Trying Not to Burn My Apartment Down (Multiple system hook up help)

[-^Cro§Bow^-]

I do have two strips chained off a larger one. However, the way I control the power to everything is really quite easy to manage. I use a smart strip as the main source the others are fed from. The way it works is that power isn't applied to the other strips until whatever plugged into the master outlet on the smart strip is turned on first. For me that is the TV itself, since I can't play any games without a TV being on.

So.. I hit the remote on the TV and once it powers up fully, the rest of the strips all kick on as well. This way I'm only eating up power when actually playing any games and I can switch to any console I want by simply changing the AV source since the power is already connected and powered up with the TV.

I use these smart strips all over my house...on mine and the Wife's computer, home theater, and the game room.

I have a 2500sf house with two AC units and 2 gas furnaces. My average electric bill in the winter is about $50 per month, and the average in the summer is about $100 with the AC units. In other words, the smart strips really kill the vampire power in a simple automated manner for me since everything is controlled by simply turning on the tv.

[Ozzy_98]

I have a smart strip in my arcade machine. Some of the LEDs run off the +5 rail of the computer, so they turned off when the machine was off. I added usb ports, and a powered usb hub was needed. That hub back fed +5 even when the computer was off, so my LEDs stayed on all the time. With that and a few quarks with the monitor, I just decided to change power strips, worked great ever since.

[8-Bit Archeology]

The best way to have these hooked up at once imho, is to run an old office computer power monitor on a good surge protector or ups.

Computer power monitors usually have 6 or 7 power outlets that each have their own switch on the front that can be labelled.

You can plug the power monitors into the surge protector or ups and have no issues. Since the power monitor is a simple passive switch box there is very little elecricity feeding the bill.

If you have big wall adapters like the NES, Genesis or even blocks like the 360 or TG16. They run tons of electricity. Wheither they are on or not those power adapter/converters are still converting power. Thats why they get warm and even sometimes hot to the touch. That is why you will want these switched off.

And there is a fire concern with daisy chaining cheap power strips. Especially with a/c adapters. My grandfathers house burned down from a cheap (not old) power strip he was using to charge a cell phone.

Also use good insullated systems as in the items discussed above and stay away from lamp cord extensions.

I use this and saved about 100 bucks a month after changing over to this method.

Lastly, to get your adapters onto the power monitors use really short (3"-6") extension cords. Just try to find ones that dont have the in use leds.

[Vigilante]

I was thinking about those computer monitor switches as well. I had one once, that sat between the computer and montor, flat like a small pizza box, with 6 switches in the front: 1 master, then 5 switches to 5 power outlets in the back. A few of those, properly labeled, can turn each system on and off when you want too.

[Ed Oscuro]

The best way to have these hooked up at once imho, is to run an old office computer power monitor on a good surge protector or ups.

Cheap maybe, but any of those with output filtering probably use a simulated sinewave (i.e. the second and even third options here, which isn't really great for retrogaming.

[Fragems]

I simply have a power strip for each generation of consoles and a separate strip that is kept plugged in 24/7 for the TV and any other devices that I use on a regular basis. Whenever I need to play something I simply plug in the power strip that it is on and I'm ready to play. On average when I play I mainly stick to one console or another for weeks at a time so there is no reason to have them all sucking down power at the same time anyways.

[camarotuner]

K here's what I've always done for setups. This is based on my experience and the advice of a master electrician. But this is the internet so for all you know I'm 12 and wikipedia'd this. Take it for whatever it's worth.

Cheap surge protectors suck. There is an awesome one Lowe's sell it's white/grey. Has built in surge protector indicator lights. The side grey plugs rotate which will allow up to 8 FULL SIZE ac bricks to be plugged in at once along with it's either 4 or 5 standard size plugs. So that'll give you 12/13 plugs perfectly suitable for gaming. Then just plug it into the wall. You'll have 2 plugs into the wall to work with so that'll bump you up to 24/26 plugs. Are you seriously going to plug in more than 2 dozen things at once? Let's pretend you said yes because you're hardcore and want it all. You have options, the BEST option is simply to do some very basic wiring and add more plugs to the wall and make sure every single one of them is properly grounded. If you don't know how to do this a basic wiring book and all the materials needed can be bought at lowes while you're there buying power strips. If you run each strip into it's own plug and each strip is a high-end surge protected unit you'll be fine. You can turn off anything you're not playing with the press of a button. I would leave the tv/blu-ray/stuff you use all the time on it's own strip and not turn that off. This is not a cheap investment but nether is your gaming collection. Protect it.

Now the word of warning, a surge protector is only as good as the ground you're plugging it into. Most household outlets, even those with grounding plugs, aren't actually grounded. Use a DMM or dummy light to confirm the ground is actually a ground before trusting the plug in the wall.

[GamerTheGreek]

I use a 4 shelf unit to do my video gaming . Each shelf gets a surge protector and I only connect 4 or 5 items to each one.

Top one does my Atari 2600, and a 5200 4 port.
2nd - Atari 5200 2 port ( not plugged in ) Atari7800, NES , SNES, N64 and Gamecube
3rd - Colecovision, Sega Master SYstem, Genesis 1( not plugged in ) , Genesis 2, Sega Saturn
Bottom- Atari 400, Atari 800, Atari 810,835,850, 1200XL

Each surge protector runs into a main surge protector and the systems I dont use the shelf surges are turned off. the 29 inch LCD is plugged into a seperate part of the main surge. It works pretty well and all the systems run into 1 tv and works great.

I have another TV that does my Intellivison a Commodore monitor for my plug and plays, a 47 inch main TV to play PS2, WII ( when i get it ) and Atari XEGS systems and Cable TV, DVD and Radio tuner (with 8 track ).

[camarotuner]

Each surge protector runs into a main surge protector and the systems I dont use the shelf surges are turned off. the 29 inch LCD is plugged into a seperate part of the main surge. It works pretty well and all the systems run into 1 tv and works great.

I'm gonna throw this out there just because I've heard it enough and it's theoretically a concern. Connecting surge protectors to surge protectors is potentially bad. In the event of a "surge" it'll seek out the path of least resistance. If you have protector A running into B it'll likely leave A, find B less hospitable and then go through one of the systems attached to B for an exit. Now, number of times I've actually had someone with a dead system due to this happening, zero. But it's theoretically possible.

[Ozzy_98]

I'm gonna throw this out there just because I've heard it enough and it's theoretically a concern. Connecting surge protectors to surge protectors is potentially bad. In the event of a "surge" it'll seek out the path of least resistance. If you have protector A running into B it'll likely leave A, find B less hospitable and then go through one of the systems attached to B for an exit. Now, number of times I've actually had someone with a dead system due to this happening, zero. But it's theoretically possible.

There's only one path, the surge protectors are inline. If you have A -> B -> System it has to go through them both to get to the system. Course many\most surge protectors do not work without a ground plug, so may want to make sure the outlet you use doesn;t have an open ground.