Help! My rack is infested with wall warts and inline lumps!

[Barryjam]

I searched this forum, and previous discussions focused on dealing with wall warts and inline lumps in individual keyboards. But some of us are also heavily into IEM systems and wireless mics, all of which leads to a bunch of wall warts and inline lumps in a rack. These lumps seem to have 12-15 volt and various amp requirements. These power sources are never unplugged, and remain transported in the rack. The rack has a nice rack mounted power distribution with several outlets at the top.

 

Guitar pedalboards feature one power supply for several stomp boxes, and I wonder if I could do something similar in the rack. Or do I just have to live with this disease?

 

Anyone tried one of these or similar?

T-Rex Fuel Tank Chameleon Power Supply

 

More generally, are there clever ideas for dressing or dealing with multiples of these critters in a rack? Velcro, some kind of rack container shelf? I'm already looking at split AC cords to connect to several identical lumps.

 

I will probably post this to some sound system forums, but I know there are people like me on KC that must deal with this.

 

 

 

 

 

[Throbert]

Trex only supplies 300mA per port, while a lot of rack modules probably require 800 to 1500mA. might have to consider rolling your own and use circuit protection per module.

[The Real MC]

Years ago, Juice Goose made a rack mount solution called the 12 Paq. The low voltage outputs were on RJ45 jacks and you bought cables for different voltages and polarities. This was great for eliminating wall warts in racks. Can't believe no one makes something similar for racks today.

 

I need a solution for racking my Moogerfooger pedals, and in lieu of the 12 Paq I am rolling my own.

[aluk]

I use one of these in the rack, and use my own replacement wall warts (one for each voltage) which have IEC connectors. I velcro all the wall warts to the bottom of the gator 4U wheeled rack. This is fine as it is only me moving that rack.

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Transcension-PC-Effects-Switch-Panel/dp/B0078MZBWU

 

Has the benefit of being able to stagger each power on, and reduce the risk of popping a breaker with the surge current.

 

 

I also use 3 of these in my rack which gives me 3 UPSes. They are adjustable voltage. I use them to provide voltage at 19V for the mini ITX PC, 15V for the mixer and 12V for the USB hub, and stage piano.

 

http://www.mini-box.com/OpenUPS2?sc=8&category=981

 

Very glad I've got them and they take up very little space or weight. I'd need another rack and 20kg to do it using a traditional mains UPS.

[eric]

I'll try to get a picture inside my rack to show you how I am managing all of this.

 

I have a shelf in my rack similar to this one. I use this for a few things - I have my Ventilator and Radial stereo DI mounted to it and I also have taken all of my wall warts and neatly wrapped the extra cable and mounted these to the shelf as well. I use zip ties for all of this and have everything very neat and tidy. Inside my rack, I have a rack mount power strip and all of these various plugs go there.

 

This is a semi-permanent thing that I would not recommend if you need to take things in and out of the rack on any kind of recurrent basis. It works great!

[Doerfler]

Anyone tried one of these or similar?

T-Rex Fuel Tank Chameleon Power Supply

 

hey Barry, this is similar and on sale today

 

https://www.musiciansfriend.com/accessories/decibel-eleven-hot-stone-deluxe-isolated-dc-power-supply/j04904000000000

 

 

[JB Sherry]

The sale item is limited to a max of 400 mA. The other problem with the standard guitar pedal power substitutes is that some Lumps and Warts are supplying AC power. I just googled and found a reference to a rack product that was going to supply both DC and AC. It doesn't look like it ever went to market.

[Moonglow]

I don't have well-developed skills in this area, so I had things professionally done. Below are a couple of pictures of my rack from several years ago, as evidenced by the gear. Hope they provide some inspiration.

 

http://oi65.tinypic.com/2lnah36.jpg

 

http://oi65.tinypic.com/erblt1.jpg

 

[MathOfInsects]

[Barryjam]

I'll try to get a picture inside my rack to show you how I am managing all of this.

 

I have a shelf in my rack similar to this one. I use this for a few things - I have my Ventilator and Radial stereo DI mounted to it and I also have taken all of my wall warts and neatly wrapped the extra cable and mounted these to the shelf as well. I use zip ties for all of this and have everything very neat and tidy. Inside my rack, I have a rack mount power strip and all of these various plugs go there.

 

This is a semi-permanent thing that I would not recommend if you need to take things in and out of the rack on any kind of recurrent basis. It works great!

 

Thanks, Eric. That exact model may work for me. It looks like storing all the line warts is gonna be the only solution, cuz I can't get rid of them.

[Barryjam]

Nice rack, Moonglow. These photos are always inspiring.

 

MOI's photo was also inspiring.

[Barryjam]

I use one of these in the rack, and use my own replacement wall warts (one for each voltage) which have IEC connectors. I velcro all the wall warts to the bottom of the gator 4U wheeled rack. This is fine as it is only me moving that rack.

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Transcension-PC-Effects-Switch-Panel/dp/B0078MZBWU

 

Has the benefit of being able to stagger each power on, and reduce the risk of popping a breaker with the surge current.

 

 

I also use 3 of these in my rack which gives me 3 UPSes. They are adjustable voltage. I use them to provide voltage at 19V for the mini ITX PC, 15V for the mixer and 12V for the USB hub, and stage piano.

 

http://www.mini-box.com/OpenUPS2?sc=8&category=981

 

Very glad I've got them and they take up very little space or weight. I'd need another rack and 20kg to do it using a traditional mains UPS.

 

The Trancesion product won't ship to USA. But I'll look at it some more. I'm not a Roll Your Own guy, especially around electricity or electronics. Appreciate your effort.

[Barryjam]

Years ago, Juice Goose made a rack mount solution called the 12 Paq. The low voltage outputs were on RJ45 jacks and you bought cables for different voltages and polarities. This was great for eliminating wall warts in racks. Can't believe no one makes something similar for racks today.

 

 

Too little market demand, I guess.

[nursers]

Any updated perspectives on this issue? I finally took delivery of my Radial KL-8 and have started looking at best way to mount power supplies etc within a 4U case. Was just going to get a rack shelf and use velcro stips to mount?

[NosPup]

Middle Atlantic makes some units with multiple voltage outputs. Might be worth a look.

 

https://www.middleatlantic.com/products/power/dc-power-distribution/dc-power-distribution.aspx

 

Looking at the specs, the PD-DC-125R model does 5, 12, 18, and 24 volt outputs in a single chassis.

[Throbert]

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[EscapeRocks]

In my current rack, I only have two items with line bumps: My Shure Wireless Mic Receiver, and Shure Wireless Ear transmitter.

 

I use this heavy duty 3M double sided adhesive to attach the power things to the inside sides of the rack case. They do NOT move or come loose.

 

 

The wires themselves are coiled up just as they are when they come out of the box.

[eric]

Any updated perspectives on this issue? I finally took delivery of my Radial KL-8 and have started looking at best way to mount power supplies etc within a 4U case. Was just going to get a rack shelf and use velcro stips to mount?

 

Based on personal experience, Velcro is great for holding keyboards in place on a stand, but not so great for holding things inside of racks as time and the elements will ultimately weaken the Velcro glue (even the industrial type). I highly recommend using zip ties and I'll upload a few pictures later to demonstrate. I get 18" and 24" zip ties that are excellent for mounting most any size gear onto a vented rack shelf, which has places to run the ties through and hold gear in place. Plus, zip ties are easier to enable future changes and cleaner to work with than Velcro. I will still strategically place some Velcro inside a rack, but am using zip ties almost exclusively.

[nursers]

Thanks Eric and all, some great tips

[eric]

I will have to look to find some of the wall wart pictures, but here's a fairly recent picture from my latest rack project where I slimmed things down into a 3 space rack which has my wireless IEM, Vent, and Key Largo. This picture shows how the zip ties work to hold gear on the shelf. I snip the ends off of the remnants from the zip ties.

 

[nursers]

Brilliant!

[elif]

I use 3M Dual Lock to secure things to a tray. They can be removed, though it can be an effort. Dual Lock doesn't loose strength with repeated attachment cycles, unlike Velcro (supposedly). Kind of pricey though.

 

 

 

 

[Throbert]

I've been either using available threaded screw holes or putting pems in the

device then drill and counter the shelf for flat heads so I can keep shelves

mounted with out adding room for screw heads

[Synthaholic]

I leave them out of my rack. I dont want the clutter and extra weight. I keep them all plugged into a power strip in a backpack on the floor under my rack stand. It just takes a few seconds to plug the bizniz ends into the rack gear. Only drawback is after 100s of times you get this:

 

http://a64.tinypic.com/11qu2wg.jpg

 

For upscale gigs I throw a black satin sheet over the rack stand before putting my rack on it. It hides everything.

[David R]

Hey Eric, how are you dealing with the power supply for the Key Largo? I see the telltale red cable in the upper right corner of the photo. I hate the chunky power supply but I'm not sure what to do.

 

(I also REALLY hate that it's not auto-switching power and that I'm going to have to buy a second power adapter for European tours.)

[Ken Beaumont]

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/OjaiR30--strymon-ojai-r30-5-output-high-current-low-profile-guitar-pedal-power-supply

 

Strymon makes several units at different price points. This one provides 18V, 12V and 9V. What I hate are the oddball alternate current ones, like 15VAC!

[eric]

Hey Eric, how are you dealing with the power supply for the Key Largo? I see the telltale red cable in the upper right corner of the photo. I hate the chunky power supply but I'm not sure what to do.

 

(I also REALLY hate that it's not auto-switching power and that I'm going to have to buy a second power adapter for European tours.)

 

I did not get that into the picture, but I have it plugged into this handy small rack mounted power supply like this which I put on the rear rails of my tiny rack:

 

https://www.tripplite.com/1u-rack-mount-power-strip-120v-15a-5-15p-12-outlets-right-angled-widely-spaced-15-ft-cord~RS1215RA

 

and then zip tie the extra cable into the shelf. I am not a fan of the large wall wart. I was using an awesome Ashly rack mixer with real IEC power, when I had more inputs needed, but the Key Largo is perfect for my slimmed down rig (stereo NS2/NS3 plus stereo Vent and an extra aux channel for Nord if needed. I do love the new KL-8, but it's more than I need in this reduced rig.