Shortening a Cable + Combine 2 Cables into using 1 Plug

[micky007]

Hi,

I'm in the process of putting some LED Lights up in my kitchen and im using the Philips Hue LED Strips. Now ideally i dont want to be using 2 plug sockets. Since they are the same products is there any way of combing 2 seperate power cables into using the same power socket/plug? Just to confirm this is for the UK.

Also i have ALOT of spare cable from the philips hue LED Strip to the mains power plug which everyone will be able to see, how do i go about shortning that too?

So overall id like to combine 2 UK power cables into using the same plug socket somehow and also shorten the cable from the plug itself to the philiips hue wireless reciever thingy me boby.

Any help/tutorials/videos would be a great help to me. Thats if its even possible to do? Also can you provide me with any warnings that you think i should know about.

Thanks in advance!

 

[micky007]

Also if there is a way are there different devices/components that will allow me to join 2 power cables to use just the 1 plug as it will be on show so ideally id rather have somthing that doesnt look cheap/plasticity if you know what i mean.

Thanks again in advance!

 

[telectrix]

where in the kitchen are the LEDs going to be? if under wall cabinets, take the cables up behind the cabinets in the gap and do the wiring on top, out of sight.

 

[micky007]

Hi,

Its whats supposed to be a book shelf but im turning it into a mini bar, as you can see from the attachment iv done the first level but i need to do the others but obvisouly id rather connect them up together so they use the same plug. Also as you can see from the pic theres alot of spare white cable which id like to shorten too.

 

[telectrix]

question is... those white cables. are they fed at 12V from a plug-in transformer?

 

[micky007]

Attached is what the plug and box says on the back.

 

[telectrix]

that plug in pic. 2 is a power supply reducing the voltagefrom 240V to 12V ( not sure of the exact figure as i can't read it), which meand that you're stuffed. each needs to be plugged separately. it's plug and play, so you can't cut and alter. although it would be possible to splice both elv leads into 1 psu, but have to be careful not to overload it.

 

[micky007]

Hey,

Thanks for the help so far, the connector bit into the plug comes out if that makes a difference? Is there not a plug i could buy which can allow 2 of theres to be connected to the plug or somthing?



Thanks

 

[telectrix]

don't think so. what you'd need to do is to strip into 1 of the cables, maybe 12" from the small round plug, then cut the other small plug off and splice 1 cable into the other. taking note of the polarity (+ and - ). solder the joint and insulate each , then over wrap the joints. this would of course invalidate any warranty.

 

[Richard Burns]

That looks like a standard 2.1mm DC power plug.
The supply is 24V and these are normally rated for 12V, though it should not make a significant difference at your power level.
The strips can be joined/extend up to 10m so if you are less than that then you may be able to use a DC power plug splitter cable and then plug the ends of each strip into this (however they are normally the other way around so you may need gender changers as well.
You would still have lots of spare cable at the shelving but it could just be stuck up against the underside of the shelves, perhaps.

 

[micky007]

Hey,

The DC splitter you but a link to, wouldnt i need it the other way round though? As i see id only be able to connect 1 to the splitter which means it wouldnt really be a splitter?

 

[micky007]

oh wait nevermind, thats what the gender changers will be used for. So to confirm connecting 2 to the same plug using a DC splitter will work fine?

 

[Richard Burns]

The LED strip can be no more than 10m long to allow the power supply to be able to cope with the load, if you want to connect 3x2m LED strips together then this should be OK.