Hello there,

I am trying to install a new yale alarm system at my home. This system incorporates a telephone system where it rings a given number if any problems are to occur. However the cable I have to connect the panel and the BT socket is not long enough. I have since bought another standard telephone cable RJ11 to BT which does not actually work. Is there some sort of special cable I should be using?

Many Thanks

Silly question really.
Is it just a case of the wrong connector on the end.
BT Phone Vs RJ11 as pictured here:

http://www.pcgonmad.co.uk/images/56k%20Fax%20Data%20Modem%20to%20BT%20Win%20Modem%2 0Cable%205m.jpg

Thanks for the reply. They are the connectors at the end of the cable. It is an RJ11 to BT cable. I think the wires inside the cable must be different though.

I'm thinking aloud here so bear with me.

Does this connect to the voice or data side of a filter, you mention that it dials a number, so maybe a simple, old skool, modem, needing the voice side of a filter.

Is your socket filtered for broadband and voice ?
Have you tried it with broadband disconnected ?

Is the socket working OK ?
Try the test socket.


Hopefully my ramblings have given some ideas..

I'm a little confused but I'll explain how the BT socket is connected. Hopefully that will answer some of those questions. So, the BT socket has a two way adapter connected to it. In one of the connections on the adapter is a broadband filter. In this filter the phone is connected to it. In the other connection on the adapter is where we are connecting the alarms telephone cable.

I probably haven't made this clear in the question either. The orignal telephone cable from the yale alarm does work. It has been tested directly in the BT socket. The cable we have bought does not work. Both cables have the same connectors, which must point to a difference in the internal cabling.

Yes that does make it clearer and I'll stop with the dumb thinking, always gets me in trouble.

Can you run an extension to the confirmed working connection ?
Least extensions lines have all the pins connected.

As you suspect, the cable you bought might be for data rather than voice. Both only use two cables in the socket.

The filter should come BEFORE any other connections, so the two way should be in the filter rather than the socket itself.
So Socket > Filter > Two way with voice and alarm in it.

My fault for not making it clear enough. But anyway, BT extension lead is a possibility that we have thought about. I was just hoping to be able to buy one of these RJ11 to BT cables that is the same but just longer. This would make it much easer for how we have the room setup.

Also I see what you mean about the filter. I will put the filter back into the socket and connect the two way to it.

Have you tried swapping it with the landline cable ?

No, because it is still a short cable. Do you know the name of this cable that I need? So that I can try to search and find one to buy?

Thanks again

Burger.

Well in that case any have a look for a phone cable rather then a modem cable.

This should do the trick: Commtel Telephone Line Cord - 3m from Homebase.co.uk (http://www.homebase.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=20001&partNumber=797492&c_3=3|cat_14418985|Telephone+accessories|14418992&c_2=2|cat_16849273|Telephones|14418985&c_1=1|category_root|Home+Electrical|16849273)

Right OK thanks a lot. I am looking for a cable that is about 8 metres. Do I just search for telephone cable then? Because I am sure that is what I did before for the other cable which does not work.

Blimey that's a LONG cable, I fully appreciate your problem now.
Yep look for phone cables and make sure all of the pins are connected.
You can normally see through the RJ11 end.

Yes I know haha. Am I looking for a voice or data cable then? And what's the difference?

Again thanks a lot

If they are specifically labelled as Voice or Data they have different pairs connected in the connectors.
Admittedly I would have thought if they didn't then all cables would be connected anyway.

Yet another silly question, have you checked the connectivity on the cable you bought ?
Time to dig out the old multimeter.

What do you mean the connectivity?

Check to make sure the pins on the RJ11 end correspond with the BT end.

Hopefully you can see the wires in the RJ11 end.

Just thinking that the change with the filter and two way setup might actually resolve this issue.

Landline phones are more resilient to change, (older tech) were as the alarm may not be.

Which cable are we talking about by the way? The one that came with the alarm and works. Or the one that doesn't?

The one that doesn't.

The cable that doesn't work has 4 pins in both end. I can see the colours of the cable in the RJ11 connector. The cable that does work also has 4 pins. Both cables have been tried directly in the BT socket with only the yale one working.

I have seen some alarm systems accessories use a line cord, except 1 line cord end is crimped upside down. Reversing wires in a jack can do the same thing.
Take each line cord and place end to end with the release up and see if there is a ridge on the line cord that both are up, or 1 is up and the other down. This may not be the case, but have ran into this in the past.