Problems problems

[andrewducker]

I picked up some wireless headphones, so that I can play Guitar Hero loudly without annoying sleeping/working people.

The problem being that when I went to plug them in I discovered that already plugged into the sockets by the TV are:

TV
RAID server
Wii
XBox
DVD Player
Cable TV Box
Cable Network box
Wireless router
Amplifier
Subwoofer

and thus I am completely unable to plug anything new in without buying another power block.

Edit: Found another power block at the other end of the room - switched it over - and now have spare slots to plug things into.  Mwahahaha - the power!

Comments

[andrewducker]

Oh - everything other than the NAS and the cable boxes are off at night, in case you're worried about the place burning to the ground. I also have a smoke alarm and a fire blanket.

[sigmonster.livejournal.com]

The fire blanket will do hardly anything for an electrical fire (although it will slow down the progression to an uncontained open fire, at least a little bit), since the heat source isn't dependent on an oxygen supply. But you knew that.

[meaningrequired.livejournal.com]

Well. He could roll himself in the fire blanket and leap out the window...

[sigmonster.livejournal.com]

But he can do that anytime - why wait for a fire?

[andrewducker]

Fires attract people - I want the maximum exposure for my superman impression.

[andrewducker]

Yeah, it was more a "throw it on the fire to stop any actual flames" and then either see if this makes it possible to unplug things, or use the opportunity to leave.

[sigmonster.livejournal.com]

Circuit breakers are your friends - if they haven't already tripped, hit them on your way out. I wouldn't go near the plug while the circuit was live.

(On the other hand I am not the best source of advice on these things. In the past, I've gone away for the weekend leaving a pan over an open flame. There was nothing near the stove to ignite, because I'm not *quite* that stupid, so it just got red-hot and stank the kitchen out. And the bottom of the pan explosively delaminated when I stuck it under the cold tap, which was kind of fun.)

[andrewducker]

Sadly they're about 8 feet up, so I'll need the ladder to do that...

I've burnt through the bottom of a pan before - didn't impress my flatmates much.

Explosive Delamination should really be the name of an album.

[vereybowring.livejournal.com]

If small electrical fires are a possible worry you can buy small CO2 extinguishers at reasonable prices these days, just be careful when using as you don't want to knock yourself out.
Fire blankets are only really useful for fires within a container (pans, bins etc.) and for burning people.
Also and RCD on the socket would likely cut power if an electrical device went awry.

[andrewducker]

Both of the blocks that are plugged in there are "safe" ones that will cut off if there's a short, so I'm hopefully safe there.

[vereybowring.livejournal.com]

Not good enough really, even surge protection plugs don't help as much as people think, RCD is the only safe option.
They come in two varieties, ones that you plug into existing sockets or as replacements for the actual sockets.
http://www.greenbrook.co.uk/pb.htm

You learn quite a bit being a health and safety officer even in a hotel - when I was there we spent a fair bit installing RCD's all round the hotel to all the equipment that was designed to be high usage.

[andrewducker]

Cheers - I'll look into it!

[vereybowring.livejournal.com]

You can probably get them from B&Q or Homebase, even Argos perhaps but they are much more useful than normal surge protectors as they are far more sensitive and can be tripped loads of time without having to buy new since they have reset buttons.

[matgb]

Um, dude? If the idea is to use the headphones to do it quietly, then why do you need the subwoofer plugged in? Surely the ability to unplug an item isn't unknown?

[andrewducker]

Faff!

Bad enough that I have to plug the headphones in, going down behind the back of the TV cabinet to unplug the subwoofer and plug in the headphones is a pain.

Oh, and also it would mean I couldn't plug in the headphones to recharge while listening to music through the amp.

[vereybowring.livejournal.com]

Maybe you should get an electrician in to give you loads of power points - preferably about 2-3 ft from the floor so you don't need to fumble around.
Either that or stop being lazy and whiny of course :)

[andrewducker]

The whole point of technology is to allow laziness!

The whole point of livejournal is to allow whininess!

And I have a solution - as I said in the post! It all works!

[vereybowring.livejournal.com]

If you keep this up you'll need your own generator too in case of power outage.

[dreema.livejournal.com]

hear hear!

:)