Fitting a remote switch to a plug for entertainment cupboard Ask questions and find answers to many subjects relating to electrics and electrical work

[\craig/]

Hi,
During the upgrade of my house I have created a cupboard that all of me electrics are in that feed my TV’s, Entertainment systems, Sonos etc. I have now come around to organising that little room and would like several shelves in there with the various systems on each shelf plugged in at their own plug which will be fitted at that particular shelf level. However as I like to turn everything off when I am in bed/out so to save me having to keep ladder near by :s I would like to fit a switch for each shelf located next to the door so I can switch each shelf’s power off/on as I please.
My question is, can I fit a remote switch to a ''Cell'' (each shelf) of plugs that is in the ring main or does it have to be a fused spur, and if so how do I do it?

I already run my living room TV from a fused spur, but because each shelf will have more than one output I did not want to do this for the shelves.

I hope this makes sense and any help would be great.

Cheers
Craig.

[ericmark]

A ring as the name implies has to be a ring so to switch off items on the ring will require some form of spur.

The confusion is with the name spur. Historical we called a fused spur a radial and spur only referred to when not fused so we had a rule that only one socket on a spur. But this only refers to where there is no fuse and once one adds a fuse to the spur you can have as many sockets as you want.

OK there are limits the limits are all about the loop impedance be it earth loop impedance or volt drop it amounts to the same but this is unlikely to affect you. All new sockets must be RCD protected so ELI does not really matter unlikely it will ever get high enough as to not comply. As to volt drop again most IT equipment is fed from switch mode power supplies and although technically may not comply it is unlikely to cause a problem.

The most likely problem is heat you may need a fan to keep it cool.

[\craig/]

Thanks ericmark,

That has cleared that up for me, yes I have considered the fact I may need a fan as I add to the room but that will be something I will retro fit if it is required.

Thanks again.