I have an old extension phone socket to which there is only one wire attached at present. The phone that plugs into it only has two pins with metal on them (the outside ones) plus the large plastic pin that goes into the plastic socket that is offset from the centre. (There is provision for a third pin inside one of the outside ones, but the phone plug doesn't have that.) The one wire attached is green, on the outside pin on the plastic socket side. In the cable there is another green wire, a red wire and a bare wire unattached. What wiring do I need to do to make the phone work?
Not quite - the two outside pins would be 1 and 6, but you need to connect to pins 2 and 6. Legitimate plugs and sockets usually have the pin numbers marked on them.
Very unusual for the last twenty or thirty years. Electronic bells with anti-tinkle circuitry and tone dialling have made the third wire obsolete.
I think there are pins missing in what you have. Or, you're describing something other than a standard Telstra 600 series plug and socket.
The cable between the phone and the plug will have two wires. Often, these will be red and green. Red would normally be wired to pin 2, and green to pin 6, but the polarity really isn't important.
If there's a third wire, the phone is likely ancient. I don't understand why the third wire would be bare - do you mean it has no insulation at all, or just that it has no connector on it?
Telstra's connection from the street to the socket is two wires, usually blue and white, and again, they're connected to pins 2 and 6 in the socket. I don't recall, but I believe the standard was white to pin 2, blue to pin 6, but again, polarity really doesn't matter any more.
There may be a metal joiner tag between pins 2 and 3 of the socket, which used to be used "in the old days", but it's irrelevant nowdays. I've seen plenty of sockets without this joiner.
If the plug of your phone only has metal on the outside two pins, then something is wrong, because that would be pins 1 and 6. It sounds to me like what you're describing as a missing pin on the inside of one of the legs is pin 2, and needs to be there.
The 'pin' I'm describing is the thing that goes into one of the three rectangular holes. Looking at it again, there is provision for two contacts on each side of those holes, so six altogether.
I was already surprised that the thing works with two wires. This is another surprise.
The light wasn't good. I think now that it's dark brown.
It's the red one (though it now looks more like orange).
Yes.
I'm guessing that I'm using the wrong terminology ('pin' instead of 'leg'). There is an outside leg, then the larger plastic leg, then a gap, and then the other outside leg. Each of the outside legs has a metal strip on one side - on the outside side of the leg beside the plastic pin and the inside side of the other one (so both metal strips face the same direction).
The socket is now repaired and it works. Thanks to those who helped.
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