Introduction: Modified Power Strip

This power strip is designed so that you can have a small on and off switch that is up on a desk or other accessible location while the power strip as a whole is tucked away somewhere else. To make this power strip you will need a few things. First you will need an different power strip that you want to take apart. You need to make sure that the receptacles are stacked vertically. You will also need a different power cord or some 12 gauge wire to make your button. The last thing you will need is a soldering iron and electrical tape. You will be using six total wires to make this power strip. Three should come from the original power cable you took out of the original power strip. Then the other three should come from the additional power cable or 12 gauge wire that you have to connect your switch.

Step 1: Removing Your Brass Strips

The First thing you should do after disassembling your older power strip is to remove the brass strips from the old power strip and put them into their new housing. If you are still using the older power strip housing then you can leave them in place.

Step 2: Providing Power

The Next step you will want to start is combining all of your wiring now before you start soldering it into place. It will be easier to twist and tape wires now opposed to when their being attached in the housing. With this step you would twist your black wires together and then solder them together. Once you have done this then use some electrical tape to make sure it can't touch any other wires.

Step 3: Combine the White Wires.

Once you have the black wires taped up you will want to start with the white wires. You will want to twist these two wires together and put a little bit of solder on them to keep them together. You will not tape these wires together though. These will be soldered onto one of the brass strips in a future step.

Step 4: Grounding Your Circuit

Your next step should be to solder main grounding wire coming from your power supply wires. This is normally a green wire. Make sure that you solder the thicker green wire from your original power supply cable and not the green wire from the extra cable or wire you're using for the button.

Step 5: Finishing Up the Power Strip

Your last step with the power strip is to solder the white wires to one of the brass strips and the green wire that will be coming from your switch to the other. The picture above should show what your finished power strip housing should look like once its done. As you can see above both white wires are connected to the brass strip on the left, the thicker main ground coming from your power supply is soldered to the grounding brass strip in the middle, and the thinner green wire coming from your on/off switch should be grounded to the right brass strip. In the next step we will wire up the button.

Step 6: Wiring Your Switch

The last thing you need to do is slide your switch into the 3d printed switch housing. If you don't have a 3d printer to make the housing make sure you use some plastic or wood housing to put it in. For this switch you will want to wire and solder the following wires to the following prongs on the switch. The black wire should be wired onto the LOAD prong. The green wire should be soldered onto the LINE prong. Then wire the white wire onto the remaining prong. Once these are all wired you should solder them into place and then make sure you cover these in electrical tape to make sure nothing shorts out.

Step 7: Testing!

To test your new power strip, what you should do is get another store bought, non modified power strip and plug it into the wall. You should then plug your power strip into this one. Make sure the store bought power strip is turned off before you plug your modified power strip into it. From there you can plug something like a lamp into your modified power strip. To complete your testing, turn the switch to your power strip on and make sure your lamp is turned on. Then you can safely turn your store bought power strip on to make sure that your modified one works and to make sure their are no shorts. you can also use a multimeter to make sure that your switch is behaving correctly before you test. You shouldn't get any readings on any wires unless your switch is turned on. After you have completed testing, CONGRATULATIONS!! you have created your own power strip.