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Power Strip Decisions

TanksNStuff

TanksNStuff

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
I'm getting very close to finishing my furniture for my upgrade and now I'm trying to plan out all my electrical / controller setup in the tall side cabinet I'm making. You can find details of the furniture in my Upgrade Thread, but basically, I'm planning to mount all of my controller equipment and attachments onto a piece of plywood that is 23" wide by 39" tall. I think I will take up most if not all of it with all of my Reef Angel (RA) and Vortech stuff.

Anyway, with my current tank setup, I'm using a multi-outlet splitter plugged into the wall outlet behind my tank, along with a DJ power strip that is mounted inside my stand. The things that need to be "always on" are mostly on the wall outlet, and some things that I would like to be able to toggle on/off without having to unplug are on the DJ strip. I also use the DJ strip to plug in a pump when I do water changes as the button makes that easier to do. I have enough physical outlets on either to handle all the plugs I have, except for one thing...

The main issue I have is that some of the RA attachments as well as other equipment have these 3" long plugs that plug into an outlet sideways... and unless I can get them on an end they cover up other usable outlets. I have at least 3 or 4 of these types, so one long strip will not work unless it has plenty of space between each outlet to fit the long plugs. These are all things that need to have constant power and don't get hooked up to my RA's controllable outlets.

I do not want to use the combination of the 2 strips I'm using now. I want one nice/clean unit to handle all my stuff. It's a big cabinet, but I don't want to junk it up if I don't have to. It probably wouldn't hurt if this was a good surge protector built in too.

My RA controller has (2) 8-outlet controllable relay boxes to handle most of my tank equipments plugs but, counting the relay boxes and some of the other items that need constant power... I need at least 6 outlets and probably 2 more spares for temporary use (WC pump, etc.) So, I'm trying to find a good power strip that either has 3" spacing between outlets, or has multiple rows or something so that I can have 3 or 4 of them sideways without covering up some outlets. I would also prefer the strip to have a switch for at least 2 or more of the outlets so that I can do my tank maintenance.

I searched Amazon and found a zillion different kinds. Hoping someone could suggest something they've had experience with or heard good things about?

I did find a ZeroSurge model 8R15W-AQ (specsheet - it's made for Aquarium and wet environments ) and although it's a bit expensive, it looks like it would be ideal... if only the outlets had individual switches. :( It has one master switch that turns on/off 6 of the 8 outlets. If it switched the 2 on the side instead of the 6 main outlets, it might meet my needs.
 
malulu

malulu

NJRC Member
how about something like this?


http://www.monoprice.com/Product?seq=1&format=2&p_id=5296&CAWELAID=1329450795&CAGPSPN=pla&gclid=CPqw1Iqsw78CFe4F7AodPQcAgw
52961.jpg
 
TanksNStuff

TanksNStuff

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Thanks for all the ideas guys. Still not sure which one to choose but at least now I have plenty of options.
 
TanksNStuff

TanksNStuff

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
OK, time to throw a monkey wrench into this picture...

I forgot that I was recently given a Raritan PCS20 Remote Power Control Unit, which I think would be ideal for my situation. It has 20 outlets that can be remotely controlled via a computer over the internet!

Only 2 problems though:

1. I think it needs a hard wire connection to my router, and it would take a bit of work to get a wire installed for it.

2. The power plug on the end of it is a 115VAC, 50/60 Hz, 20A 3-prong plug that would go into an outlet like this. For $13, I would be willing to buy one of those and change the outlet near the tank, but I don't know much about electric and doubt it would be a simple replacement. I would think it might need different gauge wiring and definitely need a new breaker since this is 20A and most normal outlets are 15A.

Anyone care to comment on how hard/easy it would be to install one of these outlets near my tank? If push came to shove, I could run an Ethernet cable under the carpet to manage the strip.

The other caveat is that I don't even know if this thing still works or is broken. My friend that gave it to me found it at a yard sale or something so I'd hate to do all this conversion work only to find out it's a dud. Does anyone that lives near me (Blackwood) have one of these 3-prong outlets that I could test it on?
 
redfishbluefish

redfishbluefish

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
George, if you have access to your electrical panel (like an unfinished basement) and easy access either above or below the fish room, putting in another box isn't that difficult. Now if the panel is in a finished area and access to the fish room is surrounded by finished rooms, then it's a PITA.


NEC requires 12 gauge wire for 20A breakers. The "standard" outlet is 15 A / 14 gauge wire....but I'd still check to see if the builder install some 20's around the house. You must know what breaker your fish tank is on....check it out.
 
TanksNStuff

TanksNStuff

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Thanks for the information Paul. That helps a lot.

It is in a finished room, surrounded by finished rooms/walls, and is on a concrete slab floor... so unless the wiring is setup for 20A and/or the conduit is large enough to pull new wires through... I doubt this will happen.

I'll check out my breaker box (which is in the garage) tonight and see what I got. I've been wanting to convert it to a GFI anyway, so maybe at the least I can do that.
 
Mark...

Mark...

Most kitchens and even dining rooms are wired for 20A, if you have the ability to access those circuits you would be ok.
 
NJ Lunatic

NJ Lunatic

Pay attention to which one you buy. I know they do have lots of different models, I deal with these a lot when I design IT rooms. The plug you linked I do not think is the correct one, the locking receptacles are for the higher voltages in most cases which would be 230V with these PDU's. It is more likely a 5-20P which you will need a 5-20R Receptacle. They are similar to your normal 5-15 receptacles only difference is in the little notch as in the above that downbeach posted, but you can still plug in normal 15amp devices into the receptacle.

If you know the exact model number you are looking at I can tell you what you would require.
 
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