Adding a Dedicated 20A Circuit

[Armbender]

I am looking at adding a 20A dedicated circuit for my HT. My dad is an electrician and will do all of the work, he's certainly not into HT by any means though...

what are things to do and also to avoid when doing this..

Thanks..

[mjb]

Use decent (perhaps over-rated) cable, I'd recomend a "slow-blow" 20 amp breaker so it doesn't trip when you turn your amps on, and make sure the ground is healthy.

[Gianluca]

I installed an insulated ground orange plug which is usally installed in computer rooms. This type of plug has an insolated ground. The wire you would use has a hot,neutral,insolated ground and a bare ground. The plug itself is of much better quality and the equipement is grounded directly at the panel.

Luca

[wettou]

I am looking at adding a 20A dedicated circuit for my HT. My dad is an electrician and will do all of the work, he's certainly not into HT by any means though...

what are things to do and also to avoid when doing this..

Thanks..

My electrician use wiring for Air-conditioning which sustain a 40A circuit that way no worries

[Armbender]

I keep reading that you should use 12awg wire. Any links to recomended wire?

[wettou]

I keep reading that you should use 12awg wire. Any links to recomended wire?

Thicker is better that way it doesn't melt as fast :B

[Chris D]

Just regular 12-2 Romex will work fine.

[Armbender]

Just regular 12-2 Romex will work fine.

thanks...I think im going to add an ATL recepticle also..

[Glen B]

I'd recommend a "slow-blow" 20 amp breaker so it doesn't trip when you turn your amps on

North American household electrical does not have the option to select breakers with different trip curves.

[Briz vegas]

I had a 6mm dedicated circuit installed in December. The only thing I did that does not seem to be mentioned here is having a separate 20amp breaker to the rest of the house.

Thicker is better as the amp is better able to draw current as required. When an amp wants current it wants it "yesterday".

Very happy with the results.

[Armbender]

Hopefully Ill be able to get this started soon..Very eager to see the results..

[NonSense]

Armbender

IMO when doing the work to fish one circuit, you might as well run two. You will then have the option to have your amps on one and the source equipment on the other. If you only have space for one receptacle, the upper and lower half may be split. Hubbel make excellent off the shelf hospital grade receptacles. They really bite into the plugs. Also available with isolated grounds. (Lots of exotic stuff out there, but the Hubbels are very good at a good price. They beat leviton by a large margin) If running two circuits you will want to use the same voltage pole in the panel. Most panels alternate poles moving up and down the slots to allow for double pole breakers for your stove, dryer, AC etc. There is not risk, but best to keep them the same.

[Armbender]

Armbender

IMO when doing the work to fish one circuit, you might as well run two. You will then have the option to have your amps on one and the source equipment on the other. If you only have space for one receptacle, the upper and lower half may be split. Hubbel make excellent off the shelf hospital grade receptacles. They really bite into the plugs. Also available with isolated grounds. (Lots of exotic stuff out there, but the Hubbels are very good at a good price. They beat leviton by a large margin) If running two circuits you will want to use the same voltage pole in the panel. Most panels alternate poles moving up and down the slots to allow for double pole breakers for your stove, dryer, AC etc. There is not risk, but best to keep them the same.

thanks!...excellent info..

I wasnt able to run the line, not without tearing up my walls..i was hoping to have easy access to fish the lines through but it wasnt the case..so instead i installed an ATL 1000cu recepticle...

[scarpi]

I use my dedicated 20 amp line only for my B&K power amp. The rest of the gear is plugged into the living room house circuit where my system is. Of course all my gear except my power amp is run through a Panamax Max 5510 power conditioner. The power amp is run through its own 20amp Panamax high current surge suppressor at the wall outlet. That way the whole system is protected. I once had a Sony tv damaged by a power surge so I learned that it is a good idea to protect your gear. :T

[Chris D]

Agreed. TWO dedicated 20A circuits was a standard spec in my previous home theater to the homebuilder. In the end, I only wish I had spec'd out 4 instead of 2.

If there's one thing I've found, I always run out of plugs. And I'd rather plug directly into the source, or a conditioner at least, than doing any sort of extensions.

[Armbender]

Agreed. TWO dedicated 20A circuits was a standard spec in my previous home theater to the homebuilder. In the end, I only wish I had spec'd out 4 instead of 2.

If there's one thing I've found, I always run out of plugs. And I'd rather plug directly into the source, or a conditioner at least, than doing any sort of extensions.

definately something to think about when I do have an opportunity to develop my own dedicated HT

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Agreed. TWO dedicated 20A circuits was a standard spec in my previous home theater to the homebuilder. In the end, I only wish I had spec'd out 4 instead of 2.

If there's one thing I've found, I always run out of plugs. And I'd rather plug directly into the source, or a conditioner at least, than doing any sort of extensions.

While the technical definition of a dedicated circuit means it feeds a single duplex outlet, there’s no reason why you couldn’t install additional outlets as needed on the circuit. I installed two circuits in my previous home, with each feed going to a “quadbox” – i.e., a box with dual outlets. That gave me eight plugs total, which was plenty for the equipment I had at the time.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

[Chris D]

Absolutely right. You're going to want at least ONE dedicated 20A circuit just for the equipment, but since high-powered theaters have some very strong amps and such, I would say you want to run two. Three is even better, and four would be more than I think anybody would possibly need, even with multiple tactile transducer amplifiers added in on top of the other stuff. Each circuit could certainly terminate in two or three quad-plug outlet boxes. I would just make sure each outlet box is labeled as to which circuit it's on, especially if they're placed right next to each other or vertically on a wall in a row.