Friend using telephone line for power....

[broken_line]

he wired a set up that he can get power from the telephone line to power his cellphone charger and led desk light.. illegal or not??? i told him it cant be legal to do.. would be nice when the powers out.. but is dumb thing to do.. those wires are tiny!!

[Loose]

Ha never would have thought of that, if he burns his place down I would have to say bad idea, if not good idea.

[Jim Almquist]

There will always be 24 to 48 volts DC for talk battery on a telephone line that is provided from the central office. The gauge of the wire is not the problem but how long will his charger last with the wrong input voltage. There will also be around 90 volts AC but at a very low amp to get your phone to ring. There is very little risk of fire unless he would have something flammable close by and he caused a spark while connecting or disconnecting.

[JohnMickish]

I do not believe this would be illegal, (he's not stealing phone service) but I'd probably check the contract agreement to be sure. The LED light and phone charger are probably about 5 volts with such a small amp draw that the 22 gage wire would be fine. I wouldn't recomend it but I give the guy credit for coming up with the idea.

[CAMAN]

LOL! Clever idea, and I give him credit for finding a use for the outdated landline.

I just don't see the charger lasting very long being underpowered like that, unless he figured out a way to rewire and change the voltage needed.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Saw this on the show "It's Effin' Science" the other day. The rigged up an LED lamp that plugged into the phone outlet.

[Whoaru99]

... finding a use for the outdated landline.

Dated, maybe, but certainly not outdated. It's about the only service I have with nearly perfect up time, meaning it virtually always works...unlike the Internet and cell phones.

[Jim Almquist]

I still need that copper line to run my DSL to my house

If you ever get a chance to see the inside of a Central Office ( Where your dial tone comes from ) you would be amazed at the bank of battery's that are there to run the place. All the equipment is made to run on DC voltage and if there is a power outage it will continue to run up to the point the battery's are drained. These are not your group 31 battery's but are around 16"X 16" by 24" and the lead is inside a glass case. More then enough amps to do you in in a heart beat.