Rack power safety

[OscarVelour]

Hello all! I have another question about my rack...

Got it all working pretty nicely but don't like having all my gear powered separately so I bought a rack mount power supply. I had a couple of prerequisites which made it difficult to find one that suited me but I found a Samson powerstrip ps10 which fits the bill. (As an aside, why do so many rack power strips have their sockets on the face of the unit instead of the back? I don't want all the wires having to come out the back of my rack to plug into the front on my power supply?). The only problem is all my rack gear has standard UK plugs and this power supply has female IEC C14 sockets.

My idea is to buy a few of the wireable connectors from the link below, cut off the standard uk plugs and wire them up to these.

IEC C14 Male Plug Re-Wirable Inline Connector - 10A @ 230V

Heavy Duty Re-Wirable IEC C14 Male Plug High Quality, completely re-wirable IEC-C14 (Kettle type) male inline plug assembly for all your electrical power applications. Ideal for connecting to the most common, industry-standard power, IT and related powered hardware including Power Distribution...

www.netbit.biz

The thing I want to pick some people's brains about is whether this is safe? My Samson powerstrip has a 10amp push to reset fuse built in, will this be enough? I'm aware that getting rid of the UK plugs will get rid of the fuses that are inside them and I want to make sure I'm not damaging my gear or creating a fire hazard!

Any help would be much appreciated!

 

[ecc83]

Perfectly safe Oscar so long as you do the job right! Make sure for instance that there is a low, <1 Ohm, resistance from the main 13A plug to every bit of kit that needs an earth.

Ten amps is 2.3kW and it is very unlikely that the power draw of all your kit comes close to that. In fact I would bet you could put a 5A fuse in the plug* and never have it blow? Certainly 10A never will. Think of the old "Hi Fi separates" rigs of yesteryear? Amp, turntable, OR deck, cassette deck. Nobody had enough 13A sockets! They used diss strips or indeed connector systems very akin to what you propose. I did very similar yonks ago.

*In fact if you still have a slight worry you could do that.

Dave.

 

[rob aylestone]

these are what I use inside my racks, and just bolt in.

 

[LazerBeakShiek]

Its recommended to use a vibrational feeder..with music gear..

Cannot beat Furmans power conditioer with voltage regulation. It maintains 120 volts or whatever you set, with a built in automatic variac. In one rack space nonetheless..

 

[ecc83]

Whilst I am sure that Furman unit is first class, for that money you might as well buy a continuous conversion UPS? That will give you a stable mains supply with the added benefit of around 20 minutes 'backing up time' should the mains fail.

Dave.

 

[rob aylestone]

That's crazy money, and as virtually all modern gear is happy from the US 110 or so to the UK 240 or so, it's pointless. Why would anyone need such stabilisation nowadays? I love the advert "the problems caused by AC line voltage irregularities" - er, what problems?

 

[LazerBeakShiek]

You need a power meter to see the changes..Then the variac or vibrational feeder increases or decreases the current.

Expensive but worth it. Im still using my Staco variacs to feed the equipment and a Furman conditioner. Done.

Rack units state specifically the current they are rated for. 110,117,120, etc. Best give it what they deserve.

At my old house with the AC on it would only get 108-110 at the wall. And would show accordingly on the meter.

I can dial it right back up to 125+ with the Staco variac.


That Furman I linked has a built in variac, for that price its a steal ...and only 1 rack space..Amazing.

 

[LazerBeakShiek]

Run too low a voltage and youll burn out the regulators on the output side.

If you dont have a meter on it how would you even know..

 

[LazerBeakShiek]

whats a CAE 3+ go for $4000?
whats a ADA mP-1 or 2 $1000's
whast a EL 100/100 ? $1000's

shits expensive. do it right

.........then use the grainiest shitiest digital reverb you can...16 bit or 8 bit..

 

[Folkcafe]

That's crazy money, and as virtually all modern gear is happy from the US 110 or so to the UK 240 or so, it's pointless. Why would anyone need such stabilisation nowadays? I love the advert "the problems caused by AC line voltage irregularities" - er, what problems?

Not usually one to agree on tech opinions from our laser endowed Arab royalty but in the world of recording, affordable is very relative. Pointless? I shipped recording rigs all over the world and South America and Eastern Europe had some pretty sketch power. We used similar units back in the day in our portable racks. The costs associated with producing a classical recording made the equipment cost seem like pennies. Not saying this is what the OP needs but depending on the level you are working, it is not unusual.

To Dave's point, a really good pure sine wave inverter running either in a UPS or just batteries otherwise will ensure no noise issues from power. When Bob Ludwig moved his family to Portland Maine and built Gateway Mastering Studios, he spared little expense. Due to some work contacts, I was able to spend time with his engineering team and had an extensive technical tour of his facility. Power for the studio consisted of a large room full of batteries and inverters. Batteries charged off hours. Studio ran on 100% battery power. This is a guy that has done work for just about every major label and artist.

Now is this what is needed for the average home studio? Here is probably where I diverge from Mr coherent light source and would say no, but some thought to good clean power should be a consideration. Rob, I've seen in a couple of posts where you've indicated some noise issues. Perhaps better planning and routing? I built my studio and ensured I have at least a clean feed of power direct from the panel. I paid close attention to lights used, power routing and grounds. Everything feeds into EMI and RFI filtering and if I put a O-scope on the AC, nothing but a clean sine wave. Overkill? I see a new post where someone is having noise issues in a basement studio.

Of course, none of this addresses the OP's question. I figured if we are all diverging off the topic, then why not.

 

[ecc83]

I am a great believer in the principle that "the gear should work on real life supplies". In UK we are given "normalized" mains voltage of 230V rms but since the greedy bstd utility companies won't spend the money to change the sub transformer taps, most of us still get around 240V. Last time I checked mine was 245V. Now, the power Cos are allowed a short term variation of 10% so we could have as ow as 207V or as high as 253V. Gear manfctrs SHOULD* test their kit and ensure it performs to spec' at those upper and lower bounds. Do they all?

Low power gear such as pre amps. mixers, compressors etc will have, and have always had internal regulators and these should be rated and heat 'sunk' to cope with 253 incoming. At least one budget ADAT unit wasn't! Along with line regulation goes RFI filtering. A good mains transformer helps massively here but by their very nature SMPSUs have heavy filtering as well.

All this means is that, within limits, it matter not how much your mains voltage Joddrells up and down nor how dirty it is, the gear SHOULD be built to cope with it. IF you have huge V variations or/and crap on the line, as I said buy a CC UPS!

*There is an exception for power amplifiers, old school transformer fed transistor and especially valve. It is impractical and too costly usually to regulate the supply to these devices but then all a lower V will do is limit the absolute maximum power output and you should not run THAT close to an amp's limit. More volts simply means more headroom (that you should not need!) Of course, the rise of class D and SMPSUs means this is now no problem. There is at least one guitar amp maker selling a 50W SMPSU powered valve amp. Easy one hand lift!

Dave.

 

[Folkcafe]

I am a great believer in the principle that "the gear should work on real life supplies".

The two key words. We all know things typically just work.... Until they don't. Keep the faith.

Not any sort of expert on EU power but as no one mentioned it. Replacing a plug means adding a failure point. Wires terminated via captive screw can be subject to poor termination adding potential problems. Most often being inadequate torque to clamp the wire down or loosening of the wire strands due to movement and gaps. A crimp ferule is often added to stranded cord wire preventing strands from shifting. At least here on this side of the pond.

 

[ecc83]

The two key words. We all know things typically just work.... Until they don't. Keep the faith.

Not any sort of expert on EU power but as no one mentioned it. Replacing a plug means adding a failure point. Wires terminated via captive screw can be subject to poor termination adding potential problems. Most often being inadequate torque to clamp the wire down or loosening of the wire strands due to movement and gaps. A crimp ferule is often added to stranded cord wire preventing strands from shifting. At least here on this side of the pond.

No kind of expert on your stuff either! However if you are referring to mains plugs our 13 amp jobs are very secure* Of course they need to be fitted correctly but the contact screws are about 3mm dia and screw into substantial brass fittings. The cable clamp is also excellent IMHO. Used to be fibre secured by two screws but modern plugs use a tough plastic clamp which is reversible to handle different diameter cables. Never really had a problem with them.

*However, our equipment has had to have properly fused, moulded plugs fitted to it now for decades. I don't know the figures but this must have had a substantial effect on the incidences of electrocution and fires?

Dave.

 

[Folkcafe]

No kind of expert on your stuff either! However if you are referring to mains plugs our 13 amp jobs are very secure* Of course they need to be fitted correctly but the contact screws are about 3mm dia and screw into substantial brass fittings. The cable clamp is also excellent IMHO. Used to be fibre secured by two screws but modern plugs use a tough plastic clamp which is reversible to handle different diameter cables. Never really had a problem with them.

*However, our equipment has had to have properly fused, moulded plugs fitted to it now for decades. I don't know the figures but this must have had a substantial effect on the incidences of electrocution and fires?

Dave.

A little lost on what you refer to as "mains". I am speaking about the IEC C14 connector the OP linked to. This is a common power connector used here in data facilities but is uncommon for in AV racks. I run into them when installing signage servers in IDF's. Not a power strip you'd find in a big box store or a plug on the wall. It's what my lighting brethren would call and "instrument cable". This side of the pond would have an Edison plug on this end of how the above connector would be used. I work with a lot of Cisco gear that used to ship with just about every conceivable IEC power cable.

Not particularly impressed with the linked connector. What am I missing from your description?