What kind of outlet is this? (phones, convert, kitchen, gas)

[Trucker7]

I found this outlet behind my kitchen range. I'm switching from electric to gas and need a 120V outlet there. Currently, there is a 240V for the electric range and this one, which I have never seen before. Can I convert it to a standard 120V outlet? Is it even an electrical outlet? Thanks for your help.

[3700]

That is a old phone jack

[K'ledgeBldr]

Yep- that's an old 4 prong jack for a phone.
Basically the same system today for landline phones, only the wires are a much smaller gauge and the jack is the small modular 4 wire socket. 2 wires for one line, the other 2 for a second line.

[Trucker7]

Thanks for the replies! I guess I will have to get my 120V from somewhere else.

[greg42]

Odd that it looks kind of cooked, but I guess that could come from being behind the range. I wonder why an old phone jack is behind the range? Very weird. Although it's been some decades since that sort of plug was in common use so maybe the kitchen configuration was changed around after this wall jack was no longer in use.

So yeah, no 120v. You could pull that out and use the hole in the wall to fish your electric, but that's about it. If in fact there's a box in there it's probably not suitable for electric. Although if you mess with it at all and you have an active landline at your house you might have to watch that none of your currently active jacks is spliced through there. It would be nice to think that every phone jack is a home run to the entry point, but they often aren't.

[SuperSparkle928]

Wow.... haven't seen a phone jack like that in years.... (though at one of the old houses we put in an adapter to convert to the modular jack), which you can do here.

Should be still useful if you want a phone there, as the internet-derived/cable lines backfeed the hardwired lines inside the house (usually)...

If you want a useless item (though looks nice), I have a candlestick phone with the magneto box... See what the phone company does when you crank the magneto and back-feed the line (I digress as usual).

[SuperSparkle928]

Originally Posted by K'ledgeBldr

Yep- that's an old 4 prong jack for a phone.
Basically the same system today for landline phones, only the wires are a much smaller gauge and the jack is the small modular 4 wire socket. 2 wires for one line, the other 2 for a second line.

Remember "Christmas tree, Bumble Bee"?
(Red/green, black/yellow) I bet a new college grad these days won't know about 'tip' and 'ring', though they may know POTS. (Though may question the -48V idea....)

[FloridaKash]

That is obviously an outlet for an electric chair. Crrreeeeeepy.

[snofarmer]

How do you come to that conclusion?

Originally Posted by FloridaKash

That is obviously an outlet for an electric chair. Crrreeeeeepy.

It's a old phone jack.


Modular Telephone To 4-Pin Adapter.
Adapter allows the use of standard modular telephone
male plugs with the older 4-Pin telephone jacks that
were once used throughout the United States.
Very hard to find.
If your North American Ericofon is equipped with the old "4 prong plug", you will need to either replace the plug or purchase an adapter. It's very easy, all you need to do is open up the 4 prong plug and put the yellow and red wire to the same terminal. Move the yellow to red terminal, not the other way round. Doing this will enable the ringer to function.

4p105 4 prong surface mount female telephone jack.
Screw terminals inside.
4 conductor, connections are labeled.
Ivory color.

[e780812]

i have an existing phone jack behind my TV . I wanted to convert that to a internet plug for my receiver . ? is it possible.