extending power cord

highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
Im looking at purchasing this power console http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3956841&sku=B20-2606, and have it sit on my a/v rack, that sits about 10ft from my t.v, but i would also like to plug my t.v into it, now would it be ok to make my own extension cord? if so what gauge wire would i use?
Do you have a basement? If so, it would be much better to run Romex to the TV with a normal receptacle at the TV and a male connector at the equipment and then plug a good cord into the feed. If you were thinking of feeding the extension cord through the wall without some kind of conduit, don't. That's prohibited by the National Electric Code. Also, why would you want to make an extension cord when you can buy one?
 
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no sorry, im living in parents basement right now and about to move into an appartment, so adding outlets is a no go for me, i was just looking to make an extension cord to run along the wall with speaker wire to the rack.

also i was going to make one of thicker gauge then what you can buy.
 
mtrycrafts

mtrycrafts

Seriously, I have no life.
no sorry, im living in parents basement right now and about to move into an appartment, so adding outlets is a no go for me, i was just looking to make an extension cord to run along the wall with speaker wire to the rack.

also i was going to make one of thicker gauge then what you can buy.
Firstly, be careful running speaker wire with power cables, noise issues.

You should be able to buy 14Ga extension cable; no real need to make your own. Or, even 12ga is available in shorter lengths.
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
no sorry, im living in parents basement right now and about to move into an appartment, so adding outlets is a no go for me, i was just looking to make an extension cord to run along the wall with speaker wire to the rack.

also i was going to make one of thicker gauge then what you can buy.
First, a TV doesn't need a thick power cord. Second, it's possible to buy a 6 ga extension cord but you just need to go to the right place. You'll be fine with 16ga, to be honest. Most larger TVs draw less than 350 Watts, which means the cord will need to carry about 3 Amps of current. No big deal, even if it was 18ga. Third, you don't want to run power cabling parallel to any other cables.
 
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hmm, whats my best bet then for running the power cable beside my hdmi and speaker wire? i can not go into walls, has to be run along the bottom of trim around the room. Also thanks for clearing up on the cord, i just wasent sure if i needed a lower guage wire for the power or what. i know the one coming from my t.v is pretty thick, so i didnt want to go from a nice thick cable to a small thin one.
 
mtrycrafts

mtrycrafts

Seriously, I have no life.
hmm, whats my best bet then for running the power cable beside my hdmi and speaker wire? i can not go into walls, has to be run along the bottom of trim around the room. Also thanks for clearing up on the cord, i just wasent sure if i needed a lower guage wire for the power or what. i know the one coming from my t.v is pretty thick, so i didnt want to go from a nice thick cable to a small thin one.
Can you go in two directions? One for power, the other for the rest?
 
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well the whole point was to get my power cord from my t.v to my power center on my a/v rack. any way to isolate it some how?
 
WaynePflughaupt

WaynePflughaupt

Audioholic Samurai
Some vendors sell shielded power cables, but that’s not really necessary as long as any audio or video cables are shielded. Especially for a 10-ft. run.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt
 
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well im sure my HDMI cable is, but not my speaker wire
 
WaynePflughaupt

WaynePflughaupt

Audioholic Samurai
Speaker wire doesn’t need to be shielded. It’s a high-level signal, not line-level. But if you're worried about it, go with a shielded extension cord.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt
 
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no im not to worried really, just didnt want to make an extension cord then find out i needed a shielded one, i may go to a local electical place and see what kind of wire they have. thanks!
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
Shielded power cords are for sensitive equipment, like what is used in a hospital. The shielding is to keep RF and stray signals from getting to other equipment, not 60Hz EMI (Electro-Magnetic Interference). Braided shielding does almost nothing to block that. Distance is what works best- keep any signal cables that must run parallel to power cabling at least a foot away- more distance is better. If they need to cross paths, make sure it's at a right angle. Otherwise, lay them on the floor and look at the picture- if you see lines or other indication of interference, separate them. If not, leave them alone. Don't bundle the power cord with the rest and it will be fine. I did a job a few years ago- I drilled the hole for the power wiring for whoever did the electrical, left a way to pull the new one through to the equipment and kept it away from my low voltage wiring. The mistake I made was to leave my pull cord for the low voltage wiring in place, as a way to make it easy on myself if I needed to pull something later. DOH!!!! The idiot used my pull cord to snake his Romex up to the equipment, through the 1" hole I was using for all of my low voltage cables. Guess what- no noise or problems with any equipment connected to the cables and it couldn't be any closer than that.

An electrical supply place won't care if you need a cord for a stereo or video system, unless the person you talk to happens to have the same interest- they care about voltage and current for lighting and motors, not theoretical differences in sound and video quality due to some kind of special power cord.
 
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ok, well right now i have a few power cords running with my speaker wire and hdmi cable (shielded) and dont see/hear any problems, other then "noise" when satelite is on and nothing is being played you can hear it, but other then that, no problems. and when i meant about the electical whole saler's i meant asking if they had shelided cables or not, if not i would just buy some 12/3 wire with a male and female end and just put it together myself.
 
mtrycrafts

mtrycrafts

Seriously, I have no life.
ok, well right now i have a few power cords running with my speaker wire and hdmi cable (shielded) and dont see/hear any problems, other then "noise" when satelite is on and nothing is being played you can hear it, but other then that, no problems. and when i meant about the electical whole saler's i meant asking if they had shelided cables or not, if not i would just buy some 12/3 wire with a male and female end and just put it together myself.
Shielding at 60Hz is not easy, so you may not find an effectively shielded power cable if they make one. Grab a 12/3:D
 
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