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LOL emergency light powered off phone line?!

Just fyi, its illegal to use that power for anything but a phone. And the phone companies do have methods for detecting it.
 
Jeff7 said:
Damn, I was just about to go out and buy three toaster ovens. 🙁
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The last thing you need during a power outage is the phone lines going down because every house in the city has a lamp or two plugged into the phone lines 😛
 
Leros said:
The last thing you need during a power outage is the phone lines going down because every house in the city has a lamp or two plugged into the phone lines 😛
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This. I'm sure it's a breach of your phone contact -- it is "stealing" as it's not using the power for its intended purpose, and it's liable to screw up the phone system if widely used.

And FFS, just use a flashlight!
 
I know someone who runs a portable FM radio off his phone line. It technically isn't stealing because the phone line supplies a preset amount to every home whether you use it or not. If you are paying for it why not use it ?
 
Leros said:
Just fyi, its illegal to use that power for anything but a phone. And the phone companies do have methods for detecting it.
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It's not illegal. It may cause trouble with the voice quality on your phone however. You might be able to use a filter (like a DSL "z-blocker" filter) if that happens though. Factories and deaf people have used "phone strobes" for years (lights that go on and off when the phone rings), and these devices are sold 3rd party. Another problem you may experience is if you have "non-powered" phones, you may not get enough voltage to power the ringer. This is referred to as the "Ren" load (phones usually tell their Ren rating on a sticker or stamp on the bottom). Your phones may not ring if you go over 8 Rens. An LED light like that probably won't have that big of a draw though.

The thing about phone voltage is it's got a decent amount of volts, but the amperage is really low. When I work on phone lines with sweaty hands, it's just enough to give me a decent "Ow!" poke without causing and damage.
 
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Fritzo said:
The thing about phone voltage is it's got a decent amount of volts, but the amperage is really low. When I work on phone lines with sweaty hands, it's just enough to give me a decent "Ow!" poke without causing and damage.
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The voltage off hook is about 50 volts but is current limited to about 30ma, if you exceed that then the breaker will trip but will auto reset in about 15 minutes. The bad thing is if you are touching the wires and a phone call comes in, then the voltage changes from a not so bad 50 volts to over 150 volts.

Telephone companies learned about people using the power for other things 20 years ago, that is why the breakers and limiters are on the lines.
 
geno said:
If it's plugged into the wall then how portable is it? :hmm:
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Portable as in size. The radio normally would be powered by a 9volt battery. There is very little power available on the line itself, so you are lucky if you can run much of anything.
 
Skitzer said:
Who uses a land line anymore?
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I do, the main reason is I live in a hurricane-prone area (FL) and when one hits cell service goes out, I don't know if it's physical damage from wind or lack of power but they generally go down. Even if a few towers remain opearble they are swamped by everyone trying to make calls at once. My land line was the only device that didn't fail during the famous '04 hurricane season, main reason is it's infrastructure is underground..
 
BUTCH1 said:
I do, the main reason is I live in a hurricane-prone area (FL) and when one hits cell service goes out, I don't know if it's physical damage from wind or lack of power but they generally go down. Even if a few towers remain opearble they are swamped by everyone trying to make calls at once. My land line was the only device that didn't fail during the famous '04 hurricane season, main reason is it's infrastructure is underground..
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I keep mine for those reasons as well along with an older phone line powered phone. People tend to forget that while the phone line may have power in an outage, the cordless phone you use with it does not.

The central offices have battery backup as well as generators so they can keep running for a long time.
 
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