How to wire up a Home Music Studio safely ?

Jay Hatchell

Hi everyone !

I have a few questions id like to ask about safely setting up a home studio.

I have a shed that is converted into a acoustically treated room which is attached to the back of my house, i have been using this room for over 20 years now (without any major problems) to produce and dj in. Im no electrician but learning ( i work in pc/audio repair) I have little understanding in how a CU is installed in a house and radial/ring circuits but if someone could explain to me my following question it should all make sense to me then lol

This set up is crazy when i think about it but if i think back 15 year ago it was worse, i have a lot of equipment out here e.g Synths, Drum Machines, Desktops laptops 43" 32" 2x 22" screens Technics turntables and effects units the list goes on and on. 15 year ago i had one double socket in here so i made a board with 4 4x socket extension leads screwed on and loop from one to the other( i know crazy) but it worked and very rarely would i trip the switch at the CU. I had no clue then but over the years it started to make sense to me that the power coming out here was taking from a socket in the porch, now 20 years later i finally have an idea how this works so heres what i have done since

The right side of the house and my Studio is been fed from one 20amp trip switch (hager mv120 B20) this consists of my mothers room my brothers room and the sitting room

So in my studio i have 26 double sockets with switches and a switched fused spur for lighting and 2 single sockets, its split into 2 sides from the main power cable coming in, there was a 13amp switch there which i recently changed to a 16 amp RCBO which i had got from an electrician a while back, now what i want to do is have more switches on my circuit so i can isolate the power in here a bit better so i don't have to power up all them sockets at the one time even tho they have switches i have my DJ set up one side and my studio the other then my TV PS4 SKY ect

So after rambling on there explaining everything i could think of lol if i wanted to isolate them sockets what would the best way to go about it ?

For the dj side ive 4 double sockets running side by side then coming of that ive another 3 side by side

For the studio i have 4 side by side then of that i have another 6 ( 3 side by side top and bottom) then of that again i have another 6 ( 4 side by side and 2 side by side)

I have 2 spare 20 amp trip switches b20 and one c20 trip switch and also have a 13amp switch Can i use the trip switches with are 20amps even tho the main switch in here is 16amps to isolate the power or should i use the 13 amp switches and maybe buy a few of them and put them on every 3 to 4 sockets or would that make any difference

Any help here would be grateful and i probably know that this doesn't comply with regs and getting a line from the CU straight out here is going to be difficult also so i will have to do with what i have and like i said i never have any major probs only trip the switch if i forget to turn off a few things the night before when powering up in the morning

Thanks for any help

Jay

Jay Hatchell

Can anyone help me out or put me in the right direction. I want to learn how this works, ive built my studio from the ground up done all the work myself interior&exterior and this is the last thing i need sorting. It would be suck a shame having to get someone else in to finish it for me as this studio build was a big project for me.

I wanted to prove to myself that i could DIY the whole job which i have done right down to building my desktop pc and modifying all my equipment to suit my setup/needs.

Ive just figured out some common sense here about what i want to do, if i put a breaker half way down one side of my studio i will obviously loose power down the rest of that cable in a radial circuit . If i had a ring circuit would this solve that ?

Also should i have a a 13amp fused outlet every so many sockets ?

Is there a certain distance that should be between each socket ?

Where the 16amp RCBO is i have two wires coming from that what if i put a 13amp switch on each of them or can i use the 20 amp trip switches here ?

Any help would be grateful

2011

With respect you are out of your depth here. You are dealing with a potentially lethal voltage and
some of your questions demonstrate a complete lack of understanding.
Please get a professional in before someone gets hurt or worse.