66 block - What did I do wrong? - Cabling-Design.com Forums

I have a 50-pair, split M 66-clip connecting block, which I want to use to distribute 3 lines 9+ jacks. I did my research, wired it all up, then tried to connect it, and the lines don't go through. Here's the details:

If I can get one line working, I'm confident I'll get them all working, so I'll just give the info for the first pair.

Line 1 comes in from the demarcation point at a modular jack next to the block. I've tested this jack, and it's ok. I used a 2-wire (red/green) phone patch cord and cut the ends off to use as a connector to the block. At the jack end, I crimped a plug in the order red-green (when viewed with the jack pointing up, hook behind), with the wires in the middle pair. At the block end, I punched the green into the top row, leftmost clip, and the red into the clip below that.

For jumpers, I stripped a length of cat-3 wire and took the blue/white pair. I punched the white wire into the clip right next to the green (top row, 2nd from left), and the blue wire right next to the red (2nd row, 2nd from left). I then punched this same wire, uncut, in the same poisition (white above blue, always in the 2nd clip from the left) at the 5th, 9th, etc. pairs of rows. On every row with wires, I put a jumper clip between the 2nd and 3rd columns.

Then I punched in patch cables. In the 5th-pair rows, I punched white in the upper, leftmost clip, blue in the lower, leftmost clip. In the

9th-pair rows, I did the same with another patch cord, and so on to the end of the block. On the right side, I mirrored the left, punching like colors in the rightmost clips.

Finally, I tested the connection by crimping a plug on the end of one of the patch cables, with the wires in the order blue-white (jack up, hook behind), in the center pair. Plugged that into a phone. No dial tone. Plugged it into a coupler, plugged a line tester to the other line, reads no line. Tried this process with multiple patch cables, connected at various places on the block, all with no success.

Am I missing something here? After all that work, this is pretty frustrating.

snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote in part:

I'm not sure I can follow your detailed description, but I notice at least one thing: It sounds like you're trying to punchdown stranded conductors onto 66 teeth. This is not reliable. The wires squish and the teeth don't cut reliably through the insulation. IDCs are for solid core. RJs for stranded.

The way I'd do this job, assuming 4pr (Cat3/5) station cables is to punch all the station cables down the convenient side of the block (the ninth won't fit and will have to go at the bottom of the other side. Then bring solid with signal and punch them down on the other side. Probably line one on row one, line 2 on row two (or 5) and line 3 on row three (or 9).

Then you do the crossconnect magic (solid core, please!) Loop wire from the incoming lines (inside IDCs) to whichever station pair you want. Three loops, one for each incoming line. You can use clips down the block, but not for the last two cables where you'll have to punchdown onto inside IDCs.

There are some non-std things you can also do with 66s if you really want to use clips and be flexible.

-- Robert