Slightly enraged...

[dbinaz]

So I am reading up on stuff before I close on the house to figure my plan of attack for setting up the can etc. I start looking at some of my contruction pics of where the can is located and notice that there is no power going to it. I'm like wtf, I pay for upgraded panel and tons of wires and they don't run power to it? Is this not something that would be common knowledge to an installer? It's new to me, so I had no clue.
Now I have to either rip the wall apart and add one, or run an extension with a powerbar to the closest plug about 2 feet away. :angry: What a PITA.

 

[IVB]

Do you mean HighVoltage? I'm struggling to remember the specs of the Elk transformer, but I *think* it's classified as low-voltage.

This would mean that you could plug it in elsewhere and run LV wiring to the can and be ok. Not positive though, I'd research that more if I were you.

 

[dbinaz]

could be, i will check, but still not going to be "clean". Would have been nice to just have a socket mounted at the bottom.

D

 

[WayneW]

D, what is up with your signature? Why does "Home Theater Search Engine" lead to http://www.mycsesite.com/, a gambling site?

 

[dbinaz]

ya, sorry, the host headers aren't working. pita. gonna try and get it fixed.

 

[lpott6]

My setup is similiar to yours with an outlet about 2' away. Is your can flush or surface mounted?

Mine is surface mounted. I mounted a duplex outlet in the bottom of the can for the M1 and the M1EXP. Then I mounted a power strip on one of side of the can that has wall warts for the UPB PIM, 24v transformer for the irrigation relays and WG800RF receiver.

You don't want all of that inside the can, especially a mix of low and high voltage wiring.

 

[dbinaz]

mine is flush mount.
I just want it to be clean. They also should have advised me to put in some power especially since they knew what I was going to be doing.

Do you have pics of your setup?

D

 

[lpott6]

Pics is one of the things on my to-do list. I have been busy getting all the pieces in place and working together and havn't taken the time to document it. I will try to get some pics this weekend after I finish connecting my zones to the M1.

 

[Steve]

D,

There are a few options depending on what you are installing in the can. You can remote mount say the Elk wall wart wherever the outlet is and just bring the 16VAC to the can. Most installs I believe will have more than just that needing power. Some people use a separate 14" can as a 'power' can and put all power in that, or another option if you don't have alot going on is to put an outlet in the bottom of the can. A Channel Vision can you can put 1, a Leviton 2. Since I did not plan as good as I could have, or just decided to really space things out, I wound up with 2 cans. The main can has an outlet in the can at the bottom that is split into 2 separate circuits, each on its own phase. I did that so I can put the UPB CIM on whichever phase I wanted to. You can see pics of my install in the showcase here. There is a pic of the power at the bottom.

Probably the reason for the mixup is you are dealing with 2 different subs for that - one for the low voltage, but the electrician needs to run the power. If the walls are still open, its easy to do now...

 

[dbinaz]

THanks for the info. Unfortunately the house is 99% done. But I took pics of all phases, so I know where all the wires are.
THey should have known better tho. They reminded me to put an outlet in my closet for my security camera computer.
Anyway, I guess I will have to deal with it when I move in.

 

[dublin00]

THanks for the info. Unfortunately the house is 99% done. But I took pics of all phases, so I know where all the wires are.
THey should have known better tho. They reminded me to put an outlet in my closet for my security camera computer.
Anyway, I guess I will have to deal with it when I move in.

You might be lucky. If you have an outlet only two feet away it is probably a pretty easy patch to pull that outlet and run a short piece of romex from that outlet to the bottom of your can. Then you just replace the original outlet with a new retrofit wall box outlet and put everything back and your done:

Things to check:

1) I assume your can is on an inside wall. If it is an outside wall you will probably have no choice but to cut your drywall to add the new outlet.

2) Use a stud finder to see how many stud bays you need to cross to reach the bottom of your ELK can. At two feet you might get lucky, but most likely you will need to drill through the stud next to your ELK and the one between it and the existing wall outlet.

3) Make sure you can still knockout the electrical outlet knockout in the bottom of the ELK can. Hopefully they didn't put a 2x4 there at the bottom of the cabinet to help keep it in place.

4) Use the "AC" wiring feature on the stud finder to see if a romex daisy chain is already passing under your cabinet. If so you might be very lucky since the electrician will have drilled 3/4" holes through the studs and you can probably slip another one through those existing holes.

If all of the above checks out and your comfortable doing some minor electrical work and have lots of patience you can probably add the outlet yourself. Just be careful, turn off the power when doing any work, go to HomeDepot to get the parts for the new ELK can outlet and romex and ask the electrician there if you have questions. Or you can call an electrician after the house is done and for $75-150 he will pop that outlet in for you while you watch.

 

[dbinaz]

Well, looks like I spoke to soon. I got to sneak into the house today and lucky for me the screws on the box were loose enough to undo by hand. There is power in it. Along with some other On-Q stuff which may or may not be staying.