oops, wired my new TV wrong

[mikeyr]

Our old TV went out and we got a new one along with home theater, since the new TV hangs on the wall and I wanted no visible wires hanging down, I had a electrician put a plug about 4ft. off the floor. All is cool until last night when I went to plug in a UPS I bought special for all this new electronic stuff...oops, how do I power the TV off the UPS I can smile about it, I feel stupid.

We have lots or power fluctuations here so I bought a UPS to use more as a brownout protector and of course surge protector than watching TV when power is off. I had the electrician run a dedicated circuit from the main panel for this, there is a 2 gang plug about a foot off the floor and then a single gang about 4ft off the floor. My non-thinking stupid plan was to plug in the UPS on the floor plug for the amp and DVD and of course TV but that means running a wire down to the floor for the TV and not plugging the TV into the nice hidden plug behind it, oops.

Do I have any options here ? Since the double gang floor box is the one that gets its power, I was thinking I could remove the jumper wires that feed it and than make a male-male short cord to plug into the UPS and into the wall, that would feed clean power to the upper plug, it would also most likely be illegal as hell and likely be unsafe also.

I think its down to return the UPS and live life in risky mode.

Yeah a picture would help since I am sure I am not using the right terminology but I am at work

 

[Stuey]

I can visualize your situation and can understand your frustration. If in your position, I would just plug the TV into the UPS and get over the way it looks. You can always buy a runner or cable organizer to hide the cables in a semi-subtle manner.

 

[Prototyper]

Cut a hole in the wall behind TV, and one at floor level, behind cabinet with receiver and DVD player. Use a hole saw, and trim with snap in plastic bushing to neaten it up. Drop power cord for TV along with HDMI cable through top hole, fish it out bottom. Plug it into UPS, and you're golden!
Will it work? Yes. Does it meet code? No. Is it safe? Yes, if you exercise common sense.

Jon

 

[mrb]

there are kits for doing this properly and legally. Gives you a box at floor level with a flanged inlet, and a box behind the tv with receptacle. A piece of romex goes between the two. A short jumper cable plugs between the UPS and the flanged inlet.

 

[mikeyr]

Now that is a thought, I already ran a 1 1/2" tube in the wall before we put up the drywall, I only have one coax, one cat6 and one HDMI in that 1 1/2" tube, I should be able to fish the TV power cord through that, duh, I was so upset that I did not think fully ahead and was focused on using that plug I had installed, that I did not think of just shoving the power cord down that tube.

Its a Monday, not thinking right, maybe its because my garage is heated as of last Thursday and instead of working in the garage, I spent the weekend painting the living room and hallway and getting the TV on the wall and other things getting the house wife approved for Turkey day.

Thanks, that should work.

 

[mikeyr]

there are kits for doing this properly and legally. Gives you a box at floor level with a flanged inlet, and a box behind the tv with receptacle. A piece of romex goes between the two. A short jumper cable plugs between the UPS and the flanged inlet.

Sorry, was replying when you posted this, that would be exactly what I was looking for, the romex is already in and I just needed something to feed it power with, do these things have a name that I can search on ?

Although, I think I have enough room to feed the power cord as I mentioned in the last post, legal would be better since that usually implies safer also.

 

[Motofixxer]

Because of electrical interference I wouldn't run romex or power cords through the same conduit as the other low voltage wires. I think I would just cut some round holes up by the tv and down by the floor then use countertop grommets to run a cord through the wall vertically, like previously stated. It's not ideal but in the future the holes are easily patched and no permanent issues with code violations etc.

 

[mikeyr]

good point on the electrical interference, right now there is a 1 1/2 tube with the HDMI, coax, cat6 on one side of a stud and on the other side of the stud is the romex that was put in. I think I will just remove the wall plugs at the bottom and put on a male plug at the end of the romex and plug that into the UPS for now, that way there is no drilling of new holes and in the future I can put back the wall plugs or some other system.

I am sure it breaks a thousand rules and if drilling 2 holes and running a extension cord is safer than I will do that instead but I ASSUME that putting on a 3 prong male plug on the romex is just about as safe as running a cord. I am googling for a connector like MRB mentioned.

**** found it and problem solved **** Gonna put one of these things in

http://www.arcade-electronics.com/powerbridge.aspx

That will do exactly what I need, no new holes and power everything legal like. Thanks guys, I knew there had to be a way to fix my f...up.

 

[mrb]

good point on the electrical interference, right now there is a 1 1/2 tube with the HDMI, coax, cat6 on one side of a stud and on the other side of the stud is the romex that was put in. I think I will just remove the wall plugs at the bottom and put on a male plug at the end of the romex and plug that into the UPS for now, that way there is no drilling of new holes and in the future I can put back the wall plugs or some other system.

I am sure it breaks a thousand rules and if drilling 2 holes and running a extension cord is safer than I will do that instead but I ASSUME that putting on a 3 prong male plug on the romex is just about as safe as running a cord. I am googling for a connector like MRB mentioned.

**** found it and problem solved **** Gonna put one of these things in

http://www.arcade-electronics.com/powerbridge.aspx

That will do exactly what I need, no new holes and power everything legal like. Thanks guys, I knew there had to be a way to fix my f...up.

thats the one i was thinking of. there is another company where you can buy just the inlet and save quite a few bucks.

 

[mikeyr]

thats the one i was thinking of. there is another company where you can buy just the inlet and save quite a few bucks.

Been looking for it for a while now, still not found it. That is all I would need is the inlet, my googling skills **** today still not found just the inlet.

 

[Gary S]

You could toss the TV, get a clock and plug it into the 4 ft high plug. Then watch the clock instead of the TV. The clock probably has better programming anyway.

 

[mikeyr]

if I don't have the TV in the living room, the wife will get bored and come out in the garage to "help" me, lets keep the TV

 

[mrb]

heres one http://www.midlite.com/products.aspx?catId=772 wait a week as they just got their ETL listing and will be shipping listed versions later this week. Make sure you get a new one from whatever vendor you get it from as they will be trying to get rid of their old stock first. Email them to find where to buy. The inlet only is about $22.

 

[monstergarage87]

We use these at work all the time when we hang tvs. Have good luck with them, been using them for years. Surge protector built in and all the good stuff.

http://www.google.com/products?hl=e...all surge protector&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wf

And when you run any low voltage wires through the wall, make sure you use CL rated cables, not all hdmi and component cables are made to go in walls. Its more of a fire rating than anything. When you run the wires to, midlite makes cable management wall plates too. Use those with some single gang cut in plaster rings to feed the wires through. Better than cutting the back off a single gang electrical box.

Oh.. and with electrical interference on video.. you dont need to worry about that on short runs like this. Anything over 4' running parallel to a/c voltage, thats when interference comes into play. Just run the wires on the opposite side of the stub bay or the next one over.