Extension power wires for long term use

Dans Klimkowski

New member
Hi,

I use surge protectors w/ long wires which give me a lot more flexibility with my wiring, but am still having issues with a few devices that come with short power wires.


I've heard that its only safe to plug in one power strip into a wall outlet, so the issue is that i have many devices around my studio, but some of them only have 5 ft cords and are really reaching to get to the nearest power strip. The power strip can't be moved any closer to the device because there are also other devices with short power cords that are reaching from the other side. I've spent alot of time trying to find the perfect position for the surge protector, but it still seems like it could be causing problems with tripping hazards or possibly fire hazards if something gets unplugged accidentally.


I've thought about using power extension wires, but the ones that I've seen all have said that they are meant for temporary use only, and should not be plugged in for long periods of time. I'm also unsure if using an extension wire in addition to or coming out of a surge protector is a good idea, the thing i want to avoid most is a fire hazard.


Does anybody know any good solutions to this? Are there any good, safe power extension wires that can be used daily in studio? Or are there any situations in which it is absolutely safe to use multiple extension wires and surge protectors on the same wall outlet?

Thanks, Dan
 
What about a permanent solution?
Is it possible to rewire the place, or have someone rewire the place, so that you have additional outlets in appropriate places and surge protection at the source?

Apologies if I'm stating the obvious and you've already ruled that out.
 
The problem is not so much how long the extension cords are, but how much current you are pulling from one outlet. You can certainly daisy chain power strips one after another as long as you don't overload the outlet.

I run everything off one outlet. I have one power strip with surge protection that supplies a uninterruptible power supply and lights (LEDs - low current demand). The ups supplies everything for audio and computers. There are several power strips coming off the ups to add additional outlets to power everything. All in all, I'm probably pulling about 8 or 9 amps out of the outlet when everything is powered up.

You can buy more power strips and/or heavy duty extension cords. Just be sure total power consumption doesn't exceed the rating of the outlet. In fact, be sure you don't exceed 75% of the outlet for peace of mind.
 
My entire studio runs off of a single outlet...and as some of you know, I have a lot of gear hooked up to it.
Of course, I installed a 20 Amp outlet, 20 Amp line and 20 Amp break in the main box.
I actually have two of those...but the second was only put in as a spare...so the entire studio runs off the one outlet....with voltage regulator, balancd power unit and lots and lots and lots of power strips.
As long as the meters on my voltage regulator and balanced power units are showing less than 20 Amps usage...it's all good.

Not to mention, having it all tied to a single source is good for the grounding scheme....because if you have many outlets in a room, they may not all be the same line, but just 'cuz a room has 3-4 outlets...odds are, they are all tied together to one line anyway.
Keep in mind that most home lines/outlets are only rated for 15 Amps.
 
Yeah, I have 20 amp service to my studio too. It's actually a 2-phase line that was originally intended for a kiln. When we decided to put my studio in the garage, I separated out the 2 phases, one for the studio, the other for the a/c unit.

It's a good reminder that most household outlets in the US are 15 amps. Most people would never max out a 15 amp outlet. That's a lot of juice.
 
I did a major cleanup on mine a while ago. Now a 'local strip mounted under the mixer and gear stack' table, so the floor's cable mess got a lot cleaner.
Anywho.. In the process also found and bought a few different optimized length and IEC and Edison spliter combos so the plug count at the strips also went down.
All goes back to one plug, but also some of the gear hits their own switched strip. (preamps stay off if I'm not tracking.. Nice. :>)
Extension Cord Accessories
 
AFA hitting 15 Amps...:)...when I power up my tape deck, console. monitors and a couple of guitar amps...I'm close to 12 Amps already.
The 2" tape deck and the console alone draw about 8 Amps.

I actually powered up like 80% of all my gear one day, and I was up to 15-16 Amps...so I had 2 more to go to stay in the green on the main power units, where up to 18 Amps everything is still nominal...and still 2 more amps left over for any power peaking, like from the various guitar/monitor amps, but you don't want to be constantly riding the 20 Amp limit...just like you don't want to always be pushing that 15 Amp limit. Du7ring the hot summer months, you could start to cook some of that cable insulation running at the max allowed Amps.
Speaking fof which...I used all outdoor grade 20 Amp cabling.

So yeah...even with a fairly large amount of gear, and some heavy duty gear...my high-use days are only 10-12 Amps...because there's rarely a need to power up EVERYTHING at once. I just wanted the extra headroom of the dedicated 20 Amp lines...like if I have other people over and there maybe 3 guitar amps going instead of one...plus all the main studio gear and rack items.
 
Thanks everybody! really helpful responses!!!

What about a permanent solution?
Is it possible to rewire the place, or have someone rewire the place, so that you have additional outlets in appropriate places and surge protection at the source?

Apologies if I'm stating the obvious and you've already ruled that out.


I’ve thought of that a bit, but not sure if thats the best route. I’m on a tight budget, and it seems like a big project, right? Would prefer a fast, cheap easy solution if possible



The problem is not so much how long the extension cords are, but how much current you are pulling from one outlet. You can certainly daisy chain power strips one after another as long as you don't overload the outlet.

I run everything off one outlet. I have one power strip with surge protection that supplies a uninterruptible power supply and lights (LEDs - low current demand). The ups supplies everything for audio and computers. There are several power strips coming off the ups to add additional outlets to power everything. All in all, I'm probably pulling about 8 or 9 amps out of the outlet when everything is powered up.

You can buy more power strips and/or heavy duty extension cords. Just be sure total power consumption doesn't exceed the rating of the outlet. In fact, be sure you don't exceed 75% of the outlet for peace of mind.


Oh thats interesting! A few followups:


1. How do I know/find out what the rating of the outlet is? I just moved in a few months ago and have no idea what it is.

2. How do you know that your UPS is able to handle all of those devices coming out of it? Is there some stat to look into for the UPS, like an amp amount its rated to or something?

3. I’ve just heard about IEC cords- is that what you mean by "heavy duty extension cords”? Or is that something different?

And is there any difference between going with power strips/surge protectors and heavy extension cords?- I mean in both cases its just a matter of seeing what it is rated to and, if the rating is good, it can be safe to daisy chain either out of a surge protector or UPS? Right?



My entire studio runs off of a single outlet...and as some of you know, I have a lot of gear hooked up to it.
Of course, I installed a 20 Amp outlet, 20 Amp line and 20 Amp break in the main box.
I actually have two of those...but the second was only put in as a spare...so the entire studio runs off the one outlet....with voltage regulator, balancd power unit and lots and lots and lots of power strips.
As long as the meters on my voltage regulator and balanced power units are showing less than 20 Amps usage...it's all good.

Not to mention, having it all tied to a single source is good for the grounding scheme....because if you have many outlets in a room, they may not all be the same line, but just 'cuz a room has 3-4 outlets...odds are, they are all tied together to one line anyway.
Keep in mind that most home lines/outlets are only rated for 15 Amps.


I’m a bit confused, this goes beyond my very limited electrical knowledge lol. You changed the outlet in your studio to allow for more amps? So outlets are usually rated for 15 amps but you upgraded to 20, right?
And to do that, you also needed to install a 20 amp “break” (not exactly sure what this is), in the main electrical hub for your house/building, AND reroute a wire that could handle 20 amps for that to your outlet- is this correct?

This seems like a big project, right?

Also:

1. What is a voltage regulator and a balanced power unit? Should I look into getting these?


2. What do you mean by "having it all tied to a single source is good for the grounding scheme”? I’ve never thought about a grounding scheme before and I don’t know if its tied to a single source (or what exactly that means).

I have 4 different outlets in my room that have surge protectors on them- so that means that I should check to see if they are all on the same line from the main electrical box downstairs, then (if they are all on the same line) add up the amps being used by ALL the devices in the room (on every surge protector), to make sure that is below the 15 amps (or whatever my outletsallow, once I figure out how to measure it)?

AND I would need to figure out the amp line and amp break ratings too, to make sure that they are all capable of handling the amps from all the devices in the room? Is this correct? If so, how do I do this?

And how can I see if all the outlets in my room are all on one line or if there are multiple lines?



I did a major cleanup on mine a while ago. Now a 'local strip mounted under the mixer and gear stack' table, so the floor's cable mess got a lot cleaner.
Anywho.. In the process also found and bought a few different optimized length and IEC and Edison spliter combos so the plug count at the strips also went down.
All goes back to one plug, but also some of the gear hits their own switched strip. (preamps stay off if I'm not tracking.. Nice. :>)
Extension Cord Accessories


I’d never heard of any of those before today, they seem like they could be helpful! So you plug one of the Is there a difference between the IEC and Edison splitters or are they the same thing?


It doesn’t seem like any of the plugs on that website have switches (unless I’m missing something)- What do you mean by "some of the gear hits their own switched strip”? So you have everything coming out of one surge protector/UPS, THEN that main surge protector/UPS has other surge protectors/power strips (with switches) coming out of it, and THEN you have the splitters coming out of the surge protectors/power strips? Is this correct?





Also- GENERAL QUESTION - whats the best way to measure all of this stuff? I just heard about the P3 P4400 Kill A Watt Electricity Usage Monitor - is that the best way to measure it or are there other devices/apps/techniques that are better? And could it measure everything that I need to measure- i.e. the power usages and ratings of the outlet, main line, breaker, individual surge protectors, extensions/splitters and devices? As of now, I have no idea how to measure any of it.

Thanks again so much!
 
I’m a bit confused, this goes beyond my very limited electrical knowledge lol. You changed the outlet in your studio to allow for more amps? So outlets are usually rated for 15 amps but you upgraded to 20, right?
And to do that, you also needed to install a 20 amp “break” (not exactly sure what this is), in the main electrical hub for your house/building, AND reroute a wire that could handle 20 amps for that to your outlet- is this correct?

This seems like a big project, right?

Also:

1. What is a voltage regulator and a balanced power unit? Should I look into getting these?


2. What do you mean by "having it all tied to a single source is good for the grounding scheme”? I’ve never thought about a grounding scheme before and I don’t know if its tied to a single source (or what exactly that means).

I have 4 different outlets in my room that have surge protectors on them- so that means that I should check to see if they are all on the same line from the main electrical box downstairs, then (if they are all on the same line) add up the amps being used by ALL the devices in the room (on every surge protector), to make sure that is below the 15 amps (or whatever my outletsallow, once I figure out how to measure it)?

AND I would need to figure out the amp line and amp break ratings too, to make sure that they are all capable of handling the amps from all the devices in the room? Is this correct? If so, how do I do this?

And how can I see if all the outlets in my room are all on one line or if there are multiple lines?


20 Amp outlets here in the USA (not sure where you are) have one of the prongs horizontal...because dedicated 20 Amp devices also have one prong horizontal. 15 amp outlets have just vertical.
Usually, in the kitchen area where one might plug in toasters and such...there are 20Amp lines and outlets...but most houses have 15 Amp lines/outlets in the other rooms.

The lines...the wires that can provide 20 Amps...they are heavier gauge than the ones for 15 Amps...likewise, in the breaker box, there are different value breakers 15, 20 even 30 and more Amps...depends on what they are feeding.

I ran a pair of 20 Amp lines from my main breaker to my studio...hooked them up to a pair of 20 Amp breakers...and on the other ned 20 Amp outlets.
Not a BIG job if you are good with that sort of thing and you know how to work safely with electricity, Also...I used exterior typ of cabling...which has a heavier insulation and is weatherproof...so, I was able to run that line mostly outside of the house, along the trim and edges of the walls...and I only have to drill into the walls at the main breaker box and the studio where the outlets woiuld go...and in both cases those were exterior walls...so not a BIG job.


For the time being...I wouldn't worry about voltage regulators and certainly not balanced power...unless you have a very extensive studio gear setup. I mean...dozens and dozens of items...etc.
Just so you know...a voltage regulator is not cheap...and a balanced power unit is like twice the voltage regulator.

Get an outlet tester...a basic one that just plugs in like a cord...you can find them at any hardware store. Then figure out what breakers feed that room...then use the tester to figure out which outlets are on the same line. You turn off a breaker for that room...and then you see which outlets were affected by it. You can even use a lamp for that...but the tester is good for also checking proper grounding and wiring on each outlet.

When you have all your outlets...all your gear...on one line, one breaker...everything is grounded back to the same point.
When you have say...two lines feeding the room, from two different breakers...you could end up with ground loops and line hum....etc.
With audio, the preferred method is to ground all devices to a singular point if possible...that way it's common to all...no chance of loops.
 
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The very first thing is to discard rumours from fact. Even with the different electrical standards between the US and the UK, there is a common good practice system to follow.

Each outlet in your home, office or studio has a maximum capability in it's design. We're not really interested in the voltage, but the current in amps. In the comments above, plenty of people are using 1 outlet, perhaps with 20A maximum capability. What do you have that takes big amounts of power. Looking at my own studio - nothing! If you want to put it into perspective, each device you have will have a label that says 1.2A or perhaps 4.5A, but loads will be small percentages of an amp - like all those wall wart power supplies. Add them up and see how close you are to the maximum. If you building is wired properly, then when you approach the maximum the connectors and wiring can handle, the current is switched off by an old fashioned fuse, or a miniature circuit breaker, an RCD Ground leakage device or other gizmo.

As for those 4 and 6 way socket strips - use the ones that are physically strong and have a cable long enough to let them lay on the floor - never dangle a few inches off it! You can even daisy chain them - the usual advice is to never do this - but as long as you don't overload them, it's fine.

Have a think about what you are connecting - let's say you have a heater in the studio that takes 15A - using that one 10A outlet gives you 5 amps for everything else, which is fine if your load comes to say 19A, but that heater does NOT want to be in the end socket on that string of 4 way connectors - because some of them are cheap Chinese imports and use cable that doesn't have enough copper in it. It's not uncommon for these things to actually get hot, and the normally stiff pvc cable gets hot.

The responsible solution is to get a proper electrician to put you more outlets in. However, if you manage all the things that use power, you can organise things properly. Local code will set rules for the types of outlets and the circuit protection, but with proper planning most modern studios use very little power. It's heating and air conditioning that eat the power.

I always smile when Bands with PA systems arrive at my venue and ask for power - we have 125A, 63A, 32A, 16A and 13A supplies available - and many have big power distros for their amp racks. One recently had forgotten their distro and was having a panic. The rack had 6000W of amps in it - which on our mains voltage is about 25A - the 32A supply was a little further away, but a 13A outlet was very close. The big current demand comes from the big spike when you turn on, while the load when running even very loud is much, much lower. They ran the entire rack fro the 13A supply.

I'd advise simply having an add up of the current in Amps, or the Wattage on the label, if there is no Amp details - volts x amps = watts can be used to calculate this for most equipment. If your electrics are decent, then each outlet will be able to supply it's design figure - or at least the value on the breaker!

Last comment - surge protectors. The vast majority of them are total rubbish! Some are well designed and can stop voltage spikes. Some, like the one I bought as an experiment were a one-shot device. The protection worked once, and then it had no effect. My voltage here is steady and pretty clean and I do not see a need for proper protection. Do you have a need for this? Dirty mains from arc welders next door? That kind of thing?

Ideally cable lengths should be physically sensible for the room - so no coils of extra length coiled up, creating heat and potentially melting, no strips with 5A cable carrying 10A or more - that kind of thing. Well made and looked after temporary cabling is not dangerous. They get dangerous when abused, overloaded, squashed with heavy flight cases, slit with sharp edges, and being under tension.
 
Better than getting serge protectors is to get a UPS unit, one that has serge protection and power filtering inbuilt (not the cheap USP types) a UPS will save you if the power goes off to let you shut gear down properly and to back up work on the computer.

I have a UPS on the console and hard drive recorders and another UPS on the computers. My power amps and the outlets in the studio that run guitar amps etc don't have any backup or filtering. Any earth loops that may exist between the different UPS's and the non filtered mains is controlled by isolation transformers on the computer audio, or audio earth lifts between the studio and control room. The UPS's are wired into the studio on their own power circuit and outlets. I do have a large mains isolation transformer that can be used if any of the guitar amps etc that come into the studio are noisy, but the transformer hums when in use (not audio but physical) so it has to be located outside the studio and feed in via dedicated power points. All this wiring has been approved by a licensed electrician.

However all the power points used are on the same circuit and phase of the 3 phase power coming into the building. Air con is on its own phase and lights and kitchen on its own phase as to not cause spikes or interference.

So in a small studio setup, get a good ups rated for the load and run all the gear off it.

Alan.
 
Some people may not care...
...but if you're running your analog audio gear off any UPS...ideally it should be a UPS capable of generating pure sine wave AC.
Only some of the more expensive UPS units are designed to do that...most of your basic UPS stuff is not, and the generate simulated sine waves...which are actually stair-stepped.

Non-audio gear may not care....but analog power amps, pre-amps, guitar amps...basically any analog amplification circuit in any piece of gear could be affected negatively by non-sine wave AC.

That said...a lot of the newer computers are using Active PFC power supplies...which don't work well with simulated sine wave UPS boxes...so it might be another reason to get UPS boxes that can generate pure sine wave AC if you want to run all your studio gear on them.

I only run my computer and LCD monitors off a UPS...the rest of the studio is on voltage regulator and balanced power boxes.
 
An iec cable is the cable with the outlet plug on one side and the D-shaped plug on the other. The detachable plug on guitar amps and desk top computers are iec cables.

Extention cable are the ones with an outlet plug on one side and an outlet on the other. It extends your reach to the outlet.

Even though everyone knows what you mean, wires are the things inside the cable.

You can tell how much an outlet is rated for by finding the breaker that it is attached to and reading the rating on it. If it is a 15 amp breaker, that outlet is on a 15 amp circuit. Mind you, there may be more than one outlet per breaker, so you have to add up the load on all the outlets attached to that breaker.
 
MOSTLY all good advice but I am surprised no one has mentioned 'earth (aka 'ground', aka 'hum') loops?
These arise when two or more bits of earthed gear, a guitar amp and computer say, are earthed by the mains AND by the audio cables. One way to mitigate the effect is to run everything from a single, earthed mains outlet.

Therefore you really DO need to pull all your juice from one point. Yes, in UK at least it is 'illegal' to run a diss strip off another diss strip but in practice, for the low currents even a seriously complex 'studio' would draw from audio/digital gear. A BIG valve gitamp would only pull about an amp.

In UK (WTF are you PLEASE!?) 20A would be 4.6kW (actually more most of the time because we get 240V + not the 'harmonized' 230V!) so a single (double) 13A outlet could probably run Abbey Road!

Surge protection and filtering are, as said, pretty much a waste of time and if you DO have a kart Mig welder next door, NOTHING will keep that out!

Forget you ever heard the term 'Balanced Mains'. It can cause a dangerous condition, maybe not SO bad in US but lethal in 240 lands.

DO buy quality mains strips. Look at products from CPC UK | Electronic Components | Electronic Parts (might be dot com?) A 4 way will cost £15 not £5 from Rock Bottom but it will last and not go intermittent.

As said, don't coil mains cables and don't hide them under carpets although that is belts, braces and a bit of string, at the currents you are likely to pull there is little danger of overheating.

Lastly...I know of 'single' phase mains and 'three phase' mains. Never come across a TWO phase supply?

Dave.
 
In UK (WTF are you PLEASE!?)
He's in the US.


Lastly...I know of 'single' phase mains and 'three phase' mains. Never come across a TWO phase supply?

Dave.

2 out of 3 phases run to every house. That is how we get 240v for heavy loads like a/c units, electric dryers, electric kitchen ovens..... and kilns, if you got one.

Does this link help
Understanding Residential AC Phases | AnOldMan.com

[Edit] Maybe that's not quite right. In readiing a little more, in the US, a single line is split using a center tap transformer. Each leg coming off the xformer is 120v and 180° apart. We use a single phase to neutral to power light loads at 120v and across both phases to get the 240v. [Edit/]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split-phase_electric_power
 
Yes Mr C, that is what I thought the US supply was like (though had not appreciated that the 240V was cntr tapped to earth) . 120 V for light loads and the full winding for heavy ones.

UK is quite different. We have local substations, BIG Mothers (my nearest one is in a building bigger than my house!) and these feed out 415V (nom') on 3 phases (120 degrees apart) under the road (mostly now) . Each dwelling is fed with one, 230V phase alternately so as to balance the total load.
So, houses EITHER get 230 one P or (rarely) 315V 3 P. Bigger places, garages, supermarkets etc will get a 3P supply and the local wiring will balance the load, i.e. different floors will be on different phases. It is considered bad form to bring another phase supply into a room e.g. on an extension cable but in practice there is very little danger.

N very B! I am NOT a power engineer! These are just things I have picked up on the way.

Dave.
 
20 Amp outlets here in the USA (not sure where you are) have one of the prongs horizontal...because dedicated 20 Amp devices also have one prong horizontal. 15 amp outlets have just vertical.
Usually, in the kitchen area where one might plug in toasters and such...there are 20Amp lines and outlets...but most houses have 15 Amp lines/outlets in the other rooms.


Not exactly.

There are plenty of 20a duplex receptacles available here in the US which do NOT have that extra horizontal slot. EDIT: THIS IS INCORRECT. All 20a duplex receptacles in the U.S have always had at least one horizontal slot, but presently all have the combination "T" slot on the ground side. That being said, the hor. slot is meant to accomodate male plugs on devices that need 20 amps all by themselves, and the male horizontal prong prevents them being plugged into a 15a outlet, thus blowing the circuit.

I wired my entire house and so know a little about this. EDIT: The word "Little", as pertains to my knowledge, is 100% accurate. And I believe the NEC requires new constrruction have 20a circuits these days. I have ALL 20a circuits throughout my entire house.

One important thing I wish to make very clear to the OP in order to prevent a dangerous situation. A 20a circuit is very importantly more than just switching-out the 15a breaker to a 20a and swithing the 15a outlet to a 20a rated outlet. KNOW THIS: A 20 a circuit requires heavier guage wiring than does a 15a. The old / standard 15a circuits use 14 gauge grounded (hopefully) cable - aka 14/2 NMB with ground. For a 20a circuit you'll need 12/2 NMB with ground.

Nothing serious, I just don't want you to burn the place down. :D
 
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Not exactly.

There are plenty of 20a duplex receptacles available here in the US which do NOT have that extra horizontal slot.

Well...everything I ever bought at Home Depot in 20Amp...came with the horizontal slot. Maybe those without are older manufacture...? Even the ones in my house...all 20 Amp have the horizontal slot.

And yeah...I wired all my own shit too, including a 15Kw permanent generator & transfer switch...:cool:
...and as I mentioned earlier, the 20 Amp studio lines were done with heavier, gauge wire...I actually went with 10 gauge.
A bit of a PITA to work with, but I wasn't going to go light for the studio lines. :)
 
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