modding a phone handset for pc use

[ponkan pinoy]

Does anyone know how to wire a cable that has an RJ-11 jack on one end and two 3.5mm jacks on the other? The idea is to plug the RJ-11 into a phone handset, and the two jacks into the respective speaker/microphone ports of a pc. All the sites I've seen just tell you how to wire a telephone, not WHAT those wires mean.... The cables that come out of a phone handset have 4 wires, so I'm guessing a wire each for speaker and microphone, and two for ground. The wires are arranged green/white/red/black in the phone jack....

 

[Biznatch]

I know one of them is a power sorce (12v i think) so be careful and don't jsut try different wire combinations.

 

[1-Man-Army]

Does anyone know how to wire a cable that has an RJ-11 jack on one end and two 3.5mm jacks on the other? The idea is to plug the RJ-11 into a phone handset, and the two jacks into the respective speaker/microphone ports of a pc. All the sites I've seen just tell you how to wire a telephone, not WHAT those wires mean.... The cables that come out of a phone handset have 4 wires, so I'm guessing a wire each for speaker and microphone, and two for ground. The wires are arranged green/white/red/black in the phone jack....

yes in fact u are correct 2 wires for speaker and 2 for mic
speaker=1wire from speaker and a ground for it
mic=1 wire for mic and a ground
i cant really help u cuz i dont have the the head set (or hand set....) u are describing but any ways, have fun
one more thing i might guess that the first 2 are grouped together..... and so are the 2nd (red/black..) another way is u can trace the wires that lead to each particular thing....but i doubt u would wanna bust up the hand set....

 

[813_Error]

woo woo, do not try this! phones dont work that way. The 4 wires in there(red, green, yellow, and black) arent setup as mic and speaker. The yellow and black arent even used in your house (unless you have a pay phone) and the red and green are whats used...now that doesnt mean those are for headphones and mic. Its ALOT more complex than that.

About the voltage, when the phone is ON the hook its 16-20v(I belive it goes as low as 16 if your far away) and when the phone is off the hook its around 5-8(again I havent checked my line in a while Im just giong on what I think it is)...

 

[Blind Tree Frog]

And there is a 90v spike when you recieve a call.


Although I didn't know that the yellow and black weren't used. Thought payphones worked on the tone system (and hence boxing worked on them)

 

[813_Error]

it doesnt spike to 90v, It goes up to like 9 or something not 90...90 would burn the phone up man. The tones are called DTMF and boxing doesnt work anymore since they all either use muted mics or false dial tones.

 

[Diggrr]

Oh yes it does!
50v DC for dialtone, with 90v AC for ring impulse (one second on, 4 seconds off).
Amperage draw is kept low on the phones to keep from damaging wiring and such.

If you have just a dumb ol' handset with only the speaker and mic in it, it's usually wired red +, green - for the speaker, and yellow+, and black- for the microphone.
You may want to find a way into your handset to verify this, but it should work this way.

On my old cube case, I'd done some hunting and found a little phone that was the size of a hockey-puck. I modded it into the case bezel. I then took it's feed line (wall plug line) and soldered it to the modem jack connections where the modem's jack is soldered to the PCI board.
All the phone's wires were kept inside the computer, and I had a headset phone jack on the bezel too.
The phone was on line one (but using the yellow/black pair of the cord) and the computer was on line two (but using the red/green pair of the cord). You just have to make sure the wall jack is wired correctly (using the standard configuration, red/green=1 yellow/black=2). I'd made a special line cord to accomplish the switch...my own Telco crossover cord!
Pretty cool.

 

[813_Error]

ok have fun man...its fine by me if you wanna be wrong...

 

[The_Jizzler]

yea, i dont think ive ever seen the black and yellow line hooked into a residential system. i do know that the red and green are whats used for your home phone.

 

[bluediamond]

The only wires that are used on a normal single line telepone are the red and green wires (the center two I beleieve) The other two are not used, unless you have a two-line setup, then those other two are used. The same as with cat 5 cable, the brown pair is not used, at the school where I work some of the cabling is done with just a cat5 cable the first 3 pair of wires (orange, blue and green) are used for the data and the last pair (brown) for the phones.

 

[AlucardCasull]

why not just rig a speaker and mic into the phone, tear out the old, stick your headphones in. then you wont have to worry about fring your mother board and your already wired.

 

[813_Error]

the only way this will work is it he makes a phone himself or puts a headset into a already made phone...I know this stuff, Im wayy into phones "phreak" is the term. I dont know the exact voltages since I havent looked since 3 months ago. But I do know that this whole 90v when ringing and 50v dc???? is way wrong.

Anyway your best bet is to just get a phone and put a headset on it.

 

[Blind Tree Frog]

the only way this will work is it he makes a phone himself or puts a headset into a already made phone...I know this stuff, Im wayy into phones "phreak" is the term. I dont know the exact voltages since I havent looked since 3 months ago. But I do know that this whole 90v when ringing and 50v dc???? is way wrong.

Anyway your best bet is to just get a phone and put a headset on it.

No offense, but saying you are way into phreaking but not knowing the basics is kinda.....polar opposites. If you are way into phones, knowing what happens when the phone rings is the first step.


But to check and see if I'm wrong, cus I'll admit it if I am, we'll check How Things Work and see how phones work.
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/telephone5.htm

The "ring" signal is a 90-volt AC wave at 20 hertz (Hz).

Returning to the original post, these two links might help you in some small way
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/telephone.htm
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/wiretapping.htm

edit:
gah, can't believe I spelled phreaking wrong.. I'm so ashamed.

 

[Diggrr]

ok have fun man...its fine by me if you wanna be wrong...

Huh, so all this time for AT&T local repair hasn't taught me thing huh?
Guess my 5 year Journeyman's card with the IBEW is useless too?

Phreaking is much more than finding plans on the net to build your own blue box, ya know.

I'll be back in a sec with the pic from my phone's handset that I opened up to answer this question acurately with....

 

[Blind Tree Frog]

Huh, so all this time for AT&T local repair hasn't taught me thing huh?
Guess my 5 year Journeyman's card with the IBEW is useless too?

Why yes, yes it is. Why do I need to tell you this?

 

[Diggrr]

Note the wiring as I'd said.
Also note that he'd asked about a telephone handset, not a telephone itself. The wiring here is NOT to connect this handset to a wall plug, but to the phone base, that's all (dumb ol' handset, no electronics, like I'd said). The base contains all the electronics that makes a phone a phone.

Now on to the black and yellow pair.
Back in the 70's and prior, phones required the yellow and black wires to be hooked together from all the jacks in the house, and terminated at d-marc/lightening protector. A small transformer that plugged into a wall plug somewhere in the house was terminated with them.
The sole purpose for this was to power the dial light. They used a neon bulb that drew more current than the phone company was willing to pay for, thus they sprung instead for a transformer.
With the advent of the LED, power draw was reduced to a point to make it feasible to power them from the telco's line.
However, everyone still made 4 conductor cables and 4 (sometimes even 6) conductor jacks, so they continued to do so.

Nowadays, if you have a second line installed in your house, the technician will most likely use the yellow and black pair for line 2, as long as that pair tests as voltage free (no transformer). If I do find voltage on that pair, then I disconnect the transformer, and use that pair freely. Every jack that the customer needs to be working on line two, simply needs to be opened and have the black/yellow pair moved to match the jack's red/green pair.
You pay dearly for a technician's install time, so it's cost effective for the customer AND the telco.

Slowly, multiple lines in homes are becoming more and more popular, so category 3 (cat-3) cable has become standard. It's ability to carry up to 4 numbers is helpfull, as is the redundency should a pair get a fault over time. The tech simply has to switch pairs to clear a fault instead of trying to rip out whatever wallcovering that the homeowner has installed, to replace the wire.

And that's all I have to say 'bout that.
Have a groovy day!

 

[Diggrr]

Why yes, yes it is. Why do I need to tell you this?

Hah! You funny guy, funny long time, Joe!

 

[Blind Tree Frog]

Yeah, well I try.

thanks for the black/yellow info btw.

 

[miao]

what model of phone is this?

 

[TheFrag]

I feel sorry for the newbies to oc-forums that get owned by the senior members

But that guy had it coming.
Sorry cant really help you, just had to say that.

EDIT: This was a JOKE