Wiring nightmare

[Chuck Kirkpatri]

Over a period of seven years, I have continually added gear to my project studio; midi boxes, computer peripherals, mic lines, etc. The wiring has become a tangled mixture of audio, A/C lines, wall-warts and their feeds, etc. A particular problem is the midi modules which are stacked about 7 high over my keyboard with all their A/C lines running tie-wrapped down the sides of the rack to a power strip. I'm wondering if I could perhaps "tree" these A/C lines as they come out of each unit into one single A/C line that goes to the power strip instead of having a huge bunch of single lines - just cut & splice them to one continuous line. I never move the gear or take it out anywhere.

[cuzinit]

Chuck!

In a situation like yours, it would be great to be able to splice all of your power cables into one to get rid of the hasssle. Unfortunately, in the industry, hobby, profession that we choose that is music and music technology, loads of cables are a necessary evil. I would never recommend trying to splice all of your cables together as different pieces of your gear may require slightly different power supplys.

Have you looked into the thought of possibly a rack mounted power supply? This would keep all of those pesky cables contained within the rack and at the same time, give you both one cable to plug into the wall as well as one power switch for all of the gear plugged into it.

Just a thought. Hope that this all helps out.
cuzinit

[Nika]

How exactly would you do this? Would you tin all of the ends and get a 3" wire nut to put them all together? You're violating serious electrical codes by doing this. I'd highly recommend a power strip (http://www.sweetwater.com/store/results.tpl?action=full&--eqskudatarq=PD8Leta&Criteria=Results) and possibly cutting the cables down shorter or purchasing some of these (http://www.sweetwater.com/store/results.tpl?action=full&--eqskudatarq=PWC143&Criteria=Results) to help organize things.

Thanx!
Nika.