How NOT to hook up your game room

[Gamereviewgod]

Near complete and total disaster today inside my game room. You sort of need a little backstory to really understand just how bad this could have been. In the best terms possible, everything behind my TV, as a friend once affectionately put it, is ghetto rigged. There's no better terminology since in all honestly, I have no idea how I intially did it.

So, there are 25 things plugged into 8 different surge protectors. Those 8 go into two industrial style power type boxes usually reserved for work/tool benches and the like where there are not enough actual outlets (like behind my entertainment center). Picked them up at Sam's Club. The cables from those run a long way along the right side of the room to an outlet above my animal aquariums. So yes, 25 different items, 8 surge protectors, one double equipped power outlet. Smart? No, not really.

It's been like this for a LONG time. I'd say maybe 5 years, give or take. At night, everything is turned off on those big boxes by flipping the switch for rather obvious safety reasons. They remain plugged in however. I head downstairs today, flip the first box on and hear nothing but a very loud "zzzzz" coming from behind me. The little light on the box is going nuts. I am unable to repeat here exactly what it is that I first said, but it didn't take me but a second to flip that switch back over to "off."

I look at the outlet they're plugged into. Everything looks ok. No smoke, no burning, nothing. I figured that it was likely a small surge from the other day when we turned all the power off in the house to change a light switch. Daring as I am, I try the other box. Same result. This time, the light flickers for a second and then I get nothing. I could flip that switch all day with no results at all.

Now I'm worried. I don't know what it is, all I can think of is that it fried everything hooked up to these boxes. After a half hour of re-arranging with some (ok, a lot) of help, I manage to figure out a temporary solution to get power going back. Again, slightly risky.

Thank god, they work. The real test is still coming though. I turn on the necessities, lessen the load by unplugging a few things, and give it go. The Turbo Duo and SNES seem to be the only things having problems. They seemed to work for a while and then just die out. The power light stayed on the Super, but it lost video. The Duo just locked up while still playing music and producing a picture. This could be because of the new power source, a whole lot farther than what it was before. I won't know for a while.

So, what's the lesson here kids? Bite the bullet, hire the damn electrician, and get some real outlets put in where you need them. Oh, and 25 somewhat high-priced electronics hooked up at once? Probably not the best idea in the world.

[Kroogah]

And I thought MY old setup was bad....

It's a cool novelty having a few billion systems hooked up all at once, but getting all those damn wires tangled up, and the risk of frying a block of 'em (or just a single one of 'em) is too much of a trade for the convenience.

[Crush Crawfish]

Ouch...my condolences. I sure hope that Turbo Duo's okay...I'd hate to actually get one, only to have it die on me...

Maybe you should consider unhooking some of the systems you don't really play?

[Nebagram]

25 into 2 simply don't go. As a manic obsessive regarding my collection (moderate though it may be) I never have more than 4 things plugged in at once- TV, Mega Drive, Mega CD and console of the moment. The less you plug in, the less bites it in case of power surge.

[NoahsMyBro]

Coincidentally, I've been thinking about this situation myself over the last week or so. I've got a wall in my basement gameroom with about 6-8 systems, VCR, TV, heater plugged in to several power strips and then into the single block wall outlet.

I decided a few days ago to install a bank of 4-6 wall outlets (for 8-12 actual sockets) to spread the load somewhat. Individual 2-socket outlets can be lined up side-by-side, with modular faceplates so the faceplate can be as many blocks long as you need.

I figure this way there will be only one power strip/surge protector per outlet. The systems will all still be on the same feed, but that feed is a lot heavier-duty than a few cheap power strips, and I won't have more than one system turned on at a time anyway.

[Gamereviewgod]

By the way, anyone know what an outlet costs to get installed (roughly of course).

Oh, and the thing is, I do play everything. It's way too hard to get behind the entertainment ceneter to plug and play what I want, that's why everything is hooked up like this.

[NoahsMyBro]

I'm *guessing* about $125-$150.

A few years ago we had our entire house re-wired (by a not-so-terrific electrician as it turns out), and the cost was around $3500, I think. That's for a 3BR split-level built in the 50's, for the sake of comparison.

[Kid Ice]

So, there are 25 things plugged into 8 different surge protectors. Those 8 go into two industrial style power type boxes usually reserved for work/tool benches and the like where there are not enough actual outlets (like behind my entertainment center). Picked them up at Sam's Club. The cables from those run a long way along the right side of the room to an outlet above my animal aquariums. So yes, 25 different items, 8 surge protectors, one double equipped power outlet. Smart? No, not really.


25? Ouch. I have 8 systems daisy-chained through a couple of surge strips, into a single surge strip, into an outlet. I turn the surge strip off whenever not in use for fear of the bricks heating up and causing bad things to happen.

With all those wires, the prospect of putting another system in there or taking one out is quite frightening. I could only imagine having 17 more systems involved...I wouldn't be able to sleep.

I bought my house a little over a year ago, and I remember the home inspector saying "You have enough power coming into this basement to light up a small city." That was music to my ears. 8-)

[klausien]

I have an octopus going behind my setup too. I have been successful with only keeping those AC plugs that are standard size plugged in at all times. I keep two outlets open for one at a time use of my NES, SNES, Genesis, Duo and VCS AC adapters. I keep them all strategically hidden behing my left speaker. I have 11 systems hooked up and ready to go at all times with no visible wires. You really need that kind of setup if you like to play games from all generations all the time like I do.

On a side note, this came in quite handy when I decided to take a tour of all the different Virtua Racing conversions upon getting Sega Classics Collection. Genesis, 32X, Saturn & PS2. Quite an interesting little comparison. It is fun to do with the different Daytonas as well. Sega racing Fanboi. What can I say?

[BigGeorgeJohnson]

It sounds to me like you fried all the wiring going into that circuit, over time it could become dangerous. I would recommend re-wiring it with a heavier gauge wire. It won't make much difference running another outlet to where you need it, that's the equivelent of running an extension cord pretty much, unless you wire it to a different circuit it won't make any difference.

As for the price of re-wiring a single circuit depends on how far thru your house the circuit travels. In most cases it is $400 to $600.

Good Luck

[Predatorxs]

I'm thinkin with all that power and all the different setups, trouble was on it's way, i just have the basics plugged in, it only takes a few seconds to plug another console in. The only consoles i have ready to go, are my xbox and GC.

Plus i always unplug everthing, tv, consoles, other stuff etc.. mainly everYthing around the TV.

I can imagine your electricity bill would be alot lower over the year as well. ;)

http://www.xs.dsl.pipex.com/avator/ms_ufo.gif..Mike

[Trebuken]

Replacing or adding an outlet is $6+ (depending on quality), and replacing any damaged wiring is likely less than $100 (different qualities of wiring also). When you pay an electrician your paying an insane ammount for labor, I suggest finding a local handyman, the electrical work you need is not complex for someone who has done it a few times. Something else I have been told is that a single outlat can support x ammount of volts while a circuit can support x * y volts. If you plug everything into one outlet and overload the outlet you can have a fire risk, but if you have multiple outlets and overload the circuit and not the outlets you will simply short one of your breakers, which is easy to fix. Also getting one of those absurdly expensive surge protectors ($100 or so) seems reasonable all of a sudden).

Later,
Trebuken

[Mr Mort]

The rule I have for my setup(s) is simple:
One 8-outlet power-strip per wall-outlet. Nothing more. My entertainment center in the game room has 2 wall outlets behind it. I keep the essential systems, TV, stereo, etc, plugged into an 8-outlet power strip that is always plugged in, and the rest is plugged into a 6 outlet power strip that is turned off when not in use.

[YoshiM]

Also another note: don't daisy chain your power strips. It's waaaay against code. According to local fire fighters who do regular code checks at work, one is okay for the type of equipment we use per outlet. If something bad does happen and it gets linked to a strip-octopus your insurance may have second thoughts on coverage.

I'm not an insurance expert, but why temp fate?

[icbrkr]

/me looks behind his entertainment center - at least 15-20 hooked up items.

Oh yeah it's safe. Really!

3.5 years so far...

[Flack]

I can imagine your electricity bill would be alot lower over the year as well.

Why would having all those things hooked up raise your electricity bill? I doubt he was playing all of them at the same time.

I'm sure I have even more stuff wired up than GRG does/did, going through power strips that are from the 70's. I like to live on the edge.

[crazyjackcsa]

As long as you aren't running all 25 things at the same time it shouldn't make a difference. Sure every piece of equipment has a little bit of a phantom load, but that doesn't matter. Besides, look at it this way: The DC uses 27 watts. If all 25 systems/tv's/speakers whatever takes an average of 27 watts thats 675 watts, round up, 700 wats into two industrial outlets, that's like 3 1/2 lightbulbs at 100 watts into each outlet.That's even allowing for everything to be turned on at the same time! I'd say the industrail power boxes are even overkill and you won't ever have to worry about burning something out due to an overload. I don't know what the sound was, a powerbar might have given up the ghost, but not due to too much load.

[crazyjackcsa]

I can imagine your electricity bill would be alot lower over the year as well.

Why would having all those things hooked up raise your electricity bill? I doubt he was playing all of them at the same time.

I'm sure I have even more stuff wired up than GRG does/did, going through power strips that are from the 70's. I like to live on the edge.

The bill would rise because everything that sits on standby or electronics of any kind have a "phantom load" it uses a couple of watts (usually 5-10) just being plugged in. Have you ever noticed your Genny adapter always stays warm to the touch when it's plugged in? That's the phantom load. Just turning my computer of at the powerbar every night has saved me about 14kwh a month, or 14 000 watts

[BigGeorgeJohnson]

It's true that the parts are cheaper than the actual labor, as is most cases. But I certainly wouldn't reccomend a handyman or anyone else with limited knowledge of electricity performing the work. Although the work isn't complex so to speak, it does need to be done correctly and up to code. It's also true that circuit breakers go out when you are pulling to much load or have a short somewhere, but if the wiring is cheap, such as aluminum or 16 gauge which isn't much better. The wire just continues to heat up over time and eventually the wire loses it's ability to conduct electricity properly burns through the insulation and then causes a fire.

So the problem here is poor wiring, and has nothing to do the specific outlet. Replacing the circuit breaker or simply getting a surge protecter will do nothing for you.

[maxlords]

I have 13 systems, the TV, VCR, DVD player, lamp, and lava lamp all plugged into one power outlet. I run a $100 surge protector out of the one plug, and a cheapo one out of the other. Never have a problem and we spend only about $100-120/month on power. ANd I leave my PC on 24/7, but turn the monitor off at night.

[rbudrick]

<Looks at 40+ systems hooked up +2 VCRs and a bunch of other crap in 2 outlets

Looks good to me! :D

-Rob

[WanganRunner]

I've got the Home Theater stuff (6 items) all hooked up to one bigass APC UPS, and then 4 game systems (presently DC, Xbox, PS2, GCN) on one other bigass APC UPS.

Each UPS unit has it's own outlet.

The other game systems are either snug in their boxes or distributed to the other TVs throughout the house.