Seperate mains circuit?

P

paiger

Guest
Maybe this should go in the DIY section but it is directly amp related.

I'm in the early stages of converting a barn into our new home. I am doing a lot of planning and at the moment I am working on wiring plans (mains, RF, Cat5, phone etc.).

The area where my AV gear will go is at the end of a longish room and I plan to have 2 double 13amp sockets behind the rack as I have a few things to plug in.

I have heard of people putting in seperate cicuits for AV stuff and wondered if this is a good idea as it would be very cheap and easy at this stage. Is this a good idea and should I put all the AV gear on one circuit or should I have one double 13a for the TV, VCR, Sky etc thats on the ring main and a seperate fused circuit that only powers the processor and power amp?

Any thoughts?
 
Hi, I was in the same position as you (although I'm not converting a barn sounds nice). Anyway I am NOT an electrician but I have a friend who is, so I actually insistde on having a seperate ring main for my tv and hi-fi so i won;t et any intereference from things like the fridge, dishwahser etc , and to make things neater and easier I'm having 6 plug sockets fitted into the skirting so each component can be plugged into the wall rather than having an extension plug which supposedly can degrade the sound. I couldn't tell you what it sounds like yet as I'm a long way off of moving in, my av equipment isn't going anywhere near my house until there isn't a spot of plaster dust left and that seems like it's never going to happen at the moment!

Don't suppose that was much help but I could probably get technical details if I can get in touch with my friend, it's all too complicated for a girl like me, I stick to making the tea :)
 
Paiger.

For what it is worth i am now an elecrical engineer (a couple of stops up from the station called electrician!)
Wiring a dedicated ring main or a nice big radial is indeed a good thing. If you choose to wire a ring main try wiring in 4.0mm or even 6.0mm t+e (6242y) cable with an addtional 6.0 cpc (earth conductor). If you wire a radial go for a huge 10.0m t+e with addition 4.0mm cpc, try to use unswitched sockets and ensure that your equipotential bonding conductors are of a minimum 10.0mm and see if you can get your electrician to install a 25.0mm (16.0mm is the minimum requirement in most domestic supply situations) earthing conductor.
Do not use rewirble fuses and ensure that anything with a switched mode power supply (that is not directly related/connected to your A.V kit) is connected to another circuit (i.e PC's etc), also ensure Fax machines/Fridges/Dehumidifiers etc are connected elsewhere.(if you must use switched mode power supplies on your A.V circuit and they are of a low power consumption then use isolation transformers)
If you have Sky or an ariel distribution unit supplied from elsewhere but to be connected to your kit then use isolating transformers to avoid earth loop hums.
Avoid extention leads where possible.
So the three rules of thumb are:

Big conductors are good - large cross sectional ares

Big Big Big earthing conductors are good - large cross sectional areas - help dissipate leakage currents (hum)

Consider carefully muti-room applications/connections (RF ariel's are the obvious example here) to avoid the devil itself - HUM!

regards

Steven
 
Separate circuit recommended, I hav juust put one in my barn!
 
Lots of this indeed in the DIY forum. Plenty linking into the mains lead saga.:D

Feel free to take a look around.

:smashin:
 

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