Cables - Length and Quantity

[Samd]

Some years ago, I had all my pc equipment connected with mini plugs and a multi-socket jobbie but can't find any trace on the web. I am determined to rid myself of the noticeable spaghetti and came across the following which would, at least, permit me to reduce the length of power cords and reduce by a third the number of mains sockets required. Have done a quick check of the power requirements of all my kit and any three (apart from 2 amps together) only require around 1 kw or 4-ish amps, well within limits.

Any suggestions on this or better approaches please?

https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/TLCT101C.html?ad_position=1o3&source=adwords&ad_id=45425533757&placement=&kw=&network=g&matchtype=&ad_type=pla&product_id=TLCT101C&product_partition_id=174056232067&test=finalurl_v2&gclid=CjwKEAjw97K_BRCwmNTK26iM-hMSJABrkNtbemaujInm2uKx-trbBEYW4qS0EGzbXkjcEmxO8G8jcBoCT6vw_wcB

 

[Gray]

What you've found, though designed for fixed wiring (hi-fi wiring is fixed for most of us isn't it?), would certainly work to tidy things up.

Because all the receiving wires are twisted together though it just means a bit of inconvenience with any future isolating of components for repairs etc. (When your equipment has captive rather than removable mains leads)

I used to run a single heavy mains wire to the back of my cabinet. I used a couple of 12-way terminal strips inside a small, narrow plastic enclosure which was a fairly tidy option. I parallel wired the supply side to the terminal pairs so that each component had its own pair (or three) terminals for easier removal.

It depends on the equipment end of your mains leads - if they use the IEC C13 3-pin connectors you could buy the rewireable plugs (or sockets as they actually are) and loop out of them to daisy- chain the components.

CPC is a good place for connectors / adapters e.g. mains plug to 2 or 3 IEC or to 2 IEC and one figure-of-8 plug. They also sell the multi-outlet IEC box - which may be what you used to connect your PC with, that you can't find anymore?

Of course there will be those that advise against components sharing wiring / fuses.

 

[Samd]

Thanks for that - useful info. Yep all are C13 and apart from 1 with no earth (might be Sky Q box) are 3 pin. Couple of points please:

1. Not sure what you mean by and loop out of them to daisy- chain the components.

2. Can't find on CPC site multi-outlet IEC box or figure-of-8 plug

 

[Gray]

Their range and prices are good, but the website leaves a bit to be desired - and was down for maintenance anyway when I checked (after midnight) I find their printed catalogue easier to use, even though it has 3,837 pages.

Stock code PL00823 is the sort of multi-IEC outlet box that I thought you may have used in the past.

You'd obviously need to feed that with one of your existing 10 amp power leads then would need 4 x PL13339 (0.5metre) leads to your components ( also available in 1,2,3,5 or 10 metre lengths)

A much better (if expensive) option for racks or cabinets is PL09686 (horizontal) or PL09690 (vertical) 6 outlet strips (also available with 8, 10 or 12 outlets) that come prewired with the single 13 amp plug on a 3 metre lead.

Then there's PL10343 13Amp plug to 3 IEC Plugs (sockets) with surge protection. If you need figure-of-8 plug for the Sky box, PL10344 includes one (with only 2 IEC)

Finally, the daisy chain option: imagine 3 components stacked. All require IEC mains connection.

From bottom to top call the components A, B and C. Into A goes PL14354 which you wire with the feed and a loop-out of the connector up to another PL14354 to component B, then same again up to component C (Save yourself wiring the third plug by using a PL13259 or by modifying one of your existing leads. (See what I mean by their extensive range which, of course includes the original connector you found in TLC, but I haven't looked that one up as it's now 1.30 am)

P.S. If you do the loop out (2 wires into one IEC connector) you'll need to leave out the strain relief sleeve, which is not needed anyway of course when the plugs aren't moved and the wires are still clamped)

 

[Samd]

Some reply that was! Thanks again.

 

[Gray]

Stay safe!

 

[pauln]

Stay safe!

You might want to look into Powercon mains distribution units; it's a much better connecter than IEC and the type used in professional applications. They are available with various number of individually fused and switched outlets usually fed by a 20 or 32 amp supply. If your situation allowed, you could run a 20 amp spur from your consumer unit to a 20 amp double pole switched outlet behind your rack and have just one cable feeding the Powercon unit located within the rack. I would use the spare Schuko leads that come (usually) with each item, cut to required length and fit a Neutrik Powercon connecter in place of the cut off Schuko plug. Of course you could plug it into a 13 amp socket instead and run the low wattage units from it with amps plugged directly into individual 13 amp sockets.

Have a look on Proleads.co.uk. There is also a 7 way unit with UK type sockets that can plug into a 13 amp wall socket that might be more practical.

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

Just as an FYI...

No AV boxes sold in the US come with fuses in the plugs.

Whether this is a good or a bad thing I'm not sure, but I can't remember a time in my 30+ years of (ab)using hifi or AV kit where a fuse has blown on me.

I don't think those European types (good riddance BTW) use fused plugs either.

In the UK it's probably just because all kit has to be provided with standard 13 amp plugs, with fuses, that fuses are included at all.

And a lot of good kit has internal fuses anyway. Not the pure unobtanium ones sold by a certain person known to us all, however, just clear glass versions of the standard ones used throughout the UK since the 1950s.

Just saying...

 

[Samd]

Given that most leads are 'connectable' at both ends, once disconnected and jumbled with others, most people (me) have no idea which belongs to what! I have only one box with a permanently wired lead.

Thanks for all the replies.

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

In the US, the "live" or "hot" wire is "live", whereas the neutral is, or should be, at zero volts.
In the UK, the brown "live" wire is tapped off one phase, the blue "neutral" off another, so that both wires are actually live.
Thus in the US even two wire "figure of 8" plugs (the ends that go into the boxes, not the sockets on the wall) are often handed, with one of the halves having a flat side, so-say making them "idiot proof". For most things you can get away with using a standard reversible "figure of 8" plug, but for electronics it's best to use handed plugs where called for.
I'd need an electrical engineer to explain why so if anyone can chime in and explain 3 phase wiring as it applies to houses I would be grateful...
My point is, try to keep your brown and blue wire sequences correct. Even if you suspect your piece of electronics doesn't mind, it might well mind very much indeed.

 

[MattF]

In the UK, the brown "live" wire is tapped off one phase, the blue "neutral" off another, so that both wires are actually live.

In the UK, the neutral connection is 'approximately earth' - i.e. earthed at generator (or possibly somewhere else depending on distribution system / house wiring scheme)

It has to be treated as potentially live - however under normal circumstances there shouldn't be many volts between neutral and earth.

Volts between 2 phases would be 415V - and fuses would be required in both legs.

Things get awkward with figure of eight plugs since you have no idea which leg becomes live when someone plugs it in - this has to be designed around.

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

How come I always used to get an electric shock off the neutral then? And no, not on houses I had wired up, either....

Here in the US, by contrast, I don't get any shocks off the neutral.

Good job I took mekanikual injunearring at Younivursitee innit?

 

[MattF]

It has to be treated as potentially live - however under normal circumstances there shouldn't be many volts between neutral and earth - potentially means it you can have 'potential'

Try searching for 'Ground and neutral' on wikipedia - there is a difference between the US and the UK regs there's also a lot of different ways to do this. (this post was longer, but got too far away from the post topic)

On topic - I've used a variety of mains distribution thingies - step 1 is being able to locate short mains leads (either 13A BS1363 plugs or 10A C14 plugs to IEC C13 / C5 / C7) then using either computer multi-way intelligent power blocks (i.e. 10 sockets plus), down to a rectangular block with an IEC male and a 4 iec sockets down to the minimum (think it was maplin L62AZ - but at least one of the images isn't the T) - an IEC T so using various lengths of IEC male-female to get the T in the right place, then a lead from the T to the kit needing power - needs to be low power though - and not somewhere where you can kick the leads out.

Matt.

 

[MattF]

CPC seem to be somewhat limited - try uk.farnell.com

try searching for 1347643 or 9997261

Matt.

 

[MattF]

The 'CPC seem to be somewhat limited' comment was specifically about the range of small IEC distribution boxes - not about their range in general.

I could locate several mini IEC distribution boxes on Farnells site - but none on the CPC site at the time I checked.

Matt.

 

[Gray]

CPC seem to be somewhat limited - try uk.farnell.com

try searching for 1347643 or 9997261

Matt.

Strange, apart from their website, I've never found CPC to be limited - the opposite in fact - maybe because CPC is actually a Farnell company.

(I've got no connection to them by the way, though I worked for Maplin for several years)

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

Let's assume I have a live / neutral / earth socket wired directly from the fusebox, as is the case in most American and continental European homes. If nothing's plugged in, there's no connection between live and neutral, so the neutral should stay at 0 volts or thereabouts.

Now let's look at a UK ring main. Suppose I'm messing about with a socket in room A, or with a mains lead plugged into the socket. If there's nothing else plugged into the same ring main, then all should be good. The neutral should be at zero volts more or less, as above.

Now, however, let's assume I'm messing with the same socket in room A but someone's got something plugged into the same ring main in room B. Let's say it's a device with a transformer power supply and the on/off switch is on the low voltage side of the transformer, so there's always a direct path between live and neutral. Therefore the voltage in the neutral gets raised to whatever the live voltage is, minus the voltage drop across the plugged in device (which might not be the full 240 volts, especially if the device isn't drawing any current to speak of). Therefore I'll get a shock if I short myself between the neutral and the earth. And of course, because I'm always going to be the lower impedance device in a parallel circuit, guess who gets the amps?

By extension, if I have two ring mains both terminated to the same live and neutral bars in the distribution unit / fuse box, the same thing applies, right? Just one device plugged into either ring main creates a path rasing the neutral voltage above zero volts, and I get a shock.

Is this correct or just utter ball-cocks from me as usual? And is this why the Americans, Europeans and most new UK houses have gone over to wiring each socket directly from the fusebox rather than using the traditional ring main, because it's safer?

 

[MattF]

This is somewhat off topic - try starting a new thread.

UK single phase 230VACRMS domestic mains neutral should be approximately earth.

If its 240VAC to earth seek professional help - if someone has swapped live/neutral on your system, then the fuses are not going to do much if you have an earth fault and no earth fault detection (RCCB/RCD/ELCB/OMGWTFBBQ) at the consumer unit.

Try searching for 'Earthing System' on wikipedia (or even 'Mains Electricity')

or on google: (the first pdf file should be the one - it has colour pictures)

earthing: your questions answered - IET Electrical

This stuff can be risk-to-life - don't play around with it - you could take out the neighbors as well...

Matt.