telephone wire

[merlin]

i was using an old telephone cable, and had cut the connector off one end, and separated the wires, i wanted to use a multimeter to find out which colour went to which pin on the plug on the other end.

using my old and trusted anologue mutimeter ,i connected to one of the wires, and touched each of the plug pins in turn with the probe, result no complete circuit ?

touched the probes together ,yes multimeter working ok

got out my digital multimeter ,used same procedure as above ,no complete circuit !!!

cut another known good lead in half, same procedures as above, still no circuit

so is there something about telephone cables i do,nt know

btw i,ve found out via the net the colours for the various plug pins now

so all i want to know is why can,t i get a complete circuit through a piece of wire ? 

[Rik]

The only thing I can think of, Bob, is that you didn't make a good connection at the plug end? 

[Noreen]

Reminds me of an experience many years ago when I was taking part in a telecoms survey for the MoD in Gibraltar. I was under a bench trying to see the various colours of the dusty telecoms cables where they connected and pushed them apart with my pencil for a better view. Unfortunately I forgot that the pencil was metal tipped and managed to blow part of the Naval communications in Gibraltar, luckily war wasn't declared that day.

[Rik]

What did they charge you with?

[Noreen]

There were alarms sounding all over the place and naval people running around. I came over all "helpless female" and got away with it.

[Rik]

Nice move. 

[Den]

What was your meter set on, it should be set on DC volts and will read 49volts 

[merlin]

Den it was,nt connected to anything ,just a piece of wire on the table, meter set to resistance ,which should have read zero ohms.

[sparky]

Merlin,

I know it's not directly what you asked, but does this help:

http://www.telephonesuk.co.uk/images/new_plan_conn.jpg

I've often found this site useful for wiring info.

[Rik]

Handy, Sparky, thanks. 

[merlin]

thx sparky ,not quite what i had in mind, but very useful