Is it possible to run electrical appliances from the telephone socket?

Question

I've been puzzling over this and hope someone who's knowlegable about telephone lines can shed some light. I would appreciate serious answers please. Please do not hesitate to be technical if you have to, thanks!

Is it true that the telephone sockets in our house can actually supply enough electrical power to run appliances? If so, what is the typical load it can supply? Is there an chance that I can overload the telephone socket? What would be the consequence of overloading the telephone socket? Would it affect the whole neighbourhood's telephone network?

If using electrical apliances from a telephone socket were possible, then I have another question. So the electrical power from a telephone socket is not metered is it? If that were true, wouldn't I be able to run appliances using the telephone socket as a power source without paying for electrical bills? Would the telephone network company be able to register an unusually higher load on the telephone sockets from my house?

Please take my question seriously. The reason I'm asking is because I have come across electrical appliances being sold on the internet that is meant to be run from a telephone line. For example I came across a LED table lamp that runs from the electrical current of a telephone socket. If you don't believe me, just search google. Manufacturers really make such appliances that run from telephone sockets

Answer 1

ok, you sound like you're trying to get some free power here.
If by appliances you mean stuff like microwave, kitchen appliances, etc, the answer is NO.
Yes, your phone line has a 48V difference in potential, but the current you can draw is very low. Definitelly not much more than a couple of small batteries. So you could probably run a few rather small gadgets from it, like maybe a baby monitor, or maybe a small radio, but nothing that requires more than a couple hundred miliwats. Notice, we're talking hundredths of a watt, so not even one watt. Your lightbulbs are between 40 and 100 watts. There's no way you could squeeze that much power out of a phone jack without frying something. Have you ever seen phoneline wires? they're tiny, they would not be able to support the kind of current you're talking about.
Can the phone company detect that you're stealing power? I bet they can, because when you use any of the power, that closes the loop and acts like the phone is off the hook. So obviously if they see you're leaving your phone off the hook all the time it will be pretty suspicious.

http://korea.maxim-ic.com/appnotes.cfm/appnote_number/1923

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I see you edited your original question. I would not consider an LED lamp an appliance. LED's draw so little power that I don't see any reason why that wouldn't work. But then again, that LED lamp isn't going to be bright enough to light a whole room.
So, yeah, you probably could run a few LEDs, but not any real appliances.

Answer 2

OK, as an electrical engineer myself I can maybe help you with an answer.

The telephone line is what we call a "small signal" system. This means that it supplies a few milliamps of DC current at very low voltage potential. The regular power socket can provide several Amps of AC current with higher voltage potential (e.g.: 110 V).

The telephone line has just enough power to provide the tone you hear in order to pick up the dial number frequencies in a telephone unit. This "trickle" of power, can be enough to supply other small things, such as an LED (or small light). But it cannot supply large consumers of power (such as fridges, air conditioners...etc.) which really make the difference in your electric bill.

Its also not possible to "overload" the telephone network, simply because the power consumption is too low regardless of how much you draw from it. Its also not metered, but your local telecom company might monitor any unusual fluctuations simply for maintenance purposes.

Answer 3

Your telephone outlet has 48 volts DC for your talk path and dialtone. That is what they are probably using to operate a LED lamp. The outlet also has 90 volts AC for ringing. This voltage is only present when an incoming call is ringing and once the circuit is shorted (you pick up the phone) the 90 volts AC voltage is no longer present. The 90 volts AC is also cycled (1 second on 3 seconds off or something like that). That is why you get ring then silence, ring then silence.

If you have a very low current 48 volt DC device then yes it is possible to make it work but I would not recommend it.

Answer 4

Yes their is a way that electrical appliances can be power by a telephone line. The problem is that it can only power small devices such as a small lamp or small radio and the devices have to be modified just a little bit in order to step up the small amount of voltage thats in the telephone line.

Answer 5

It is totally impossible to run electrical appliances from a telephone socket. Although there is a very minute amount of electrical energy present on the phone line, the voltage is too low, and the wires are too small to handle the larger voltages that TVs or Blow Dryers need in order to operate.

Answer 6

No it isn't possible to run appliances from your telephone socket. Unless of course you got appliances that will run on 24 volts. And your telephone actually does use power from the main electric for your house, but sice the power is transformed down to 24 volts and that the phone uses so little power the reading one the meter is negligible.

Answer 7

No. The voltage that comes through that line is not constant. Your biggest peaks are when the phone rings. There is also not much current needed to run a phone. The current you'd need to run a few lights and a TV are far in excess of what those thin little phone wires can carry.

Answer 8

I'm not sure that you can run appliances through the phone line. A cordless phone has a phone line AND a power line. I think any current generated is just too small to run anything larger than a watch.

Answer 9

well i have my refrigerator plugged into my phone outlet. does that count as an appliance??

Answer 10

I think if it was possible then I think we would all have heard about it by now.