What kind of socket is this?

Question

Some kind of socket

I found it in my apartment's wall.

*Which* wall? Kitchen? Basement? – Synetech Aug 05 '12 at 18:06 — Synetech, Aug 05 '12 at 18:06
A wall in the living room. – StackedCrooked Aug 05 '12 at 18:08 — StackedCrooked, Aug 05 '12 at 18:08
Is that the front or back? `o.O` – Synetech Aug 05 '12 at 18:24 — Synetech, Aug 05 '12 at 18:24

score 7 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 27 '18 at 18:06

7

Yes, indeed it is a Belgian phone socket.

http://www.levoyageur.net/phone-country-Belgium.html

The four pins match the four holes in your socket. The fifth pin is there to make sure you don't put it in upside down. There's a hole for it too.

This is how it looks with a cover (except for the RJ jack that you may not have)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140716003426/http://www.p-wholesale.com/cn-pro/5/121to2/phone-jack-91449.html

Below I mark the five pins and the switch at the center. The switch is opened by the b and S pins indicating that the socket is used. This is common for phone sockets.

Picture showing the socket with markers

edited Jun 27 '18 at 18:06

pacoverflow

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answered Aug 05 '12 at 18:20

Johan Lundberg

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Great! But, how does that link indicate that what can be seen on my picture is a phone connection? – StackedCrooked Aug 05 '12 at 18:25
It probably is a phone socket, but it looking at the photo, it doesn’t look like there’s anywhere for the four pins to go in, let alone the fifth. Surely it’s the back and the other side is in another room. – Synetech Aug 05 '12 at 18:42
@Synetech, no... – Johan Lundberg Aug 05 '12 at 19:24

Synetech · Answer 2 · 2012-08-05T18:22:40.860

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I’m not familiar with outlets in Belgium, but assuming they are typical European outlets, then it looks to be a high-voltage stove/oven or dryer electrical outlet (why it would be in the living room though is beyond me).

The labels for the four connectors (a, b, S, ground) are curious, but presumably they are hot (a), hot (b), neutral (S), and ground:

enter image description here

There are also two other connectors (c, d here) which are specifically part of a stove/oven outlet as opposed to a dryer outlet:

enter image description here

edited Aug 05 '12 at 18:22

answered Aug 05 '12 at 18:12

Synetech

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Any chance of it being a phone socket? – StackedCrooked Aug 05 '12 at 18:16
@StackedCrooked, [it’s possible](http://0.tqn.com/d/electrical/1/0/K/4/-/-/wire-phone-jack-400.jpg), but in the photo it looks too big. How big is it? Also, are there any like it in other rooms? – Synetech Aug 05 '12 at 18:18
It's rather small. [Here's another pic.](http://i.imgur.com/viEIS.jpg) I haven't seen any other ones like this. – StackedCrooked Aug 05 '12 at 18:24
Ah, then yes, it is a [phone outlet](http://www.adslcn.com/UploadFiles/FCK/image/Products/ZKX-BG13.jpg). – Synetech Aug 05 '12 at 18:26
@Synetech, I don’t know why one person down-voted. The answer was perfectly good based on the close-up. The other person simply un—up-voted to remove it. :roll: – Synetech Aug 05 '12 at 20:11
It’s not a typical European outlet (neither the one in OP’s picture nor the one you’ve shown). – Konrad Rudolph Aug 05 '12 at 20:31
@KonradRudolph, I never said it was a normal outlet, I said it was a stove/dryer outlet which even in Europe is special and large (like it looks in the original photo). – Synetech Aug 05 '12 at 21:24

What kind of socket is this?

2 Answers2