Anyone have ideas for dealing with tons of wall warts in security cabinet

I have:
- Elk power supply
- SIP device power supply
- Elk XEP power supply
- Android device Power supply
- Amp power supply
- Mixer power supply

Two of them are on a strip in the cabinet, which is chained to another strip with 3 more on it.

I think the ELK is 12v AC. But the XEP, mixer, and amp are 12v DC. And the other two are 5v DC. Can I hook the 12v DC stuff direct to the Elk's battery? Or will it not charge it fast enough? I don't know what the power draw is on those devices. The amplifier has a 2A power supply, but it's not drawing that much, at least when it's idle.

Any ideas how to get these in a smaller space or eliminate some of them?

Here's the cabinet with the power.

A couple options; one is to use a large enough power supply and use something like Elk's PD9 to distribute that 12V across multiple devices (although for the XEP I'd run that off the Elk's power supply as often recommended by Elk). It's PTC protected per jack, so only one power supply would be needed for all 12V items. For the 5V, I'd be half tempted to plug a single 2-port USB charger into an outlet with two USB to 5V adapters coming off for those items; then the Elk of course needs its own - I think it's 16VAC?

Another option I've looked at quite a bit is one of these - they're a bit expensive but fit the application quite nicely. With 2 outlets, there's one for the Elk, one for the USB, and the 12V is built in.

I also use the 1-ft extension cords / splitters fairly often to avoid wasting an entire power strip on 3 wall warts.

I have my panel, router, modem, RUC and a switch in my leviton cabinet. I used the leviton power center that has the built in 12VDC transformer, so I just have pigtails going to the equipment. The RUC is a 5VDC device, so I run the 12VDC through a converter board.

Curious... is the main Elk PS supposed to be in the same enclosure as the panel? The reason I ask, is this was the one thing that my home inspector asked not be done during my inspection. Of which, he told me that there was no requirement that I have an inspection done on the alarm, since I (the home owner) installed the alarm, and any issues would fall under my responsibility (not the builder or contractor). Fortunately, I had already planned it this way, so I didn't have to make any changes.

I actually choose to install one of these in my security can (http://www.leviton.com/OA_HTML/ProductDetail.jsp?partnumber=47605-PSC&section=39625&minisite=10251) which I used to power my XEP; currently it is my only other LV board that isn't on the databus. Other than that, I just have the Leviton Zwave VRCOP, which must be plugged into 120VAC.

drvnbysound said:

I actually choose to install one of these in my security can (http://www.leviton.com/OA_HTML/ProductDetail.jsp?partnumber=47605-PSC&section=39625&minisite=10251) which I used to power my XEP; currently it is my only other LV board that isn't on the databus.

Click to expand...

That's the power module I use.

Old PC power supply.
Lot's capacity/wattage, lot's of leads, 12v, 5v, standard connectors, cheap, comes in many different shapes & sizes.
Tim

I just used a long power strip mounted to the wall and plugged all the wall warts into it. Look at my blog for some pics.

I also plugged this power strip into a UPS as I already had one in the wiring closet for the SageTV server. This gives a lot of backup power capability to the security system (and my Ocelot).

Work2Play has the right idea with the ELK PD-9. I ALWAYS include a PD-9 with my installations. Sometimes multiple PD-9s. It helps in making for a neat installation of the 12vdc powered devices.
Plus with its PTC it is cheap insurance. I connect glass break detectors, motion detectors, any external device that needs 12vdc to the PD-9. Then if any installer takes his wire cutters to cut the cable, the PTC opens the circuit and prevents the power supply from shorting out.

jaybird47 said:

Work2Play has the right idea with the ELK PD-9. I ALWAYS include a PD-9 with my installations. Sometimes multiple PD-9s. It helps in making for a neat installation of the 12vdc powered devices.
Plus with its PTC it is cheap insurance. I connect glass break detectors, motion detectors, any external device that needs 12vdc to the PD-9. Then if any installer takes his wire cutters to cut the cable, the PTC opens the circuit and prevents the power supply from shorting out.

Click to expand...

That is good advice, except in the case that would require applications that did not power off of 12 volt DC (of which I have a lot of). You would have to include some voltage regulators in the process, which is not that difficult to do, but may be more hassle than it's worth (in lieu of just keeping the wall wart).

I do agree that the PD-9 offers good circuit protection as you mentioned.

I usually like having 120VAC installed in the bottom of an Elk can, then use a large enough 12VDC power supply to power the peripherals. I've also been known to buy the power strips that are on the structured pin mounts already, they're relatively cheap. Worst case, putting up a few quad outlets, plugmold or similar.

A PD9 is a good idea if you do want to distribute power from a larger supply to multiple peripherals, however a PTC tends to have a wider range of overload conditions where it may still function without opening the circuit, so it may not completely protect the connected equipment downstream if voltage spikes happen. It's not unheard of for a PTC to function still within it's trip rating where a fuse would've opened up the circuit, we've lost a bunch of cameras on a site where PTC's were spec'd where fuses should've been installed. You need to know what you're connecting the distributed power to in order to really know if a PTC is acceptable or a fused distribution should be used.

That Elk PD9 is only rated for 250ma per circuit. It's fine for most of the gear, but I think it will trip with the audio amplifier. The audio amp has a 2A power supply. I think I have a 5A supply laying around. I could use that and make a little distribution block and then snip the wires off the wall warts and connect them to that.

That Leviton thing is pretty cool, but it's spendy, and does 2A max.

The PD-9 isn't a 'save all' unit. It is meant for only small current draw devices. You can parallel two outputs together to give double the current rating, but I agree, if your amperage is above one or two amps, I would use a separate fuse on that supply.

You can get a PD9-HC which gives you 400 mA from each output.

DELInstallations said:

I usually like having 120VAC installed in the bottom of an Elk can, then use a large enough 12VDC power supply to power the peripherals. I've also been known to buy the power strips that are on the structured pin mounts already, they're relatively cheap. Worst case, putting up a few quad outlets, plugmold or similar.

A PD9 is a good idea if you do want to distribute power from a larger supply to multiple peripherals, however a PTC tends to have a wider range of overload conditions where it may still function without opening the circuit, so it may not completely protect the connected equipment downstream if voltage spikes happen. It's not unheard of for a PTC to function still within it's trip rating where a fuse would've opened up the circuit, we've lost a bunch of cameras on a site where PTC's were spec'd where fuses should've been installed. You need to know what you're connecting the distributed power to in order to really know if a PTC is acceptable or a fused distribution should be used.

Click to expand...

Do you know of any of these power strips specifically (e.g. Make/Model)? I have a basic one that is velcro'd into my lower SMC now and would probably prefer something that actually clips into place.