[arthur]

Hi
I'm considering helping with some electrical work in an attached garage recording studio, but need advice for the planning stage.

We are thinking of mounting some gear within a 4'x10' equipment room. The room has an 8' ceiling. The equipment will be in a covered rack that is 20" high. It will take up half of the floor space - so around 20"Hx5'Wx4'D.

The rack cover, made of fire grade plywood, will be wall to wall in it's half of the room, and sturdy enough to walk on.

We are thinking of surface mounting an AC sub-panel on the wall right above the rack.

In order to minimize the number of connectors, we are also considering hard wiring the AC filter/surge-protector and an amp directly into the sub-panel. The equipment will retain the connected IEC plugs. So at any point we will be able to disconnect the AC cables from the equipment.

Do you see any problems with this? Would this violate electrical code? (in Los Angeles County unincorporated area).

Thank you in advance for your advice.

[Chromisdesigns]

In order to minimize the number of connectors, we are also considering hard wiring the AC filter/surge-protector and an amp directly into the sub-panel. The equipment will retain the connected IEC plugs. So at any point we will be able to disconnect the AC cables from the equipment.

Do you see any problems with this? Would this violate electrical code? (in Los Angeles County unincorporated area).

Thank you in advance for your advice.

Not sure about the hardwire part, but you should consider mounting the sub-panel elsewhere, so it is accessible if there is an electrical accident or fire in the equipment.  You don't want to be reaching over it to turn stuff off!

[Speedskater]

Connecting flexible cords to permanently mounted outlets is always problematic.  One of the electrician forums could spend countless posts discussing it.

[arthur]

I was thinking that if there is trouble, I would just switch off electricity from the main box, which is actually nearby.
 
I'm mostly curious if this might be against electrical code.

In which forum would you recommend for me to bring this up?

Thank you for the replies.

[Speedskater]

It's not necessarily against NEC code, it depends on how skilled your electrician is at presenting your case. One interesting Article is 640.21 but he may find several others.

You might read this white paper for some good wiring methods.

Integrating Electronic Equipment and Power into Rack Enclosures
Optimized Power Distribution and Grounding for Audio, Video and Electronic Systems

http://www.middleatlantic.com/pdf/PowerPaper.pdf

[arthur]

Thank you.

I'll see if it will help to ebb the insanity