Games room development

[AndrewM45]

Hi
I am converting a garage (stone building, decent roof) into a gaming room. Have not yet insulated internally, and getting electrician round first to install electrics.
Just wondering whether there are any tips and things to look out for when getting the electrics done.

 

[TheDaddy]

My Top Tip , Dont leave it 14 years like me ! lol. I am still planning it now.

But on a serious level I draw everything out so I could move everything around and make it fit were I wanted. Electrics is a big thing you want to many rather than not enough & make sure lighting is adequate as that goes wrong a lot.

Good luck !

Dave.

 

[big10p]

My games room is very nearly done, and as well as having lots of double sockets installed all around the room, I asked for each one to be independently switchable from the RCD box thing.

Haven't moved cabs in yet so I don't know how practical this will be, but I wanted to be able to switch cabs on/off without having to reach the wall sockets.

 

[kingtreelo]

im no electrician but is it healthy to turn cabs on and off by the consumer unit directly?

i think smart plugs may be the better option

 

[big10p]

im no electrician but is it healthy to turn cabs on and off by the consumer unit directly?

i think smart plugs may be the better option

I can't think what difference it would be from switching on/off by the socket switches?

I specifically wanted to avoid messing around with a load of smart plugs.

 

[Bods]

I used MK Grid switches to switch each socket on/off and glad I never bothered with any remote sockets, nothing to go wrong but a singe DP switch at most

 

[kingtreelo]

I can't think what difference it would be from switching on/off by the socket switches?

I specifically wanted to avoid messing around with a load of smart plugs.

yup, as i said, not an electrician, i just dont like the noise it makes when i turn the consumer switches off

 

[AndrewM45]

My Top Tip , Dont leave it 14 years like me ! lol. I am still planning it now.

But on a serious level I draw everything out so I could move everything around and make it fit were I wanted. Electrics is a big thing you want to many rather than not enough & make sure lighting is adequate as that goes wrong a lot.

Good luck !

Dave.

Thanks mate. I’m planning to do this autumn/winter. Got some budget for it, and the missus also keen to not have so many cabs in the kitchen - so there’s motivation there !!

 

[FrancoB]

My games room is very nearly done, and as well as having lots of double sockets installed all around the room, I asked for each one to be independently switchable from the RCD box thing.
View attachment 62831
Haven't moved cabs in yet so I don't know how practical this will be, but I wanted to be able to switch cabs on/off without having to reach the wall sockets.

Nice. You need some magnetic marquee labels for each cab to put under switches

 

[big10p]

Nice. You need some magnetic marquee labels for each cab to put under switches

Magnetic labels is a good idea. 🙂

 

[Vorbis]

I've only got the one machine but an Amazon Alexa plug works well for turning it on and off remotely. I also have an Alexa enabled bar socket that's useful for turning things like the Mister and screen on and off. Much less effort than flicking a switch 😁

I'm unlikely to ever have an issue with a games room sadly

 

[big10p]

I've only got the one machine but an Amazon Alexa plug works well for turning it on and off remotely. I also have an Alexa enabled bar socket that's useful for turning things like the Mister and screen on and off. Much less effort than flicking a switch 😁

I'm unlikely to ever have an issue with a games room sadly

Horses for courses. I'm old school. I much prefer using a simple switch to messing about with touch screens, apps, or heaven forbid, having to summon up the energy to speak to turn something on/off. 😆

 

[qjuk]

I can't think what difference it would be from switching on/off by the socket switches?

I think what is meant that by using the trip switches on the consumer unit, you are turning everything on the same circuit on at once. The sudden in-rush current spike can cause it to trip. I know you can get different ‘curves’ of trip switches which can mitigate the problem.

By switching machines on one at a time by using the main wall socket (or one at a time using a smart plug/app) then you won’t get this issue.

I‘ve mounted my wall sockets higher up so I can reach and turn on/off any machine individually. Sometimes I only want to power up one or two machines so only turn on the ones I want. There’s also the added benefit of being able to quickly turn off any machine that goes faulty.

We use a lot of smart plugs at work and generally they work fine. However, they do go wrong and are prone to loosing their settings. Basically they either don’t turn off and stay on 24/7 or they don’t turn on at all. Sometimes you can re-program them, it can be a bit of a ball-ache. I also have quite a few of them that are faulty and are fubar.

I prefer to keep it simple for home use and stick to manually switching machines on/off at the wall. I can turn on or off a machine quicker than opening up any app.

 

[big10p]

I think what is meant that by using the trip switches on the consumer unit, you are turning everything on the same circuit on at once. The sudden in-rush current spike can cause it to trip. I know you can get different ‘curves’ of trip switches which can mitigate the problem.

By switching machines on one at a time by using the main wall socket (or one at a time using a smart plug/app) then you won’t get this issue.

I‘ve mounted my wall sockets higher up so I can reach and turn on/off any machine individually. Sometimes I only want to power up one or two machines so only turn on the ones I want. There’s also the added benefit of being able to quickly turn off any machine that goes faulty.

We use a lot of smart plugs at work and generally they work fine. However, they do go wrong and are prone to loosing their settings. Basically they either don’t turn off and stay on 24/7 or they don’t turn on at all. Sometimes you can re-program them, it can be a bit of a ball-ache. I also have quite a few of them that are faulty and are fubar.

I prefer to keep it simple for home use and stick to manually switching machines on/off at the wall. I can turn on or off a machine quicker than opening up any app.

The individual RCD socket switches control the power to the corresponding socket only. Each socket has normal on/off switches too, which function normally when the corresponding RCD switch is on.

The description of your experience of smart plugs describes perfectly why I was keen to avoid them. I knew I'd just be buying into another headache. 😆