Portable Power Outlet

This is a how-to on making a "portable power outlet". I work in a place where I always find standard computer power cables, and not always can find an extension cord, given this need I came up with this idea...

So with this, we can use any standard PC cable and use it as an extension...

This a simple project, but used wisely it can be very helpful...
Also, English is not my primary language, so I apologize for grammar errors in advance... :P

Step 1: Materials

Tools:
-Screwdriver

-Hacksaw/Dremel

-Drill

Materials:

-Power Outlet

-Power Outlet Metal Case with cover

-Connector IEC C14 Female [I got mine from an old Power Supply Unit (PSU)]

-Cable

Step 2: Identify Connections

We have to be aware of the live, neutral and ground cables and connections.

For the power outlet you can identify the live connection by viewing in the back, there is an annotation that says "hot", also you can identify it by the small hole in the front. The other is the neutral connection, it can be identified by the bigger hole in the front of the power outlet. The round hole is the ground or earth connection.

For the C14 female connection, in my case there are three indicators in the back. An inverted N for the neutral; An E for Earth connection or Ground; and an L for the live wire. In this guide we will identify them by the Brown, Green and Blue cables respectively...

Step 3: Preparations

With the help of a Hacksaw make a hole in the case, big enough to fit the C14 connector, also with the holes in the connector as guides, drill a pair of holes so we can fix it with the screws.

The connector as is does not fit in this particular case, so i cut a ~45 degree angle in the sides for it to assemble better. Also, I put thermofit to the cables in the connector, but because this is a prototype I never applied heat to them...

Step 4: Assembly

Slide in the C14 connector, and struggle a lot to get the screws fixed...

Now for the connections, we will be connecting the cables guiding us by a previous step.

As I had no terminals to crimp the cables and make this best presentable, I twisted the cable and fixed it with the screws directly. For this, I put the cable on the left side of the screw so it would fit when screwing in... So I fixed the blue to the live connection on the power outlet, the brown to the neutral connection, and the green to the ground connector.

After that slide in the power outlet and screw it in to the case. Then screw in the cover and done...

Step 5: Testing

So find one of the standard PC cables around to test your outlet.

Connect and voila, it should be working... :)

Comments

[Maddiml]

I've been looking for this forever!!!

[el_guazu]

Glad you found it... :)

[Maddiml]

Yeah, turns out not exactly what I was looking for, I read further in the Instructable and just discovered it isn't battery powered :( But its still pretty cool!!

[verence]

If the back is metal an can be touched, you should ground it with the protective earth pin (green wire in your case). That way if the live wire gets loose and touches the metal, it will short to protective earth and trip the circuit breaker. When the backside is not earthed, YOU will ground the power in this case if you touch it.

Btw, you got blue and brown reversed. By standard live is brown, neutral is blue. Doesn't hamper the function though, as long as you do it consistently.

[el_guazu]

Thank you for your comment...

Hopefully we can make another drill in the case and screw in the green cable... :)

The colors of the cables came off like that from the PSU... but thanks for suggesting standardization... (y)

[tomatoskins]

Really cool idea! You had a bunch of stuff everywhere and found a soluition that fit your needs!