Wire and Insulation Q

  • Thread starter Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun
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Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun

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I have a few thousand feet of some old plastic insulated twisted pair
telephone wire stuck away in my garage that has me puzzled. It's 24
AWG (.5 mm) but the insulation is thicker than usual. The usual
overal diameter is .044" or 1.1mm, but this wire is about .065" or 1.6
mm. I've cut chunks off to use in some places, and wherever I cut and
strip it, the copper is tarnished like it was stripped and exposed to
the elements for years. But that's underneath the insulation. So I'm
puzzled as to why the insulation didn't protect it from being oxidized
and corroded. Maybe something in the insulation itself?

The color codes don't conform to the ones in use today, probably
because things were different a few decades ago. I think that it
might be good for hooking up field phones in a forest somewhere. Any
ideas?

BTW, I was web surfing and found some interesting info the other day
on "Murphy phones" for cave rescue. Might be of some use, somedsy.
http://www.cc.utah.edu/~nahaj/cave/phones/

--
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Just when you thought you had all this figured out, the gov't
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@@t@h@e@@a@f@f@l@u@e@n@t@@m@e@e@t@@t@h@e@@E@f@f@l@u@e@n@t@@
 
Sounds like Quad cable that used to be used for telephone. 4 conductor,
not even twisted pairs. They used to use all 4 conductors -- green/red
for talk and black/yellow for the ringer, which used to be a bell that
drew a fair amount of current at 90VAC.


CIAO!

Ed Nielsen
Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers Member ID #M119247
CENCOM
http://www.cencom94.com

Watson A.Name - Watt Sun wrote:
I have a few thousand feet of some old plastic insulated twisted pair
telephone wire stuck away in my garage that has me puzzled. It's 24
AWG (.5 mm) but the insulation is thicker than usual. The usual
overal diameter is .044" or 1.1mm, but this wire is about .065" or 1.6
mm. I've cut chunks off to use in some places, and wherever I cut and
strip it, the copper is tarnished like it was stripped and exposed to
the elements for years. But that's underneath the insulation. So I'm
puzzled as to why the insulation didn't protect it from being oxidized
and corroded. Maybe something in the insulation itself?

The color codes don't conform to the ones in use today, probably
because things were different a few decades ago. I think that it
might be good for hooking up field phones in a forest somewhere. Any
ideas?

BTW, I was web surfing and found some interesting info the other day
on "Murphy phones" for cave rescue. Might be of some use, somedsy.
http://www.cc.utah.edu/~nahaj/cave/phones/
Click to expand...
 
"Ed Nielsen" <egnlsn@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:3LJ4b.246570$It4.115339@rwcrnsc51.ops.asp.att.net...
Sounds like Quad cable that used to be used for telephone. 4 conductor,
not even twisted pairs. They used to use all 4 conductors -- green/red
for talk and black/yellow for the ringer, which used to be a bell that
drew a fair amount of current at 90VAC.
Click to expand...
Bell and voice were driven from the same loop (green/red). The usual install
was to use the black/yellow for a second line or for the "Princess" lighted
phones. Those phones had small lamps in them. In that case they used a "wall
wart" type transformer to power the second pair which was used to power the
lamps.

CIAO!

Ed Nielsen
Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers Member ID #M119247
CENCOM
http://www.cencom94.com

Watson A.Name - Watt Sun wrote:
I have a few thousand feet of some old plastic insulated twisted pair
telephone wire stuck away in my garage that has me puzzled. It's 24
AWG (.5 mm) but the insulation is thicker than usual. The usual
overal diameter is .044" or 1.1mm, but this wire is about .065" or 1.6
mm. I've cut chunks off to use in some places, and wherever I cut and
strip it, the copper is tarnished like it was stripped and exposed to
the elements for years. But that's underneath the insulation. So I'm
puzzled as to why the insulation didn't protect it from being oxidized
and corroded. Maybe something in the insulation itself?

The color codes don't conform to the ones in use today, probably
because things were different a few decades ago. I think that it
might be good for hooking up field phones in a forest somewhere. Any
ideas?

BTW, I was web surfing and found some interesting info the other day
on "Murphy phones" for cave rescue. Might be of some use, somedsy.
http://www.cc.utah.edu/~nahaj/cave/phones/
Click to expand...
 
It seems that some wires, in particular silver plated wire, will tarnish
from the plasticizer in the insulation.

Cheers!

Chip Shults
My robotics, space and CGI web page - http://home.cfl.rr.com/aichip
 
I remember tearing into some phones that had them going to the bell, but
then again, my memory may be a bit foggy on that. Wasn't quite
yesterday. <G>


CIAO!

Ed Nielsen
CENCOM
http://www.cencom94.com

George wrote:

"Ed Nielsen" <egnlsn@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:3LJ4b.246570$It4.115339@rwcrnsc51.ops.asp.att.net...

Sounds like Quad cable that used to be used for telephone. 4 conductor,
not even twisted pairs. They used to use all 4 conductors -- green/red
for talk and black/yellow for the ringer, which used to be a bell that
drew a fair amount of current at 90VAC.


Bell and voice were driven from the same loop (green/red). The usual install
was to use the black/yellow for a second line or for the "Princess" lighted
phones. Those phones had small lamps in them. In that case they used a "wall
wart" type transformer to power the second pair which was used to power the
lamps.
Click to expand...
 
In our area, the yellow was for the 90Volt ringer. Three wire.

On Mon, 01 Sep 2003 16:42:41 GMT, Ed Nielsen <egnlsn@comcast.net>
wrote:

I remember tearing into some phones that had them going to the bell, but
then again, my memory may be a bit foggy on that. Wasn't quite
yesterday. <G


CIAO!

Ed Nielsen
CENCOM
http://www.cencom94.com

George wrote:

"Ed Nielsen" <egnlsn@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:3LJ4b.246570$It4.115339@rwcrnsc51.ops.asp.att.net...

Sounds like Quad cable that used to be used for telephone. 4 conductor,
not even twisted pairs. They used to use all 4 conductors -- green/red
for talk and black/yellow for the ringer, which used to be a bell that
drew a fair amount of current at 90VAC.


Bell and voice were driven from the same loop (green/red). The usual install
was to use the black/yellow for a second line or for the "Princess" lighted
phones. Those phones had small lamps in them. In that case they used a "wall
wart" type transformer to power the second pair which was used to power the
lamps.
Click to expand...
 
George wrote:

"Ed Nielsen" <egnlsn@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:3LJ4b.246570$It4.115339@rwcrnsc51.ops.asp.att.net...
Sounds like Quad cable that used to be used for telephone. 4 conductor,
not even twisted pairs. They used to use all 4 conductors -- green/red
for talk and black/yellow for the ringer, which used to be a bell that
drew a fair amount of current at 90VAC.

Bell and voice were driven from the same loop (green/red). The usual
install was to use the black/yellow for a second line or for the
"Princess" lighted phones. Those phones had small lamps in them. In that
case they used a "wall wart" type transformer to power the second pair
which was used to power the lamps.
Click to expand...
Some of the old party line phones used a 3rd wire, to determine which of 2
subscribers the call was for.

--

Fundamentalism is fundamentally wrong.

To reply to this message, replace everything to the left of "@" with
james.knott.
 
Stepan Novotill wrote:

In our area, the yellow was for the 90Volt ringer. Three wire.
Click to expand...
Were you on a party line?

--

Fundamentalism is fundamentally wrong.

To reply to this message, replace everything to the left of "@" with
james.knott.
 
In article <3LJ4b.246570$It4.115339@rwcrnsc51.ops.asp.att.net>,
egnlsn@comcast.net mentioned...
Sounds like Quad cable that used to be used for telephone. 4 conductor,
not even twisted pairs. They used to use all 4 conductors -- green/red
for talk and black/yellow for the ringer, which used to be a bell that
drew a fair amount of current at 90VAC.
Click to expand...
No, it's a single twisted pair, with odd colors like blue and black.
Thanks.

CIAO!

Ed Nielsen
Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers Member ID #M119247
CENCOM
http://www.cencom94.com

Watson A.Name - Watt Sun wrote:
I have a few thousand feet of some old plastic insulated twisted pair
telephone wire stuck away in my garage that has me puzzled. It's 24
AWG (.5 mm) but the insulation is thicker than usual. The usual
overal diameter is .044" or 1.1mm, but this wire is about .065" or 1.6
mm. I've cut chunks off to use in some places, and wherever I cut and
strip it, the copper is tarnished like it was stripped and exposed to
the elements for years. But that's underneath the insulation. So I'm
puzzled as to why the insulation didn't protect it from being oxidized
and corroded. Maybe something in the insulation itself?

The color codes don't conform to the ones in use today, probably
because things were different a few decades ago. I think that it
might be good for hooking up field phones in a forest somewhere. Any
ideas?

BTW, I was web surfing and found some interesting info the other day
on "Murphy phones" for cave rescue. Might be of some use, somedsy.
http://www.cc.utah.edu/~nahaj/cave/phones/
Click to expand...
--
@@F@r@o@m@@O@r@a@n@g@e@@C@o@u@n@t@y@,@@C@a@l@,@@w@h@e@r@e@@
###Got a Question about ELECTRONICS? Check HERE First:###
http://users.pandora.be/educypedia/electronics/databank.htm
My email address is whitelisted. *All* email sent to it
goes directly to the trash unless you add NOSPAM in the
Subject: line with other stuff. alondra101 <at> hotmail.com
Don't be ripped off by the big book dealers. Go to the URL
that will give you a choice and save you money(up to half).
http://www.everybookstore.com You'll be glad you did!
Just when you thought you had all this figured out, the gov't
changed it: http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/binary.html
@@t@h@e@@a@f@f@l@u@e@n@t@@m@e@e@t@@t@h@e@@E@f@f@l@u@e@n@t@@
 
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