WEBVTT - What do the yellow and black wires in a home telephone jack do?

0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:02.560
<v Speaker 1>Brain Stuff is sponsored by Harry's dot Com. Get a

0:00:02.560 --> 0:00:04.840
<v Speaker 1>great shaving experience for a fraction of the price. The

0:00:04.920 --> 0:00:07.520
<v Speaker 1>quality of the shave is so important that Harry's purchased

0:00:07.520 --> 0:00:10.080
<v Speaker 1>the factory that makes their blades. Fifteen dollars gets you

0:00:10.119 --> 0:00:12.799
<v Speaker 1>a set that includes a handle, three blades, and shave cream.

0:00:12.840 --> 0:00:15.280
<v Speaker 1>Go to Harry's dot com use the code brain stuff

0:00:15.320 --> 0:00:18.640
<v Speaker 1>to save five dollars off your first purchase. Welcome to

0:00:18.760 --> 0:00:22.360
<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff from house stuff works dot com, where smart happens.

0:00:23.280 --> 0:00:26.439
<v Speaker 1>This podcast is brought to you by Audible dot com,

0:00:26.480 --> 0:00:30.040
<v Speaker 1>the Internet's leading provider of spoken word entertainment. Get a

0:00:30.120 --> 0:00:32.880
<v Speaker 1>free audio book download of your choice when you sign

0:00:33.000 --> 0:00:36.960
<v Speaker 1>up today. Log on to audible podcast dot com slash

0:00:37.040 --> 0:00:42.760
<v Speaker 1>brain stuff today for details. Hi, I'm Marshall brain with

0:00:42.840 --> 0:00:46.320
<v Speaker 1>today's question. What do the yellow and black wires in

0:00:46.400 --> 0:00:50.640
<v Speaker 1>a home telephone jack do? In your house? You have

0:00:50.880 --> 0:00:54.440
<v Speaker 1>phone jacks, it only takes two wires to connect to phone,

0:00:54.760 --> 0:00:58.960
<v Speaker 1>but most house wiring contains four wires. The red and

0:00:59.000 --> 0:01:01.840
<v Speaker 1>green wires are on the two center terminals of a

0:01:01.880 --> 0:01:05.119
<v Speaker 1>normal phone jack, and the black and yellow wires are

0:01:05.120 --> 0:01:09.080
<v Speaker 1>on the two outer terminals. This arrangement allows most normal

0:01:09.120 --> 0:01:13.440
<v Speaker 1>houses to handle two phone lines very easily. Many, if

0:01:13.480 --> 0:01:16.320
<v Speaker 1>not most, of the line chords that you receive when

0:01:16.360 --> 0:01:19.320
<v Speaker 1>you purchase a phone to go between the wall jack

0:01:19.400 --> 0:01:22.640
<v Speaker 1>and the phone only have the two center wires. To

0:01:22.720 --> 0:01:26.120
<v Speaker 1>save money, The two outer wires are omitted when you

0:01:26.200 --> 0:01:29.319
<v Speaker 1>bring a second line into your house. This new line

0:01:29.640 --> 0:01:32.640
<v Speaker 1>uses the yellow and black wires. If you have a

0:01:32.720 --> 0:01:35.440
<v Speaker 1>two line phone, then the phone is normally ready to

0:01:35.560 --> 0:01:39.479
<v Speaker 1>accept the second line automatically on those yellow and black wires.

0:01:39.840 --> 0:01:42.560
<v Speaker 1>You plug one line cord into the phone and it

0:01:42.720 --> 0:01:46.319
<v Speaker 1>splits the two lines inside the phone. Make sure that

0:01:46.319 --> 0:01:49.040
<v Speaker 1>that line cord between the jack and the phone actually

0:01:49.080 --> 0:01:52.200
<v Speaker 1>contains all four wires for this to work. If you

0:01:52.240 --> 0:01:54.480
<v Speaker 1>want to connect something like a fax machine to the

0:01:54.520 --> 0:01:57.480
<v Speaker 1>second phone line, you can't just plug it into the wall.

0:01:57.960 --> 0:02:00.600
<v Speaker 1>You normally need to buy a little plug and converter

0:02:00.800 --> 0:02:04.120
<v Speaker 1>that takes the two outer terminals yellow and black of

0:02:04.200 --> 0:02:07.000
<v Speaker 1>the phone jack and brings them to the two center

0:02:07.160 --> 0:02:10.239
<v Speaker 1>terminals the red and green. You plug the converter into

0:02:10.280 --> 0:02:13.040
<v Speaker 1>the wall and then the fax machine into the converter.

0:02:14.360 --> 0:02:17.279
<v Speaker 1>Do you have any ideas or suggestions for this podcast?

0:02:17.680 --> 0:02:20.280
<v Speaker 1>If so, please send me an email at podcast at

0:02:20.320 --> 0:02:23.040
<v Speaker 1>how stuff works dot com. For more on this and

0:02:23.120 --> 0:02:28.080
<v Speaker 1>thousands of other topics, go to how stuff works dot com.

0:02:28.160 --> 0:02:30.640
<v Speaker 1>Brain Stuff is sponsored by Harry's dot com. Get a

0:02:30.639 --> 0:02:32.960
<v Speaker 1>great shaving experience for a fraction of the price. The

0:02:33.040 --> 0:02:35.600
<v Speaker 1>quality of the shave is so important that Harry's purchased

0:02:35.600 --> 0:02:38.160
<v Speaker 1>the factory that makes their blades. Fifteen dollars gets you

0:02:38.200 --> 0:02:40.880
<v Speaker 1>a set that includes a handle, three blades, and shave cream.

0:02:40.919 --> 0:02:43.360
<v Speaker 1>Go to Harry's dot com. Use the code brain stuff

0:02:43.440 --> 0:02:45.360
<v Speaker 1>to say five dollars off your first purchase.