Power cords management

famous beagle

famous beagle

Well-known member
I don't have a ton of equipment, but it's amazing how much those power cords can pile up! After a quick tally, I figure I have about 20 units to plug in, give or take a few maybe. I know it's best practice to keep audio cables and power cables separate, but that gets pretty hard to do. I've tried my best, but as I've added a few more things, it's gotten kind of messy back there again. So I'm looking to do an overhaul.

I was wondering how others handle this issue. Does anyone possibly have any pictures showing this?

I've basically been handling this so far by using 4 or 5 power strips all stemming from the same wall outlet.

I'm curious to see/hear others' solution.

Thanks!
 
Oh....I got a lot of power cords.

Here's how I did mine:

Main studio power on (2) 20A lines
Pair of Furman 20A voltage regulators/power conditioners, one on each line (mostly I use one, and the other is a backup).
From the Furman, I have a bunch of heavy-duty extensions running out to the various racks as needed.
Then finally there are power strips off of each extension.

My one rack has 4 extensions/power strips to cover all the gear....the other three racks have at least 3 extensions/power strips each. I also have a separate extension running out to all my guitar amps, and keyboards.
This scheme maintains the "Star Grounding" approach, as pretty much the entire studio is getting power, and ground from the same source....one 20A line.

The only thing that is running apart from all that are my computers, which have a UPS, but the UPS is connected to the second 20A line, and both 20A lines run back to the main fuse box, and both are on the same legs of the 3-phase power lines,

I rarely power up more than half the gear, even during mixdown, so one 20A line can cover that....but if I really needed to have ALL the gear powered up, I would just fire up the second Furman, and split up the duties across the two 20A lines...which is plenty of juice. I also have a third 20A line to cover all the outlets around the studio...but that's just for convenience...I don't really plug anything there from the actual recording gear.
 
Wow, thanks for the info. But I must confess I don't know everything you're talking about.

When you say "on 2 20A lines," what do you mean, exactly? I mean, I know A stands for ampere, but what do you mean exactly?

Are the Furman power conditioners not plugged into a wall outlet? I don't understand.

Also ... how do you go about keeping the power cords away from the audio cords?

And do you have a link to the Furman power conditioners you're talking about?

Thanks again for the help.
 
I ran two power lines from the main building fuse box, direct to my studio.
Each line is a 20 Amp line attached to its own 20 Amp breaker in the main box.
There is an outlet in the studio wall for each line.
The Furman Voltage Regulator is plugged into it (x2).
Then from there all the other stuff.

The power cord extensions from the regulator are all down on the floor, along the walls.
The audio lines run a couple of feet above the power lines in a channel that is mounted to the walls.

I have two of the older 20A models, these are their current models:
FurmanSound.com - Pro A/V Product - P-2400 AR

They also make a smaller 15A model:
http://www.furmansound.com/product.php?div=01&id=P-1800AR

You just add up the amps that all your gear could potentially draw...and get the appropriate one, or like in my case, I have two if I needed ALL my gear powered up at the same time, though like I said, that is rare, so I usually just need the one 20A unit on.
 
miroslav said:
I ran two power lines from the main building fuse box, direct to my studio.
Each line is a 20 Amp line attached to its own 20 Amp breaker in the main box.
There is an outlet in the studio wall for each line.
The Furman Voltage Regulator is plugged into it (x2).
Then from there all the other stuff.

The power cord extensions from the regulator are all down on the floor, along the walls.
The audio lines run a couple of feet above the power lines in a channel that is mounted to the walls.

I have two of the older 20A models, these are their current models:
FurmanSound.com - Pro A/V Product - P-2400 AR

They also make a smaller 15A model:
FurmanSound.com - Pro A/V Product - P-1800 AR

You just add up the amps that all your gear could potentially draw...and get the appropriate one, or like in my case, I have two if I needed ALL my gear powered up at the same time, though like I said, that is rare, so I usually just need the one 20A unit on.
Click to expand...

Thanks for all the info. But I was actually talking more about in the back of the rack. How do you go about keeping the power cords separate from the audio cords as they come right out of the back of the equipment?
 
I keep them separate as much as I can, but it's not always possible, so I follow Tweak's advice of making sure that they cross at right-angles and never run alongside each other. I don't get any mains hum (or at least no discernible mains hum) that way.

edit - not that I use a rack, but I do got a lot of power leads and audio cables down the back of my desk!
 
jonny deep said:
I keep them separate as much as I can, but it's not always possible, so I follow Tweak's advice of making sure that they cross at right-angles and never run alongside each other. I don't get any mains hum (or at least no discernible mains hum) that way.

edit - not that I use a rack, but I do got a lot of power leads and audio cables down the back of my desk!
Click to expand...

Oh ok. I have an analog setup (as well as a small digital one), so I have two racks nearly full of outboard gear.
 
Right....I try to run my power cords down one side of the racks and the audio down the other, or up the middle...and yeah, there's never a perfect way to run both power and audio for every piece, but as long as they don't run together for long lengths, it's fine.

Velcro or plain old twist-ties are your friends. If you have a large cable trunk/snake and need to secure it more firmly, use some zip ties, and then hang them off a screw/hook on the rack...etc.

Here's a shot of one of my racks from the back with the wiring....

Studio_RackWiring_June19_2012 023.jpg
 
miroslav said:
Right....I try to run my power cords down one side of the racks and the audio down the other, or up the middle...and yeah, there's never a perfect way to run both power and audio for every piece, but as long as they don't run together for long lengths, it's fine.

Velcro or plain old twist-ties are your friends. If you have a large cable trunk/snake and need to secure it more firmly, use some zip ties, and then hang them off a screw/hook on the rack...etc.

Here's a shot of one of my racks from the back with the wiring....

View attachment 79231
Click to expand...

Thanks for the photo. I had figured this was what I was going to end up doing (it's just kind of a mess back there right now, though I "tried" to do my best as I was setting it up), but I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing some other glaringly obvious solution. Thanks! :)
 
I splay my cords all over the floor and try not to step on them too much. As they lay there they eventually weave themselves into a sort of net which also lets me track satelite signals.
I'm hoping by next year they'll have gotten to a point where I can join the SETI search.
 
Lt. Bob said:
I splay my cords all over the floor and try not to step on them too much. As they lay there they eventually weave themselves into a sort of net which also lets me track satelite signals.
I'm hoping by next year they'll have gotten to a point where I can join the SETI search.
Click to expand...

I've been there before, and I just can't take it any more! :)
 
famous beagle said:
Thanks for all the info. But I was actually talking more about in the back of the rack. How do you go about keeping the power cords separate from the audio cords as they come right out of the back of the equipment?
Click to expand...


In larger installations the system we've used is to run cable tray vertically in the back of the rack, one tray each side. Signal cables all go to one side (and are cable tied there) while mains cables go to the other. On the mains side, the cables either run to a mains distribution unit (usually at top or bottom of the rack) or, in simply installations, we just mounted several multiway blocks onto the cable tray and took the plugs as neatly as possible to the closest.

I've just had a look but I don't have any photos of old installations, alas. My present home set up doesn't involve enough rack-mountable outboard to justify a rack.
 
As far as power cords go they do sell a Y cord being able to power two rack units with one cord.
I'll try and find ya a link. ;)
 
Bobbsy said:
In larger installations the system we've used is to run cable tray vertically in the back of the rack, one tray each side. Signal cables all go to one side (and are cable tied there) while mains cables go to the other. On the mains side, the cables either run to a mains distribution unit (usually at top or bottom of the rack) or, in simply installations, we just mounted several multiway blocks onto the cable tray and took the plugs as neatly as possible to the closest.

I've just had a look but I don't have any photos of old installations, alas. My present home set up doesn't involve enough rack-mountable outboard to justify a rack.
Click to expand...

Yes this is kind of what I was thinking of doing/rigging up, but one problem I have is that the power cords in my rack unit don't all emerge from the same side of the back panel. 4 come out the right side, and 3 come out the left.

So I may just have to just use the sides for power cords and leave the signal cords in the middle.
 
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