The house that I bought had an old CPI security system that hadn't
been used in years and I did not see the need for a system so the
other day I was looking at the huge panel in my coat closet and
realized that I had both power and a phone line in a nice handy box.
So I disconnect the security panel and pitch it. I plug the modem
into the phone jack and the wall outlet and set up my wireless
router. I cleaned up and check the internet and it works great. So I
go about my business for a couple of days and realized I hadn't been
harassed by a telemarketer in a while (we like most people these days
use their cell phone for everything, the only reason I have a home
phone is for DSL). I pick up my land line and there is no dial tone.
I check the other three phone outlets in the house and they are all
dead. So I start thinking about the problem and hook up the phone to
the outlet in the closet and lo and behold I get a dial tone. I take
the router and modem and hook it up at another outlet and dsl works.

When I removed the security system circuit board from the closet, I
assumed the wires that screwed into the circuit board went to the
smoke detectors and door sensors. The board had a phone line plus
plug that plugged into the phone outlet in the closet.

Does anybody have any ideas on what might be going on? Here is what I
have sticking out my box. I have three 4 strand phone type wire
(Black, Green, Red, Yellow) and three 2 strand wire (black,red). I
pulled the sensors off the door and they seem to correspond to the
black and red (three exterior doors). I would assumed one of the 4
strand wires would have to go the the security panel. I am guessing
that at least one of the other 4 strand wires goes to my smoke
detectors.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

drew wrote:
The house that I bought had an old CPI security system that hadn't
been used in years and I did not see the need for a system so the
other day I was looking at the huge panel in my coat closet and
realized that I had both power and a phone line in a nice handy box.
So I disconnect the security panel and pitch it. I plug the modem
into the phone jack and the wall outlet and set up my wireless
router. I cleaned up and check the internet and it works great. So I
go about my business for a couple of days and realized I hadn't been
harassed by a telemarketer in a while (we like most people these days
use their cell phone for everything, the only reason I have a home
phone is for DSL). I pick up my land line and there is no dial tone.
I check the other three phone outlets in the house and they are all
dead. So I start thinking about the problem and hook up the phone to
the outlet in the closet and lo and behold I get a dial tone. I take
the router and modem and hook it up at another outlet and dsl works.

When I removed the security system circuit board from the closet, I
assumed the wires that screwed into the circuit board went to the
smoke detectors and door sensors. The board had a phone line plus
plug that plugged into the phone outlet in the closet.

Does anybody have any ideas on what might be going on? Here is what I
have sticking out my box. I have three 4 strand phone type wire
(Black, Green, Red, Yellow) and three 2 strand wire (black,red). I
pulled the sensors off the door and they seem to correspond to the
black and red (three exterior doors). I would assumed one of the 4
strand wires would have to go the the security panel. I am guessing
that at least one of the other 4 strand wires goes to my smoke
detectors.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

The security panel may have connected the phone signal pair back to the other 2
wires of the phone jack, which would carry the signal back to the junction box
and on to the other phone jacks. It does this so it can sieze the line for alarm
calls.

Or, it could feed it on through one of the 4 wire cables similarly.

You may be able to rewire the phone junction box to correct the problem, or wire
a special splitter to feed your phone and feed the signal back into the closet
jack.

If this doesn't help, comp.home.automation is a good place for this question.

On Nov 4, 11:53*am, "Bob F" wrote:
drew wrote:
The house that I bought had an old CPI security system that hadn't
been used in years and I did not see the need for a system so the
other day I was looking at the huge panel in my coat closet and
realized that I had both power and a phone line in a nice handy box.
So I disconnect the security panel and pitch it. *I plug the modem
into the phone jack and the wall outlet and set up my wireless
router. *I cleaned up and check the internet and it works great. *So I
go about my business for a couple of days and realized I hadn't been
harassed by a telemarketer in a while (we like most people these days
use their cell phone for everything, the only reason I have a home
phone is for DSL). *I pick up my land line and there is no dial tone.
I check the other three phone outlets in the house and they are all
dead. *So I start thinking about the problem and hook up the phone to
the outlet in the closet and lo and behold I get a dial tone. *I take
the router and modem and hook it up at another outlet and dsl works.

When I removed the security system circuit board from the closet, I
assumed the wires that screwed into the circuit board went to the
smoke detectors and door sensors. *The board had a phone line plus
plug that plugged into the phone outlet in the closet.

Does anybody have any ideas on what might be going on? Here is what I
have sticking out my box. *I have three 4 strand phone type wire
(Black, Green, Red, Yellow) and three 2 strand wire (black,red). *I
pulled the sensors off the door and they seem to correspond to the
black and red *(three exterior doors). I would assumed one of the 4
strand wires would have to go the the security panel. I am guessing
that at least one of the other 4 strand wires goes to my smoke
detectors.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

The security panel may have connected the phone signal pair back to the other 2
wires of the phone jack, which would carry the signal back to the junction box
and on to the other phone jacks. It does this so it can sieze the line for alarm
calls.

Or, it could feed it on through one of the 4 wire cables similarly.

You may be able to rewire the phone junction box to correct the problem, or wire
a special splitter to feed your phone and feed the signal back into the closet
jack.

If this doesn't help, comp.home.automation is a good place for this question.

The line seizure thing sounds very likely to me. Possibly you could
rewire the cable going to that particular jack at the demarc and turn
it into a regular two line phone jack. I suspect that it's set up to
go "out" to the security system on the inner pair and "back" to the
main point of connection on the outer pair and then all the other
phone jacks in the house are connected to the "back" pair.

The reason that it's done that way is so that if you happen to be on
the phone when the security event occurs the panel will take control
of the outgoing phone line and dial out (disconnecting your call in
the process.)

nate

Here is an explanation of the alarm wiring:
http://www.hometech.com/learn/rj31x.html

Looks to me like you can de wire the line seize mode really easy.


--

Roger Shoaf

About the time I had mastered getting the toothpaste back in the tube, then
they come up with this striped stuff.


"drew" wrote in message
...
The house that I bought had an old CPI security system that hadn't
been used in years and I did not see the need for a system so the
other day I was looking at the huge panel in my coat closet and
realized that I had both power and a phone line in a nice handy box.
So I disconnect the security panel and pitch it. I plug the modem
into the phone jack and the wall outlet and set up my wireless
router. I cleaned up and check the internet and it works great. So I
go about my business for a couple of days and realized I hadn't been
harassed by a telemarketer in a while (we like most people these days
use their cell phone for everything, the only reason I have a home
phone is for DSL). I pick up my land line and there is no dial tone.
I check the other three phone outlets in the house and they are all
dead. So I start thinking about the problem and hook up the phone to
the outlet in the closet and lo and behold I get a dial tone. I take
the router and modem and hook it up at another outlet and dsl works.

When I removed the security system circuit board from the closet, I
assumed the wires that screwed into the circuit board went to the
smoke detectors and door sensors. The board had a phone line plus
plug that plugged into the phone outlet in the closet.

Does anybody have any ideas on what might be going on? Here is what I
have sticking out my box. I have three 4 strand phone type wire
(Black, Green, Red, Yellow) and three 2 strand wire (black,red). I
pulled the sensors off the door and they seem to correspond to the
black and red (three exterior doors). I would assumed one of the 4
strand wires would have to go the the security panel. I am guessing
that at least one of the other 4 strand wires goes to my smoke
detectors.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

drew wrote:
On Nov 4, 1:19 pm, "DGDevin" wrote:
drew wrote:
The house that I bought had an old CPI security system that hadn't
been used in years and I did not see the need for a system so the
other day I was looking at the huge panel in my coat closet and
realized that I had both power and a phone line in a nice handy box.
So I disconnect the security panel and pitch it.

Was there a security company sign for the front of the house? If so
I hope you kept it, those signs are excellent burglar repellents.

I have a dog whose single goal in life is to alert me or my wife
whenever someone gets within 20' of my house. A sign is irrelevant
because my dog will know the burglar is there before the would be
thief could even see a sign.

I don't know how he does it because he can be asleep on the couch in
the back of the house with the TV on and will instantly know when
someone has stepped foot on my driveway. My only conclusion is he can
smell them or he is psychic.

Dogs, like burglar alarms and telephones, can be disabled.

Best have a few guns stashed around as a last ditch defense. A "safe room
(closet)" wouldn't be a bad idea either.

On Nov 4, 12:29*pm, drew wrote:
On Nov 4, 1:19*pm, "DGDevin" wrote:

drew wrote:
The house that I bought had an old CPI security system that hadn't
been used in years and I did not see the need for a system so the
other day I was looking at the huge panel in my coat closet and
realized that I had both power and a phone line in a nice handy box.
So I disconnect the security panel and pitch it.

Was there a security company sign for the front of the house? *If so I hope
you kept it, those signs are excellent burglar repellents.

I have a dog whose single goal in life is to alert me or my wife
whenever someone gets within 20' of my house. *A sign is irrelevant
because my dog will know the burglar is there before the would be
thief could even see a sign.

I don't know how he does it because he can be asleep on the couch in
the back of the house with the TV on and will instantly know when
someone has stepped foot on my driveway. *My only conclusion is he can
smell them or he is psychic.

I had a dog like that, he got old and died, but the alarm system still
works. All animals sleep.

drew wrote:

Was there a security company sign for the front of the house? If so
I hope you kept it, those signs are excellent burglar repellents.

I have a dog whose single goal in life is to alert me or my wife
whenever someone gets within 20' of my house. A sign is irrelevant
because my dog will know the burglar is there before the would be
thief could even see a sign.

I don't know how he does it because he can be asleep on the couch in
the back of the house with the TV on and will instantly know when
someone has stepped foot on my driveway. My only conclusion is he can
smell them or he is psychic.

While it's good to have such a dog, a free alarm company signs that
persuades would-be burglars to keep moving seems to be something without a
down-side. I've experienced a series of commercial and residential
burglaries over the years, and today I wouldn't have a house without an
alarm unless I had absolutely nothing of personal (as opposed to monetary)
value inside.

On Nov 4, 10:28*am, drew wrote:
The house that I bought had an old CPI security system that hadn't
been used in years and I did not see the need for a system so the
other day I was looking at the huge panel in my coat closet and
realized that I had both power and a phone line in a nice handy box.
So I disconnect the security panel and pitch it. *I plug the modem
into the phone jack and the wall outlet and set up my wireless
router. *I cleaned up and check the internet and it works great. *So I
go about my business for a couple of days and realized I hadn't been
harassed by a telemarketer in a while (we like most people these days
use their cell phone for everything, the only reason I have a home
phone is for DSL). *I pick up my land line and there is no dial tone.
I check the other three phone outlets in the house and they are all
dead. *So I start thinking about the problem and hook up the phone to
the outlet in the closet and lo and behold I get a dial tone. *I take
the router and modem and hook it up at another outlet and dsl works.

When I removed the security system circuit board from the closet, I
assumed the wires that screwed into the circuit board went to the
smoke detectors and door sensors. *The board had a phone line plus
plug that plugged into the phone outlet in the closet.

Does anybody have any ideas on what might be going on? Here is what I
have sticking out my box. *I have three 4 strand phone type wire
(Black, Green, Red, Yellow) and three 2 strand wire (black,red). *I
pulled the sensors off the door and they seem to correspond to the
black and red *(three exterior doors). I would assumed one of the 4
strand wires would have to go the the security panel. I am guessing
that at least one of the other 4 strand wires goes to my smoke
detectors.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

You did not say whether each of the line had a DSL filter installed

wrote:
On Nov 4, 10:28 am, drew wrote:
The house that I bought had an old CPI security system that hadn't
been used in years and I did not see the need for a system so the
other day I was looking at the huge panel in my coat closet and
realized that I had both power and a phone line in a nice handy box.
So I disconnect the security panel and pitch it. I plug the modem
into the phone jack and the wall outlet and set up my wireless
router. I cleaned up and check the internet and it works great. So I
go about my business for a couple of days and realized I hadn't been
harassed by a telemarketer in a while (we like most people these days
use their cell phone for everything, the only reason I have a home
phone is for DSL). I pick up my land line and there is no dial tone.
I check the other three phone outlets in the house and they are all
dead. So I start thinking about the problem and hook up the phone to
the outlet in the closet and lo and behold I get a dial tone. I take
the router and modem and hook it up at another outlet and dsl works.

When I removed the security system circuit board from the closet, I
assumed the wires that screwed into the circuit board went to the
smoke detectors and door sensors. The board had a phone line plus
plug that plugged into the phone outlet in the closet.

Does anybody have any ideas on what might be going on? Here is what I
have sticking out my box. I have three 4 strand phone type wire
(Black, Green, Red, Yellow) and three 2 strand wire (black,red). I
pulled the sensors off the door and they seem to correspond to the
black and red (three exterior doors). I would assumed one of the 4
strand wires would have to go the the security panel. I am guessing
that at least one of the other 4 strand wires goes to my smoke
detectors.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

You did not say whether each of the line had a DSL filter installed

Alarm systems usually have a 'line seizure' jack where they attach to
the phone lines. As soon as whatever is plugged into the special jack
goes off-hook, it disconnects all other jacks in the house. Replace the
jack or connector block in the enclosure (or in the phone line leading
to it) with a vanilla rj11 jack, and the problems should go away. The
incoming feed to the house may be 2 of the 4-strand lines, rerouted
through the enclosure. I'd map out your phone lines all the way from the
phone demarc to figure out what is going on. Harbor Freight has tone
tracers pretty cheap, and it is no harder than wiring stereo speakers.

If all of the above sounds like gibberish, look at some of the DIY alarm
wiring sites or books for the pictures and diagrams. It isn't as bad as
it sounds.

--
aem sends...

On Nov 4, 11:02*pm, aemeijers wrote:
wrote:
On Nov 4, 10:28 am, drew wrote:
The house that I bought had an old CPI security system that hadn't
been used in years and I did not see the need for a system so the
other day I was looking at the huge panel in my coat closet and
realized that I had both power and a phone line in a nice handy box.
So I disconnect the security panel and pitch it. *I plug the modem
into the phone jack and the wall outlet and set up my wireless
router. *I cleaned up and check the internet and it works great. *So I
go about my business for a couple of days and realized I hadn't been
harassed by a telemarketer in a while (we like most people these days
use their cell phone for everything, the only reason I have a home
phone is for DSL). *I pick up my land line and there is no dial tone..
I check the other three phone outlets in the house and they are all
dead. *So I start thinking about the problem and hook up the phone to
the outlet in the closet and lo and behold I get a dial tone. *I take
the router and modem and hook it up at another outlet and dsl works.

When I removed the security system circuit board from the closet, I
assumed the wires that screwed into the circuit board went to the
smoke detectors and door sensors. *The board had a phone line plus
plug that plugged into the phone outlet in the closet.

Does anybody have any ideas on what might be going on? Here is what I
have sticking out my box. *I have three 4 strand phone type wire
(Black, Green, Red, Yellow) and three 2 strand wire (black,red). *I
pulled the sensors off the door and they seem to correspond to the
black and red *(three exterior doors). I would assumed one of the 4
strand wires would have to go the the security panel. I am guessing
that at least one of the other 4 strand wires goes to my smoke
detectors.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

You did not say whether each of the line had a DSL filter installed

Alarm systems usually have a 'line seizure' jack where they attach to
the phone lines. As soon as whatever is plugged into the special jack
goes off-hook, it disconnects all other jacks in the house. Replace the
jack or connector block in the enclosure (or in the phone line leading
to it) with a vanilla rj11 jack, and the problems should go away. *The
incoming feed to the house may be 2 of the 4-strand lines, rerouted
through the enclosure. I'd map out your phone lines all the way from the
phone demarc to figure out what is going on. Harbor Freight has tone
tracers pretty cheap, and it is no harder than wiring stereo speakers.

If all of the above sounds like gibberish, look at some of the DIY alarm
wiring sites or books for the pictures and diagrams. It isn't as bad as
it sounds.

--
aem sends...- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Agree. Security systems are wired so they are the FIRST component in
the phone wiring path. They are inserted in SERIES, so that if an
emergency signal call needs to be made, they disconnect the rest of
the phone system, grab the line and dial. With the system removed,
you need to just reconnect the goes into to the goes outa.

drew wrote:
The house that I bought had an old CPI security system that hadn't
been used in years and I did not see the need for a system so the
other day I was looking at the huge panel in my coat closet and
realized that I had both power and a phone line in a nice handy box.
So I disconnect the security panel and pitch it. I plug the modem
into the phone jack and the wall outlet and set up my wireless
router. I cleaned up and check the internet and it works great. So I
go about my business for a couple of days and realized I hadn't been
harassed by a telemarketer in a while (we like most people these days
use their cell phone for everything, the only reason I have a home
phone is for DSL). I pick up my land line and there is no dial tone.
I check the other three phone outlets in the house and they are all
dead. So I start thinking about the problem and hook up the phone to
the outlet in the closet and lo and behold I get a dial tone. I take
the router and modem and hook it up at another outlet and dsl works.

When I removed the security system circuit board from the closet, I
assumed the wires that screwed into the circuit board went to the
smoke detectors and door sensors. The board had a phone line plus
plug that plugged into the phone outlet in the closet.

Does anybody have any ideas on what might be going on? Here is what I
have sticking out my box. I have three 4 strand phone type wire
(Black, Green, Red, Yellow) and three 2 strand wire (black,red). I
pulled the sensors off the door and they seem to correspond to the
black and red (three exterior doors). I would assumed one of the 4
strand wires would have to go the the security panel. I am guessing
that at least one of the other 4 strand wires goes to my smoke
detectors.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

The phone line is normally wired to the alarm first. So if someone is
on the phone, it disconnects them so it can call the police/alarm
company. There was a phone line going into and OUT of the alarm box.
You need to hook them up again so the line to the rest of the house has
phone service.

On Nov 4, 11:28*am, drew wrote:
The house that I bought had an old CPI security system that hadn't
been used in years and I did not see the need for a system so the
other day I was looking at the huge panel in my coat closet and
realized that I had both power and a phone line in a nice handy box.
So I disconnect the security panel and pitch it. *I plug the modem
into the phone jack and the wall outlet and set up my wireless
router. *I cleaned up and check the internet and it works great. *So I
go about my business for a couple of days and realized I hadn't been
harassed by a telemarketer in a while (we like most people these days
use their cell phone for everything, the only reason I have a home
phone is for DSL). *I pick up my land line and there is no dial tone.
I check the other three phone outlets in the house and they are all
dead. *So I start thinking about the problem and hook up the phone to
the outlet in the closet and lo and behold I get a dial tone. *I take
the router and modem and hook it up at another outlet and dsl works.

When I removed the security system circuit board from the closet, I
assumed the wires that screwed into the circuit board went to the
smoke detectors and door sensors. *The board had a phone line plus
plug that plugged into the phone outlet in the closet.

Does anybody have any ideas on what might be going on? Here is what I
have sticking out my box. *I have three 4 strand phone type wire
(Black, Green, Red, Yellow) and three 2 strand wire (black,red). *I
pulled the sensors off the door and they seem to correspond to the
black and red *(three exterior doors). I would assumed one of the 4
strand wires would have to go the the security panel. I am guessing
that at least one of the other 4 strand wires goes to my smoke
detectors.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

You have a line seize jack (probably RJ-31X). To get around this,
remove the black wire from its screw and connect it to the same screw
as the green wire. Likewise, remove the yellow wire from its screw and
connect it to the same screw as the red wire. That's it (assuming the
jack was wired correctly to begin with).