does this box still work? whats the max ammount you can drain?

A phone line is used for a telephone a power line is used for power ...


judgment call... should i be a forum nazi and close this or shouldn't i .. the people of diy will be the judge

No, telephones do carry a low voltage current. Not much, but it's there. Ever notice how the most basic phones don't need power plugs?

In Aust i think its about 18v, I cant check right now as my multimeter is out on loan. I found out years ago by stripping phone line wires with my teeth. BWAHAHA i know dumb but i was young, didnt know it contained power. Was running a phone to my bedroom!

well yeah to a degree it has very small amounts of voltage and yes i to have been shocked i was splicing in a new line when the fucker just had to rign while the wires were in my mouth

Thanks Warweed i dont feel so bad now.

Well i just tested the socket with the internet connection and its sitting on 9 Volts, dropped to 8.9 a few times so yes it will run 9volt appliances, unsure of the amps as like i said my multimeter isnt here so i just used an automotive digital voltage reader.

I will test some more when i get my meter back!

what does your standard electrical socket run on ?

ours is 122 volts

Although 9v isn't a lot you could run battery powered things off of it- like if you had a powercut you could run a maglite of it or something. Maybe you could charge reusable batteries of it aswell. Normally it takes a couple of hours to charge "AA"s off of a 240v power socket so at 9 volts it could take quite a while. Also- rems would come into account, does the power get split in the same way that a signal would when you use more than one phone on a single line?

-Chunk

Our standard electrical outlet is 240v and 10amps in Australia.

I wont have my multimeter back for a few days so what i will do to determine how many amps i can pull from the 9v phone socket is load it up with some lights of different watts ie 65w and 100w globes. I will keep loading the socket until the lights start to dim then i can determine the approximate amps.

I will wait until im off line to do this one just in case

Also just a thought, if the USA socket voltage is 9v like ours, can you get a 9v - 122v inverter? If so you could run standard electrical appliances off your phone socket for free!

I know i can get a 12-240v inverter here to run household appliances of the cigarette lighter socket of a car but i will have to look up a 9-240v inverter as i have never seen one. But you guys on 122v might have a better chance of getting an inverter as the inversion range is smaller.

How would a transformer be able to increase the voltage from a lesser to a higher? Could low-voltage gauge wire handle the amps that could be pulled from a 120V appliance? I'm not trying to be a smartass, I just don't know that much about electricty and am curious.

The title reminded me of the time when some students at the university in dunedin(otago universiy) managed to jack power out of a lamp post. anyways, the power wouldn't be free, you'd still have to pay for the phone line.and i think it owuld screw up your telephone and if you took all the powerr away it would stop ringing altogether.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Kahle86:
How would a transformer be able to increase the voltage from a lesser to a higher? Could low-voltage gauge wire handle the amps that could be pulled from a 120V appliance? I'm not trying to be a smartass, I just don't know that much about electricty and am curious.

---

Who mentioned transformer? An inverter is what increases voltage. The low voltage wires only run from the socket to the inverter, then the high voltage wires run from the inverter to the appliance.

No you could not run the phone while extracting power from the socket, and no the power is not free in theory as there is the monthly phone rental. However if there is a spare socket and this idea works, you could power a small hydroponic setup. Think of that, growing the first cannabis plant with a phone socket

Well, the phone company will undoubtedly notice the blatant voltage spikes on your line and pay you a visit...

I'm in Australia, and i get 40 volts from the phone line. This is enough to run some things, but it is only at about 0.1 ohms which isnt enough current to run anything. What are some suggestions on what i coudl run form the phine socket, if anything?.

quote:

---

Originally posted by economichaircut:
I'm in Australia, and i get 40 volts from the phone line. This is enough to run some things, but it is only at about 0.1 ohms which isnt enough current to run anything. What are some suggestions on what i coudl run form the phine socket, if anything?.

---

ohms = resistance
amps = current

and some trivia you might find fun, V=IR

quote:

---

Originally posted by economichaircut:
I'm in Australia, and i get 40 volts from the phone line. This is enough to run some things, but it is only at about 0.1 ohms which isnt enough current to run anything. What are some suggestions on what i coudl run form the phine socket, if anything?.

---

40 Volts? I doubt it, im in Australia and all telstra lines are the same and i get 9volts constant. And yes ohms=level of resistance. You may have checked your socket wrong.

As for the phone company noticing the blatant voltage consumption, i loaded up my line with an appliance that draws considerably more voltage than a telephone and havn't got a knock on the door yet. Im unsure if they can detect excess power consumption, guess i will find out.