FREE Hidden Electricity!

This Instructable will show you how to tap into a FREE source of electricity! All you need is a phone line! All phone lines have a constant flow of voltage, around 40-70 volts (up to 100 volts when it rings!), but you can't just plug stuff into it and expect it to work. You can really mess with your phone system by doing that. I discovered how to do it the right way!

Step 1: What You Need...

1. Small project enclosure
2. (1) 240ohm resistor
3. (1) 510ohm resistor
4. (1) LM317L Regulator
5. (1) KBP210 Bridge Rectifier
6. (2) Phone line cables

Comments

[pestopiñan]

Nikola Tesla figured this out almost 100 years ago. Supposedly the generator he devised could be made by virtually anyone. But for some reason his discovery wasn't publicized. Until recently that is. It's quite an interesting read.

The rest of it is on TeslaSecretsRevealed.com.

[milkdud55]

Why dont you find a neigbor a outside plug and combine

[resistanceisfutileiflessthan1ohm]

i guess you couldn't power much as the phone line will have a pretty low ampage.

[JerryBYong]

Hi guys, I know this instructable is kinda old but I was wanting to make this into a USB charger for my Android phone and portable charger. I currently do not have a land line registered at my home so it won't ring. So can I hook up a car charger to it?

[arc86]

If you do this don't be surprised if the phone company finds out about it. But I want to offer a couple corrections.

First, don't use the KBP210 Bridge Rectifier. That's used to convert AC to DC but the voltage on the phone line is already DC so all it does is waste 1.4V of your power source (when current has to flow through diodes it burns up extra power). You can tell he has his multimeter set on DC voltage in the video, this verifies that's what's coming out of his wall jack. I guess it would save you if you accidentally connected the green and red wires backwards but just don't do that.

Second, if you already have DC, figure out what voltage you need for your device and use the LM317L or another adjustable regulator. He has the resistor network connected incorrectly so refer to the datasheet from Texas Instruments. What you need to do is hook up the resistors so when you get your desired voltage on the Output pin, the Adj pin sees 1.25V. The way he shows it hooked up it looks like the circuit will just output 1.25V (the Adj pin draws so little current it's at effectively the same voltage as the output it's hooked to through a resistor). You need one resistor going from the output to the Adj pin, and one going from the Adj pin to your ground.

Anyways, check your output with your multimeter before you hook it up to your valuable electronics.

[usbg3rd]

i found out that the phone line contains 50-60V dc and a 110Vrms sine superimposed on it so u will need a rectifier ic too .....

i wonder why he isn't using filter capacitor? ???

by the way nice hacking :)

[iTixle]

It makes no sense to me that the voltage would be DC. You can't transmit DC over very long distances.

[usbg3rd]

chk out urself just need a voltmeter to do it the suprising thing is that when u try to extract power from it it goes to very low value

[damikethemike]

I worked for at&t. When youre disconnected from at&t, thats done via computer. that pair of wires is now up for grabs. So your pair of wires have a Pair number. it can be assigned to someone else getting services. If you have good decent quality wire (something not at all common in urban areas, to do poor quality upkeep) your pair will be used by some line tech for a trouble call of another customer needing a new pair of wire.
But if you disconnect, and no lineman takes that pair, you will still be commected at the crossbox (the big box in the area.) it has 48v coming off it. the only way THAT drops is if the Central office that the Box is running wire from, disconnects you from there. So YES that is free power. this is what I was thinking. Why cant I take the power from there, stick it into a dc to ac converter that is grid tie style, plug the AC cord from the converter into a wall socket, and Add clean power to the electrical grid...therefore get less off my electric bill?

Listen, you can get a Pay for all calls LAN line that is like 13 bucks a month. NO features. In fact, you can get a call that is only outbound. therefore no telecommunicators (at&t is KING of that mess. while working there, the COMPANY ISSUED PHONE...was always inundated with telecom calls from india talking about winning stuff!) But i feel, forget trying to run anything off it. use it as if it were a solar panel, and do what a solar panel would do.

[WV_Kokamo_Joe]

What are the resistor specs? Are they 1/4 wat, 1/2 watt? +- .5 %, .o1%?

From the pictures you have posted they are 1/4 watt axial. But who knows?

You really should post this info as people going to buy these parts to build this will not know what values to get.

[stealthop]

at that level 1/2 watt is plenty

[stealthop]

and from what i can tell from the poor picture qual , they are 10% tolerance

[smuhammad5]

If we get 12volts DC by voltage divider.Can we provide that to a power inverter means UPS??????
plzzzzzzz answer me
[e-mail]

[WV_Kokamo_Joe]

Also, what is the voltage and amps acheived?

[Maccer]

Is this legal?

[Taddle]

Depends where you live

[tinstructable]

Depending on how much your phone draws, couldn't you technically power your phone just off of this?

[Taddle]

Older phones did actually use the power from the phone line

[Super_Nerd]

Technically, this isn't completely free, because phone service isn't free. However, there isn't any extra cost, so I would say...

Money saving hidden electricity

[Taddle]

Sometimes, power can still come through even if you're not connected to the service, it depends on how the system in your area works.

[the cat expert]

My question is: Can you hook an iPad to this and have it charge?

[Taddle]

Probably, find out how many amps your phone line is kicking out using a multimeter and multiply that by the volts. If your answer is over 10, yes.

[nodoubtman]

thank you it works wonderfully... but i did a bridge diode with 4 1N4007 Instead :) i have built a beautiful lamp by the way :)

THank YOu again! :)
marC:)

[siddhesh51]

can we connect the two wires coming from the telephone port directly to the load without using Rectifier ,Regulator and resistors for my lappy ?????????????? plzzzzzzzzzzz help !!!!!!!!!!!!! thnx fr the suggestions frndsssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Vyger]

When there is a power outage the local phone company is usually affected also. They have banks of backup batteries that will keep them running for a while. If you, and other people, drain off their backup power they will go dead that much sooner and then there will be no phone service at all for anyone.

[msilva2]

Telephone companies are considered an emergency service and are mandated to have independent power backup systems. All the AT&T phone hubs I have worked at have battery back up systems like you mentioned but also have diesel generators to keep them up and running for an extended period of time. A few hackers using a trickle of power off their system will not take them down.

[NickIQ]

This usually isn't the case. There is usually a difference between commercial and residential power. True about the battery backup, though.

[Br4inFr33z3]

If the power goes out, who'll make phone calls from a landline?

[yawgmoth1]

I lost power all day and night yesterday, my girlfriend remembered seeing this post and it saved our asses. I hooked up a small LED lamp to the phone line so we could see, then using batteries and an array of PC fans kept her cool in 90 degree weather. Thanks!

[zolar1]

Unless you can save more than the cost of the monthly phone bill, it's not worth it.

[ibby]

What is the output voltage from the regulator circuit?

[Kipkay]

Th draw is 37volts @ 10ma.

[cproo12]

hi kipkay im brickboys806 @ youtube!

[DrDontDoDis]

That's not even half a watt of power! A hand dynamo will beat that by 10x easy. It may be free, but it will be MONTHS before it saves you a dollar on your electric bill, and that's with 24/7 use! Can't you draw more amperage than that without overloading the line?

[Silence]

I think If you draw too much you'll get a voltage drop on the line and it will look to the phone company like you took your phone off the hook.

[spittingisfun]

i want 5.5v to 6v out how can i do that

[faheemkhan_jadoon]

hi kipkay im very big fan of u.i want to say that i have 48volts in line therefore how much amphere of bridge rectifier i should use. and can i convert these48 volts to 24 volts dc and then use it to ups to generate 220volts.thanks plesae answer me ([e-mail])

[Yerboogieman]

what would you use to make 12v? different resistors?

[int1221233]

hi, i find it interesting and useful! i 've just tested my phone line voltage with a multimeter. it's 38volt. i would like to make a led lamp exactly as yours. but what is the maximum current that i can draw from the line? i also don't know what's the power consumption of white LED. there are many cheap (0.12USD/pc) 3.5mm white LED provided here. but i don't know what's their voltage and current. how many white led can be light up by the led? i want the maximum! but will the ohm of resistor changed? thanks for advice!

[mcgyver]

super bright white LEDs need about 20mA-30mA. Just compute for the resistor that has to be put in series.

http://noelbautista.com/blog/diy-solar-lantern-part-13/

It would also work if you use 38/3.4 = 11 LEDs in series.