Mystery wall socket

[2phar]

Hi group..

There are seven of these sockets within a 1964 built house in Michigan USA:

"http://i60.tinypic.com/2628481.jpg"

Four in the corners of the living room, and three in the master bedroom.

I haven't had much success yet tracing where they lead to using a toner.
There doesn't appear to be any central point they all end up. Each one
has two solid core wires soldered to it on the back side. Looks like
they were installed with the original build of the house - the wires
from each seem to route through the walls.

I initially thought they were DIN loudspeaker connectors, but as you
can see the two contacts are both flat. The centres of the two contacts
are about 7mm apart.

Anyone know what they might be?

TIA

[Tom Miller]

"2phar" <no...@example.com> wrote in message
news:mfnov7$f7e$1...@dont-email.me...

Jones connector.

Male:
http://www.newark.com/cinch/p-302h-ab/plug-socket-connector-plug-2-position/dp/11M5827

Female
http://www.newark.com/cinch/s-302h-ab/plug-socket-connector-socket-2/dp/12M1388


HTH

[whit3rd]

On Friday, April 3, 2015 at 9:23:59 PM UTC-7, 2phar wrote:

> There are seven of these sockets within a 1964 built house in Michigan USA:
>
> "http://i60.tinypic.com/2628481.jpg"

That's a two-pin Jones plug. General purpose connectors, not approved for
household AC power, nor intended for RF. So, speaker wiring seems likely.

[Pat]

On Sat, 4 Apr 2015 00:52:07 -0700 (PDT), whit3rd <whi...@gmail.com>
wrote:

Hams used to use them for 12v DC so maybe someone used them to power
radios and other 12V equipment and have it all backed up by a 12V car
battery somewhere. As others have said, though, they could be for
anything - speakers, etc.

[amdx]

So where is the mostly likely place to install a sound system.
It may not have been a regular stereo, as in the living room, could have
been mounted in the wall of the kitchen, maybe a utility closet.
You might look for a square patch in the kitchen wall where it used to be.
Good luck, Mikek


---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
http://www.avast.com

[John Robertson]

If a toner isn't working then try using some sort of spark gap device (a
old door buzzer for example) jumper one side to one wire and a portable
AM radio. Tune for the noise and follow that in the walls..

http://www.edaboard.co.uk/cable-tracing-through-a-building-t527612.html

The second posting on this page is another way.

http://www.eevblog.com/forum/projects/tracing-underground-electrical-wiring-metal-detector-or-other-means/

I have an old Model T Ford ignition coil that I use.

http://www.mtfca.com/coils/Coils.htm

Oh, and I suggest you only connect to one of the two pins.

John :-#)#

--
(Please post followups or tech inquiries to the newsgroup)
John's Jukes Ltd. 2343 Main St., Vancouver, BC, Canada V5T 3C9
(604)872-5757 or Fax 872-2010 (Pinballs, Jukes, Video Games)
www.flippers.com
"Old pinballers never die, they just flip out."

[Ron D.]

honestely,

Sounds like speakers. Why 3 in the BR?, unknown. The location of "corners" really makes it sound like speakers.

Don't neglect the possibility that they could be BR to Living room either. There is a small probability that one of the locations didn;t work out, and the location is a dud.

[bud--]

>
> http://www.edaboard.co.uk/cable-tracing-through-a-building-t527612.html

The authors look awful familiar...

This is, in fact, sci.electronics.repair, copied without attribution by
another site.

[John Robertson]

That's just annoying! It costs nothing to attribute a source...

John :-#(#

[Michael Black]

On Sat, 4 Apr 2015, John Robertson wrote:

> On 04/04/2015 3:33 PM, bud-- wrote:
>>>
>>> http://www.edaboard.co.uk/cable-tracing-through-a-building-t527612.html
>>
>> The authors look awful familiar...
>>
>> This is, in fact, sci.electronics.repair, copied without attribution by
>> another site.
>>
>
> That's just annoying! It costs nothing to attribute a source...
>

Except, there are sites that are in it for advertising money, and they
steal contents from elsewhere in order to 'create" contents.

I saw it a couple of years ago during our Fringe Festival. One site came
up early on searches, but all it did was agregate content from elsewhere,
even changing the content so anytime "mysite.com" was mentioned it said
instead "westealyoursite.com".

I have no idea if that's the case here, but it is possible.

It's certainly not uncommon to come across sites with "boards" that are
actually access to usenet, but they don't necessarily say it's usenet.

Michael

[bu...@bubba.com]

I think I've seen 4 newsgroups that are stolen by various pages.
One is alt.home.repair by homeowners something.
Also soc.culture.jewish.moderated
Another group I can't remember.
And this group.

None give attribution iirc.

[JW]

On Wed, 08 Apr 2015 07:16:19 -0400 bu...@bubba.com wrote in Message id:
<ua3aialjvlmn90qoc...@4ax.com>:

Not only that, but they refer to *us* as the guests!

[John Robertson]

Perhaps we should have in our signatures - Posted by Usenet - or similar
and let the curious figure it out...

John :-#)#

I'll change mine to:
--
(Please post followups or tech inquiries to the USENET newsgroup)

[William Beaty]

First see if there's any AC or DC voltage on those pins. Then see if there's any low-ohms resistance (like a loudspeaker or amp transformer connected somewhere.) It might connect to a DIY intercom system.

Could even be telephone. Back before mid-1970s, only the rich had telephone connectors, so people might be tempted to install their own, so they could carry a landline phone all over the house and plug it into their connectors.


As others point out, could be a custom loudspeaker installation so one main amplifier can send music to many rooms.

[micky]

On Wed, 08 Apr 2015 07:53:31 -0700, John Robertson <sp...@flippers.com>
wrote:

That's a very good idea, but not to let the curious have to figure it
out. We should be explicit so they can't miss it. Maybe I'll have
something in a while.