Does it make any sense to....

[Michael Jones]

Some of my bricklayer's helper's are also licensed electricians.

So I'm getting a couple more bids before I pull the trigger on that. (beside, as soon as the bricklayer's leave, I have to finish the siding, so there's some time available)

Anyway, I have a good electrical diagram for wiring the studio detailing the lay-out of switches, lights, outlets, and other gang boxes as well as the circuit breakdown.

My monitors will be soffit mounted Event 20/20 BAS's and I have outlets planned for the inside of the soffit.
I thought it would be a good idea to be able to turn on and off those monitors, so there'll be a switch located in a gang box under the console to do that.

But, and here's the topic:
Could a wire of that gauge be connected to a smaller toggle switch type of switch? And how cool would it be to have a series of those mounted on a face plate thats mounted on a rack, that could control other electrical functions as well. Like say, turn on/off lights above the console, or dim them (i'm aware of the constraints and specs for dimming lights) or even being able to do that for other rooms, all, right at your fingertips, right the console.

It could be cool.


Or, I'm I just thinking too much here.....

 

[mixmkr]

I'm kind unclear what you question exactly is... mounting light switches right at your console?...and stuff like that?

I've seen it done quite a bit...controlling lights out in the studio, especially.

I had an old custom designed console once, that had just that, in some blank panels at the producers desk area. I didn't hook them up, but they were in use in the original installation.

 

[frederic]

Could a wire of that gauge be connected to a smaller toggle switch type of switch? And how cool would it be to have a series of those mounted on a face plate thats mounted on a rack, that could control other electrical functions as well. Like say, turn on/off lights above the console, or dim them (i'm aware of the constraints and specs for dimming lights) or even being able to do that for other rooms, all, right at your fingertips, right the console.

Sure, I had that in my home studio before I yanked it all apart - I used a 6"x3" aluminum panel and had 10 switches mounted on it.

What I did though, instead of wiring the electrical right to the switches, I ran it in the wall and used the smaller switches on the panel to switch relays, which were mounted in the electrical boxes with the regular switches, which were 3-way switches (and the relays were DPDT 120V relays with 15A contacts).

Easy enough to wire, I can help you with that if you like.

I liked using relays because I didn't have to have a giant knot of thick wire weaved through my console table. I was able to use cheasy, smaller wire.

In fact, using a 12V wall wart and 12V relays instead is a nice low-voltage option. Then at least if the wires behind the panel get touched, shorted, or the solder joints go no fire, damage, or injury.

Hope that helps.

Another option, which is a few dollars, is to use the X-10 system. There even is a remote control, so you can walk around your studio powering up and down equipment and dimming lights.

For lighting, I'm seriously considering the X10 stuff. I hate getting up

 

[Michael Jones]

I'm kind unclear what you question exactly is... mounting light switches right at your console?...and stuff like that?

Yeah. But not light switches like you have on your bedroom wall, but smaller, sort of toggle switches, mounted on a face plate that could fit in a rack. Or even some sort of control pannel, if need be.

 

[mixmkr]

sure...a switch is a switch... frederic's idea of using relays and/or solonoids makes sense too...to get the wire gauge backed off a bit instead of having a big snake of 14 gauge wiring running to this location VS something lighter...like an 18 or 20 guage.

I think having the lighting switches handy and easily accessable for the studio/tracking rooms from the console makes a lot of sense. Especially when maybe a scenario like a vocalist runs back out to do an overdub or a track, and you don't feel like getting up and flipping light switches spread out all over younder. Not to mention the feeling of power you might get!
Don't forget the spiggots for refreshments too.

 

[DDev]

Michael,

Are you looking at a switch panel that mounts in your 19" rack by your console? I think I've seen pre-punched rack panels (maybe ProCo?) that are setup for outlet-style holes, and you can get light switches that fit outlet cutouts.

Depending on the current rating of your circuits you might be able to get away with a toggle switch of some type. I looked in my Newark catalog and found that most of the toggle style switches max out at about 5A/120 VAC. The rocker style switches though (similar to what you find on any basic power strip) go up to 15A/120 VAC.

Hope this helps.
Darryl.....

 

[rsb]

Hmm

Not to jump on your thread Michael but I too am building the soffits for my 20/20 bas.

Are you planning on seperate outlets for each soffit unit or are you going to run an extension from one to the other?

Just curious

Any more detail on how you are going to wire them is appreciated.

Thanks
Ryan

 

[frederic]

sure...a switch is a switch... frederic's idea of using relays and/or solonoids makes sense too...to get the wire gauge backed off a bit instead of having a big snake of 14 gauge wiring running to this location VS something lighter...like an 18 or 20 guage.

I had 10 switches with a shared lead, so that required 11 conductor cable of about 20 gauge. This translates to alarm wire, which i got mail order, which gave me 12 conductors. I added the extra wire to the common, though I didn't need to.

Here is the schematic of the remote switch thingy I did.

 

[Michael Jones]

Re: Hmm

Not to jump on your thread Michael but I too am building the soffits for my 20/20 bas.

Are you planning on seperate outlets for each soffit unit or are you going to run an extension from one to the other?

Just curious

Any more detail on how you are going to wire them is appreciated.

Thanks
Ryan

Each soffit will have its own outlet.

The speaker plugs into the outlet (obviously).

From the outlet, the conduit runs inside the wall, and down to floor level.

At that point, I have a cable channel set into the floor, and the conduit runs through that cable channel to the console.

(The cable channel was set in the foundation/slab when it was poured and gets covered with a plywood plate, and that gets covered with the flooring. The idea is to keep cables and wiring off the floor and out of sight/traffic. You can lift out those plates if you need to change a bad audio cable.
And there will be a concrete divider down the middle of the channel to separate electrical runs from audio runs.)

From there, the conduit goes to a switch set in the console.

From the switch, it runs back through the cable channel and inside the wall to the circuit breaker.

You have the 20/20 BAS's so you know the only way to turn them on/off is via a switch on the back of the speaker cabinet. Not real functional for a soffit mount. So the only way to turn them on and off in a soffit, is to kill the power at the outlet.
A switch at the console will allow me to do that.

And that is what sprung the thought of being able to control more of the electrical curcuits from the console. But I don't want row upon row of regular light switches (you know, the UGLY beige ones) at the console.
So I was wondering, well, can you tie say 12/2 or 12/3 romex to a smaller toggle switch. A really cool looking one! One that could be drilled into a blank rack pannel. Probably not, as I'm finding out. But there is a way to make the CONCEPT work, it just requires different .....hardware.

Ideas on that are what I'm trolling for! (Sorry if it wasn't too clear before.)

 

[Michael Jones]

frederic - Don't the relays make noise when they kick in and out??

 

[frederic]

frederic - Don't the relays make noise when they kick in and out??

Relays do make a click, but if you mount them in the electrical boxes I seriously doubt you'd hear them. Take a pencil and tap the eraser on your desk, thats about how loud my below recommendation will be once its in an electrical box.

I used these:

10-Amp Plug-in Relay-12VDC

$7.99 Brand: RadioShack
Catalog #: 275-218

I remember when these were 3.99

12VDC coil, and 120V 10A contacts, more than enough for any lighting needs. Your event 20/20 BAS's draw less than 10A as a pair, so this is just dandy.

Solder the wires, don't use spades, this way there is no chance of anything coming loose and shorting in the electrical box.

Hope that helps!