Have a male plug installed into drywall about a foot above the baseboard level. Above that, at tv installation level, is a normal female outlet with a tv cable line. What would the male plug be used for?
Asked
Active
Viewed 1.8k times
21
Lani
- 211
- 1
- 2
- 3
-
26FYI, that nearly head-on shot makes it really difficult to see that there are metal bits sticking out. More of an angle from the side would have shown the depth better... – FreeMan Sep 22 '22 at 12:15
-
1That's a crappy installation IMHO. For obvious safety and reliability reasons, I would rebuild so the prongs are recessed behind the plane of the wall. – Carl Witthoft Sep 22 '22 at 12:22
-
12@CarlWitthoft I think the angle of the photo is misleading - the prongs are in a rectangular recess which appears to be about an inch deep. – brhans Sep 22 '22 at 13:53
-
9@brhans ah, yes, with your info my neuro-optics can "see" the recess. :-) – Carl Witthoft Sep 22 '22 at 14:27
-
2@CarlWitthoft an issue that would be rectified by my suggestion of taking the picture from a better angle to show the depths and recesses. Head on doesn't tend to show much depth either way... – FreeMan Sep 23 '22 at 12:10
-
I think that installation is good for violating building codes. – Tony Ennis Sep 23 '22 at 16:58
3 Answers
32
You may notice that the normal socket behind the TV is dead.
That's because it is fed from this inlet.
I assume you also have a normal receptacle near the floor somewhere. Plug a surge suppressing power strip into that. Then, take an ordinary extension cord and plug the pointy end into the power strip and the other end into the inlet. Now, the socket behind the TV has power.
And it is surge protected. And it switches with the power strip!
Also, they make power strips that sense the TV being turned on, and only then will power up the other ports on the power strip. That prevents your cable box, XBox, Roku etc. from sitting there wasting power the rest of the time. This setup makes sure you are able to take advantage of things like that.
For those who need a picture:
Sourced from tvinstallationservice.ca.
bishop
- 258
- 1
- 5
- 16
Harper - Reinstate Monica
- 300,628
- 26
- 286
- 734
-
22So it's basically one end of an extension cord that is inside the wall. – Steve Wellens Sep 22 '22 at 14:03
-
6
-
2Not THAT much of a hack if it makes use of what is clearly a commercially-provided plate. – MikeB Sep 22 '22 at 14:47
-
5Re: "commercially-provided" - that's not always a reliable indicator. See this. – Dennis Williamson Sep 22 '22 at 15:28
-
1@Nelson: A hack would be stringing an extension cable through the wall, though even that can be done perfectly legally if cord goes through a protected channel in such a manner that it may be readily removed and is thus not part of the building. Use of a power inlet would be the preferred means of e.g. allowing an uninterruptible power supply in one room to supply a variety of low-power devices located in other rooms that should have a fire barrier between them. – supercat Sep 22 '22 at 16:20
-
6@SteveWellens No, it absolutely is not. The link between inlet and outlet is a valid NEC Chapter 3 method for in-wall wiring, such as NM-B cable (or in Chicago MC cable). Definitely not "extension cord" cordage such as SJ, SW etc. – Harper - Reinstate Monica Sep 22 '22 at 20:00
-
7@Nelson Nothing in Code prohibits using proper Chapter 3 in-wall wiring methods to connect an isolated inlet to outlet(s). Also, NEC 400.7 specifically allows pre-manufactured inlet-outlet assemblies if approved (by UL). This prohibits cheap Cheese from overseas. – Harper - Reinstate Monica Sep 22 '22 at 20:03
-
4@Harper-ReinstateMonica Of course it's not a real extension cord but the term helps visualize what it is actually doing. So people less gifted than yourself can understand. – Steve Wellens Sep 23 '22 at 02:04
-
1@SteveWellens I see your point. Still, NEC is 1% theory and 99% implementation, and the wrong insulation type is serious business! – Harper - Reinstate Monica Sep 23 '22 at 02:22
-
@Harper-ReinstateMonica I have experience...I know what 120 VAC feels like! – Steve Wellens Sep 23 '22 at 04:46
-
1I find it amusing that, in the picture added, there's an inlet/outlet pair to keep the wiring clean, yet there's (relative) miles of extra extension cord laying on the ground. Of course, that could be hidden behind a stand of some sort holding other equipment, but still... :) – FreeMan Sep 23 '22 at 12:17
16
The technical term for that plug is an "inlet"
I'm guessing that if you put power into the inlet it will come out at the outlet. In other words someone installed the pair to hide the power cable to the TV.
If the outlet already works (with not power into the inlet) the inlet has probably been disconnected.
Jasen
- 20,672
- 1
- 21
- 36
1
In the old days, pre-internet and Bluetooth, people who were into stereo systems, might plug their TV sets into something called an Amplifier or Pre-Amplifier so they could turn their TVs on and off whenever the Amplifier/Pre-Amplifier was turned off/on. That stereo equipment would be connected to speakers so one could listen to the TV’s sound.
My son-in-law and my daughter were confused when they bought their first home recently because the wall outlet that was above the fireplace, where a flat screen would be installed and connected, had no juice. They subsequently looked in a book cabinet that was located adjacent to the TV, where the previous owner had all of his stereo equipment set up, and in that area, they found an electrical cord with a male plug that they subsequently discovered ran back to that TV wall outlet.
Because the house seller took all of his stereo equipment when he moved out, my daughter/son-in-law had to connect an extension cord to that male plug that was connected to the TV’s wall outlet and then connect the extension cord to a regular wall outlet in the same bookcase to provide power to the TV wall outlet. They had no idea why this was set up this way because they didn’t grow up with having stereo equipment as I did.
Rohit Gupta
- 6,374
- 7
- 23
- 37
Michael Gibbons
- 21
- 2