through the plastic when crimped.

[HHGTTG]

Oh, that's unsettling then as a long term YouTube bloke 'My Mate Vince' has 9 year old video rewiring said plug. He removes outer sleeve of cable then with his universal cable tool removes a few mms of inner sleeve from each coloured wire before insertion to the tips of the four Gold sleeves, then crimps them with same tool.

At that time all his work was with Telecom stuff and assumed he was a BT engineer or whatever.

Still in my time though I've wired a few extension wall sockets and remember just using a push down plastic tool to secure covered conductors in place.

Am really confused now. 

[WSH]

I suggest you watch the video again.

I've just watched it and what he demonstrates is exactly what I've said.  If you watch carefully, he strips the outer sheath back.  He does not strip the inner insulation off the wires.