ENERGY TIPS

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5. Tighten till snug; the clockwise motion of the screwhead will draw wire ends in toward the threads of the screw (If you bend wire into counter-clockwise half circles, tightening it down will tend to push ends out ...and they are sure to want to contact another wiring post and short out the phone circuit.). Replace wiring block cover.

6. Feed out the cable along your baseboard, over doors and along moldings going up stairs to new phone locations, fastening every foot or two with a special phone line stapler or hammer-on staples. A phone line stapler is available on special order for about $20 from any hardware store; it fits snugly over the station wire and applies a specially designed staple precisely so as not to pierce the sheath. Never try to fasten phone cable with a conventional staple gun, as you are bound to pierce the cable, shorting wires and the circuit.

7. Attach a new wiring block to the baseboard; strip and attach the color-coded wires to the wiring posts and attach a modular jack. A phone will connect and you have a new location for the secret circuit as well.

Accessing the Secret Circuit

It is easiest and most secure to hardwire your stereo and extension speaker, intercom, or whatever to the system.

1. Remove wiring block covers at the transmitter (stereo amp, main intercom or CCTV camera) and at the output (speaker or monitor) locations.

2. Fasten hookup wire between the + and - output posts of the transmitter and the Y/B posts on the block, being sure to remember each color wire's polarity.

3. Repeat at the output block by wiring the output device the same way...+ to + and - to -.

4. Test, refasten wiring block covers, and enjoy.

Modular Hookups

More flexible is to hook your gadgetry to modular plugs so instruments can be plugged in and unplugged at will. There are two ways: 1.) hook transmitter and output device to slave modular jacks and run extensions (four-lead phone cord with RJ-11 plugs at both ends) to the phone line; or 2.) solder the transmitter and output wire directly to a length of phone line with an RJ-11 plug at the end, and run that to plug into the nearest modular jack on the phone line.

Modular Jack to Modular Jack

Get as many wall jacks and four-line phone line extension cords (RJ-11 is at both ends) as long as needed to reach from each transmitter and output to the nearest modular jack in the phone wiring/secret circuit. As above, use short lengths of hookup wire to connect transmitters and output devices to the Y/B posts in the slave jacks. (I find it most convenient to fasten these jacks to the back of the stereo or to the wall just below an intercom.) Connect four-wire extension phone line between the slave jacks and any wall jack; Y/B pair will connect to Y/B pair and you are in business.

Modular Plug to Modular Jack.

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