Phone Line Question!

[Chatam/Garage]

Hello,
Any tips on tracing out phone lines on a new house? They installed a media panel or what ever its called out in the garage, which houses all the phone & cable lines. BUT, all are just rough cut ends & I'm having heck of a time finding the one for my master bedroom. There are 3 phone jacks in the master bedroom alone. Any tricks of the trade w/o spending a ton of money would be great.
Thanks in advance!

 

[rickey1013]

A cable tracer or tone generator is the best thing for this. I am not sure what you consider a lot of money these are under a $100.00. It's what I use in the Industry besides labeling the cables when you run them sounds like that didn't happen.

 

[Nostraquedeo]

I've used a 9 volt battery and a 9 volt light/buzzer to trace down low voltage lines before. Of course you'll have to disconnect the line you are looking for at the receptacle and then test each line individual line at the box. Easier with a helper. That's ghetto style, but has worked. I have also used a long piece of wire (extension cord in some cases) and ohm meter. Hook the long wire to a disconnected recpetacle wire and test for ohms at the media panel. Another method I have used with an ohm meter, is touching one wire to a nerby metal pipe and then checking for ohms at the opposing end, using the water pipe as a return continuity path.

 

[Stuart in MN]

The cables are rough cut at both ends? Go to the end in the bedroom, short together any two of the wires in the cable, then go to the garage and check the same wires on each cable with an ohmmeter (or a battery and buzzer) until you find the short.

 

[saabman]

I second the signal generator tracer combo.

Chris

 

[Garys Garage]

The cables are rough cut at both ends? Go to the end in the bedroom, short together any two of the wires in the cable, then go to the garage and check the same wires on each cable with an ohmmeter (or a battery and buzzer) until you find the short.

This is what I would do.

 

[D.J.]

Garys Garage has the least expensive method! Go with it if your like me and a cheapskate!
________
Zx14 vs hayabusa

 

[jmh21586]

Hello,
Any tips on tracing out phone lines on a new house? They installed a media panel or what ever its called out in the garage, which houses all the phone & cable lines. BUT, all are just rough cut ends & I'm having heck of a time finding the one for my master bedroom. There are 3 phone jacks in the master bedroom alone. Any tricks of the trade w/o spending a ton of money would be great.
Thanks in advance!

So each phone jack in your house has a "home run" to the panel??

In my house they're in line. One to another to another. Like the outlets.

 

[tatra]

no respect, eh sim?..........

 

[Chatam/Garage]

They are only rough cut at the media panel side & all wired in place throughout the house. At the media panel, it's a blue or green wrapped one marked masterbedroom but inside that are 4 choices it seems. I have 3 lines in that bedroom, not sure what to do.

 

[jmh21586]

Those three lines are most likely in series, like electrical outlets.
One wired to another wired to another. Then one run to the panel. IOW, the one marked master bedroom at the panel is for all three in your bedroom. IMO.

 

[Stuart in MN]

If they're connected to phone jacks at the bedroom, you can take a phone plug with a short piece of cable connected to it and make a jumper device. Then, test as described above.

 

[Costner]

Obtain/purchase a 66 block and punch them down. Then punch down your incoming phone line so you can have all of your jacks available and connected without having to trace down each one individually. If these are truly phone lines chances are one or more of them are wired in series so punching them all down is the fastest and easiest solution.

I've also seen cases where people just grouped up all the lines and used wire nuts to connect them... honestly - phone lines aren't too picky so that would work too. I wouldn't waste time tracing each line if they are all for phones - it would be faster to just hook them all up at once.

Since these are all phone lines and not data/phone lines, there really is no reason to get fancy and use a patch panel. Unless of course they are wired with Cat5 and include keystone jacks where you could potentially use them for phone OR data... if that is the case it is more involved.

If you absolutely must trace them out - take an old phone cord (the type that connects the phone to the jack) and cut off one end. Strip all of the wires and tie all of the wires together (effectively shorting them out). Plug the other end into the jack you are trying to trace and then go to your headend (media panel) and use a multimeter to check for continuity between any two wires in each line. If your meter has a continutity option you should hear a buzzer or beep. If your meter doesn't you can just measure resistance and you should read a very low (close to 0 ohms) reading.

If you plan to do a lot of phone work in the future purchasing a tone generator and tracer might be helpful, but for a one time job it is huge waste of money.

 

[Stuart in MN]

Costner brings up an obvious point I didn't think of earlier...if they're all for general phone use and you have a single line coming into the house, it doesn't matter which one is which - just hook them all up to a punchdown block. They're available at the big box stores, along with a cheap punchdown tool that's good enough for home use.

 

[bry@n]

Where are you located?

If your local, I can drop tools off or just buzz em quickly. The problem is, even if they are home runs, they will be daisy chained with bridging clips or looped cross connect.

 

[Chatam/Garage]

I'm in Colorado but thanks for the offer!

 

[Chatam/Garage]

So far, I like this method described below by member "Costner".



If you absolutely must trace them out - take an old phone cord (the type that connects the phone to the jack) and cut off one end. Strip all of the wires and tie all of the wires together (effectively shorting them out). Plug the other end into the jack you are trying to trace and then go to your headend (media panel) and use a multimeter to check for continuity between any two wires in each line. If your meter has a continutity option you should hear a buzzer or beep. If your meter doesn't you can just measure resistance and you should read a very low (close to 0 ohms) reading.