Short power cable

[minorrevival]

I've moved my rack and the back of the amplifier is now about 20cm from the socket. Are there any electricians here who could tell me if it's ok to make, say, a 30cm mains lead? (IEC plug to standard three core cable to schuko plug.) Is there any minimum length which should be respected? The shortest ready made mains cable I've found is a metre.

Thanks.

 

[Tony_J]

There is no minimum length - make it as short as you like.

 

[Valvebloke]

There's no electronic reason why you can't make a short mains lead. The only issues will be related to the safety regs. These days equipment has to be not only electrically safe but also, in a sense, mechanically safe too. So if a lead was so short that it could require someone to dangle an extension socket in free space then perhaps the people who wrote the safety regs wouldn't approve it ? In the UK those regs are enacted through the Electrical Equipment Safety Regulations 1994 which refer to a European standard. You are in France, of course. The standard will be the same there but your local regulations might be different from the UK ones. You use Schuko connectors, for example. You might feel that since you're making this yourself for use with your own equipment in your own home then you can decide what's safe and what isn't. You may be right in a legal sense i.e. it may not breaking the law to break the regs. Where it can really bite you, and bite hard, is if your insurance company use it as justification for not paying out when you make a my-house-has-burnt-down claim. If you're going to invalidate your policy then you might as well save yourself the premiums. You could phone them and ask what they think.

VB

 

[minorrevival]

Thanks!

 

[Leonard Smalls]

So long as you know how to properly terminate a plug there should be no problems, insurance or not!

If the outer sheath continues into the plug (i.e. the strain relief is holding the sheath), individual conductors are the correct length (i.e. no kinking or excess) and in the right hole (!), no copper is showing outside the pin connector and no there are no stray strands it will be largely indistinguishable from a commercially made plug.

Saying that, I've seen some shockingingly made commercial plugs, and home-made ones!

And there is also the argument that an over-long lead could cause a trip hazard, and if coiled, a fire hazard...

 

[minorrevival]

Thanks Leonard. I've made cables before with no ill effects & I'm very careful with the connections. I just wasn't sure if commercial cables were all a metre or longer for a reason other than profit.

You're right about the length; at the moment my power leads are snaking out a few feet from the rack so as not to be coiled - Mrs M has been complaining about the mess, hence the pressing need for shorter ones.

 

[Valvebloke]

... Saying that, I've seen some shockingingly made commercial plugs, and home-made ones! ...

I see what you did there ...

VB

 

[Ed Howarth]

Amazing that only a handful of years ago, appliances came with no plug attached. How we forget! It was amazing that Mr average and Mr thicko didn't burn their house down. I am especially thinking of my dad here.... Burn marks on the socket covers were just part of my childhood.

 

[Tony_J]

Amazing that only a handful of years ago, appliances came with no plug attached. How we forget! It was amazing that Mr average and Mr thicko didn't burn their house down. I am especially thinking of my dad here.... Burn marks on the socket covers were just part of my childhood.

Socket covers...? Luxury!

 

[johnniebaby]

I remember when I was a young child (1950s), my grandmother had a few appliances including a vacuum cleaner which plugged into a bayonet ceiling light fitting :shock:

 

[alphatoner]

I remember when I was a young child (1950s), my grandmother had a few appliances including a vacuum cleaner which plugged into a bayonet ceiling light fitting :shock:

mine still does, is that not a good idea?

 

[Valvebloke]

I remember when I was a young child (1950s), my grandmother had a few appliances including a vacuum cleaner which plugged into a bayonet ceiling light fitting :shock:

... how to get your hi-fi off the same ring main as the fridge, without the cost and fuss of running a separate spur :^ .

(EDIT Just to be absolutely clear: this is a joke.)

VB

 

[Leonard Smalls]

... how to get your hi-fi off the same ring main as the fridge, without the cost and fuss of running a separate spur :^ .

(EDIT Just to be absolutely clear: this is a joke.)

VB

Dedicated circuit/

And to tell the truth, fridges are probably less electrically noisy than a modern lighting circuit that's dribbling with compact fluorescents and associated harmonics...

A proper hifi home should have LEDs, preferably non-dimming.

 

[Tony_J]

Dedicated circuit/And to tell the truth, fridges are probably less electrically noisy than a modern lighting circuit that's dribbling with compact fluorescents and associated harmonics...

A proper hifi home should have LEDs, preferably non-dimming.

Not much difference, given that the LED drivers are often switch-mode power supplies these days.

 

[Valvebloke]

A proper hifi home should have LEDs, preferably non-dimming.

I've seen 70's hifi with enough LEDs on the front that you wouldn't need any other lights. The same would (nearly) be true for anyone running a power amp based on 211s ...

VB

 

[misterpete]

My mother used to plug the iron into a light socket, it was a double socket, one side for the bulb, the other for whatever you wanted. (the house never burnt down :nerves: )

 

[Leonard Smalls]

Not much difference, given that the LED drivers are often switch-mode power supplies these days.

But the beauty is that the money you save can then be spent on something useful, like hookers'n'coke.

Not only that, but you, personally, will have saved the planet...

 

[rod]

Plug, what's wrong with stuffing the wires into a socket...



I am joking!!

 

[jtt1888]

I just wasn't sure if commercial cables were all a metre or longer for a reason other than profit.

I also wondered about this. I ordered a couple of kettle leads from mains cables r us and specifically asked them to be made at 0.6m long. They were made to order but when delivered they were exactly 1.0 m long. I just assumed they hadn't noticed my specific request.