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Joined: May 2015
Posts: 80
L
Member
A bit of a late update - having got to look at an Allocacoc PowerCube Extended USB while on holiday, I'm thinking the PowerCubes are the most desirable option, even though they're relatively expensive, as they do feel more solid than the cheap commodity types. Plus, they brilliantly deal with the plug-pack irritation, so overall they're the best of both worlds.

Actually obtaining them has been less easy, though; neither Bunnings nor Harvey Norman seems to have any locally. I take that this has to do with the price, as well as them not bothering with surge suppression (which, as has been noted on this forum before, has been sensationalised far too much for its technical good).

Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 2,498
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Member
Last week I went to one of our university libraries to study. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a power strip that didn't look quite right. It had a whole chunk of plastic missing (more than 5 cm long and maybe 2 cm wide, along a corner), exposing the internal wiring, although not yet the actual live and neutral terminals. That was only a matter of time though, as the entire plastic was crumbling to dust! I unplugged the strip and put it onto my desk for snapping a picture and the whole desk was covered with white snowy plastic bits! Handed it to the librarian and she said it'd be disposed of.

Joined: May 2015
Posts: 80
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Originally Posted by LongRunner
...running the numbers suggests that if 1.0mm² flex can carry 16A under optimal conditions, then 0.75mm² could even do about 13A in the same scenario...
Indeed it can. (Well, 12.5A, but close enough.)

I'm thinking a bit about perhaps even rigging up a "DIY power-board" for my PC desk; the SPB 1 is working well enough electrically, but it's a tad awkward to reach at and it's also picking up a bit of dust in the "face up" orientation. Given the right tools, it shouldn't be beyond my ability to assemble something with a group of dual switched outlets on suitable surface mounting blocks, using a bit of ordinary Australian TPS cable (this may be 1.0mm² with solid L+N and 7-strand earth, or 1.5mm² with 7 strands in all 3 cores) to join them together and with an IEC 60320 C14 inlet mounted in the side/underside of one block (so I can use whatever cord I have available to connect it to the wall outlet), and the whole thing mounted against a vertical "wall" of the desk. I even have a 10A thermal circuit breaker of the same type common in Australian power-boards (albeit this one was taken from a cheap UPS), so I ought to be able to make it pretty safe overall.

This won't be commencing too soon, but I already know pretty much what I'll need; the outlets will be Deta 6202 (normal spacing) or 6212 (wide spaced, to better accommodate oversized plug-in PSUs), the mounting blocks respectively 6065 or 6062 (both 34mm tall, which is more than sufficient to fit an IEC C14 inlet to the side of), the TPS cable is easy enough to get (and 90°C rated as standard here in Australia), and I'll cross the bridge on fasteners (and perhaps also a "backing" sheet of preferably flame-retardant plastic, or metal to be connected to earth; maybe also clamps for the visible sections of the TPS cable) when I come to it. (I would have liked to use Clipsal stuff, but it's not really an option for me until they can be convinced to change their policy of selling only to contractors - another story, though, which I won't go too deep into here.) Then the SPB 1 will also be free to go somewhere else...

Joined: May 2015
Posts: 80
L
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Having since obtained a few PowerCubes (of the revision that adds surge suppression - albeit minimal), I've taken an in-depth look inside them and posted a mini-review on the forum of Hardware Insights (a small review site focussed mainly on computer hardware, especially PSUs). If you have any comments or questions about the review, post them there.

Last edited by LongRunner; 11/20/16 04:14 AM.
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