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A Seasonal Reminder From Google Alerts

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

I use the Google Alerts notification system in order to track information about our customers, products and vendors. It’s a great time saver and turns up a lot of unexpected information.

One of my alerts is set to the search phrase “extension cord“. Unfortunately, all too often this time of year these alerts also include the word “fire“.

Somehow, it seems that Christmas decorating and overloaded extension cords regularly make headline news. While it’s easy to understand how this can happen, it’s also easy to prevent.

All electrical devices (including lights and powered decorations) are required to be tagged with information relating to how much power they consume. This information is usually listed along with the term “watts”. When you plug multiple lights or electrical decorations into an extension cord, it is necessary to add the total number of watts (also known as “current draw”) to determine what size of extension cord is called for.

If this simple arithmetic is a little daunting, there is an easier way to figure out if there is a problem.

Plug everything in, turn all the decorations on, and hold the extension cord in your hand for three or four minutes. If the cord becomes warm to the touch, then it is overloaded. Remove one or more of the items plugged into it and try again.

If you can’t reduce the current draw, then you need to increase the size (known as the “gauge” of the cable). This can be a little confusing, as the smaller the gauge number, the higher the current carrying capacity of the extension cord. That is, a 14 gauge cord has a lower current carrying capacity than a 12 gauge cord.

Finally, even if you don’t have an overloaded extension cord, running it under a rug or behind a wall can still create a fire hazard if air can’t circulate and remove any heat build up. It should be left out in the open.

Take a minute to plan before you begin holiday decorating. I don’t want to be reading about you in Google Alerts.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Hosa and Entertainment One extension cords and OnStage Stand mic stands. We’ve got lots of products that make holiday decorating easier.

Posted in Pro lighting, customer service, extension cords | No Comments »

The 20 Amp Extension Cord Mystery

Thursday, July 30th, 2009

We have a great line of extension cords intended for heavy duty use. They use 12 gauge cable which gives them a 20 amp capacity, but we can’t really call them 20 amp cables because of the connectors that we use.

This has led to more than a little confusion among our customers.

Here’s why.

If you are familiar with standard wall outlets, you are probably aware that there are two different versions of outlets that look almost identical.

The standard 15 amp duplex receptacle (wall outlet) has openings for two parallel blades and a semi-circular ground prong. This has been standard for almost 50 years.

An almost identical version of this outlet has an additional slot set at a right angle as part of the parallel blade opening on one side.

If the outlet has this additional right angle slot, it is intended not just 15 amp service, but 20 amp service as well.

A true 20 amp connector (male) on an extension cord will have, not two parallel blades, but rather two blades set at right angles to each other. Otherwise they are identical. Same size connector body, same size blades, same everything else.

15 Amp(Nema 5-15)

20 Amp (Nema 5-20)

If we sold our “20 amp” extension cords with a 20 amp rated connector, they it would only plug into the version of the wall outlet that is designed to accomodate both types of blades.

20 Amp Wall Outlet(Nema 5-20)

While we are confident that the product we sell is designed to handle a true 20 amp load, in order to truly rate an extension cord as being “20 amps” it must have one of its connector blades at right angles to the other.

Want to know more? Here’s a valuable Wikipedia article.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Permacel gaffers tape,Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Hosa and Entertainment One extension cords andOnStage Stand mic stands. Click here to sign up for our newsletter. Lots more good ideas at our Twitter feed.

Posted in POWERCON, Pro Sound, Pro lighting, audio visual, extension cords | No Comments »

Copper Prices

Tuesday, June 16th, 2009

I came across an interesting article in last week’s Wall Street Journal regarding the continuing strength of commodity prices based on demand in China.

This article speculated that a lot of the Chinese buying was a stockpiling of material for which China’s manufacturers had no real demand. If that’s true, then the Chinese buying binge may be over.

This may well explain the recent downturn in copper prices after a steady rise over the last six months. This rise made little sense in light of the overall worldwide decline in manufacturing. If this downturn is real, it could be a harbinger for lots of commodity price reductions.

Why do we care? The cost of extension cords (copper and rubber), mic stands (steel and aluminum), tape (cotton, oil and chemicals) and batteries (tin plate and many minerals) are all tied to world commodity prices.

Lets hope that if this recent reversal in commodity prices is real, that we will see it passed through to the products we sell.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Permacel gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Hosa and Entertainment One extension cords and OnStage Stand mic stands. Click here to sign up for our newsletter. Lots more good ideas at our Twitter feed.

Posted in batteries, duct tape, extension cords, good business ideas, microphones & mic stands | No Comments »

Don’t Forget To Water Your Par Cans

Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008

There are lots of very exciting things happening in the development of new lighting technologies. The desire to save energy and use fewer natural resources in lighting manufacturing means that big changes are right around the corner.

General Electric is developing LED lighting technology that makes use of organic compounds that are incorporated into light emitting diodes or OLEDs. This technology still has lots of problems to solve, but it actually works in the lab.

Sheets of plastic film containing OLEDs emit a blue-white glow when an electric current is applied. Because these sheets are flexible, it may be possible someday to have your wallpaper or ceiling also be your light source.

The OLED panels provide a diffuse lighting source that doesn’t need lamp shades or frosting like a conventional tungsten filament light bulb. GE and Siemens are already working with manufacturers of devices like cell phones and televisions, even though the cost is still far too great to be practical. That, no doubt, will surely change.

Meanwhile, anybody who has watched their electrical meter spin at dizzying speeds when all the lights are on, has better days to look forward to.

Want to know more? Click here!

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Enterainment 1 extension cords , OnStage Stand mic stands and quality speaker cables.

Posted in Pro lighting, audio visual, extension cords, flashlights, good business ideas | No Comments »

Making The Case For An XLR Speaker Cable

Monday, July 7th, 2008

Many years ago when I worked in the Technical Services Dept. at Duke University, we embraced a speaker cable connector standard that seems to have fallen by the wayside. We used the standard XLR3 connector for speaker cables-the same connector that was used on microphone cables.

With my background in pro sound, I was familiar with both the quarter inch standard , and the Canon EP multipin standard. I had never seen the XLR used for speaker cables. I quickly became a convert. Here’s why.

Because speaker cables with XLR connectors have a male connector on one end and a female on the other, its easy to extend the length of a cable without an adapter. Not using an adapter means not losing an adapter. This is a really valuable feature when doing long outdoor speaker cable runs.

Each pin in an XLR3 connector is rated at 15 amps. That’s more than enough current carrying capacity for most practical amplifier outputs.

The flexible strain relief boot on an XLR connector is flexible enough to handle 2 conductor 14 gauge, or even 12 gauge cable.

Each pin makes independent contact with the mating connector, unlike a quarter inch connector where the tip must make contact with the sleeve before it mates with the tip.

Finally the solid, easy to use locking mechanism on the XLR3 means that no additional securing of a connection is necessary when cables are linked together.

A couple of amplifier manufacturers adopted this standard back in the 1980’s, but they let it fall by the wayside when the industry as a whole failed to sign up.

On more than one occasion, I must admit that I used a microphone cable as a temporary speaker cable when I ran out of speaker cables. Try that with a Speakon cable!

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords , OnStage Stand mic stands and quality speaker cables.

Posted in Pro Sound, Pro lighting, extension cords, good business ideas, mic cables, speaker cables | No Comments »

Finally, A Little Good News

Friday, June 6th, 2008

It is something of a stretch for me to go from selling audio visual supplies to watching the commodity markets. Unfortunately, volatility in the base components of everything we sell means that this vital information just can’t be ignored.

Between the price of the petroleum derivatives in tape adhesives and the cost of trucking these very heavy products, the cost of oil impacts the cost of every kind of tape we sell. There has been some short term moderation in the price of a barrel of oil, so we are hoping that our suppliers can hold the line a little longer. It is hard to connect the price of filling up your car with what you pay for a roll of gaffers tape, but the connection is real.

After peaking at $4.00 a pound in April, the price of copper is down about 10%, closing at just over $3.60 earlier in the week. As our cable business expands, the cost of the most important, and heaviest component, in an extension cord or speaker cable has forced suppliers to raise prices several times this year. Maybe those increases are over for a little while. Hopefully, this decrease in will help battery makers hold the line as well

Unfortunately, it seems like what one market gives back, another takes away. Dow Chemical’s announcement that it will raise chemical prices by up to 20%, effective this month, is going to impact much of we sell. Tape adhesive resins, battery components and cable jackets all have chemical components, and even if Dow isn’t the supplier, most other major suppliers are sure to follow.

We are grateful to our loyal customers and will do all we can to work with major suppliers to address pricing pressure.

Posted in batteries, duct tape, extension cords, gaffers tape, good business ideas, tape | No Comments »

Welcome To A New GoodBuyGuy-Speaker Cable Sam

Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008

Today we introduce the newest of our GoodBuyGuys.com website, BuySpeakerCable.com.

BuySpeakerCable.com is hosted by Speaker Cable Sam , the latest addition to the GoodBuyGuys family. Sam is ready to provide lots of valuable information about speaker cables, speaker cable connectors and the proper set up of sound system speakers. Sam draws on 30 years of work in the concert production industry to help you make decisions about purchasing and using the best speaker cables and accessories, no matter what your application.

Buyspeakercable.com features cables from Mitee Cable. Mitee cables use quality connectors and wire to insure that your speaker cables deliver all the sound possible from your amplifier to your speakers. They have tough rubber jackets and copper wire that is durable, easily coilable and ready to stand up to the tough use sound and audio visual pros subject their equipment to every day.

Of particular interest is the in depth information provided about Speakon connectors, the new standard for pro audio speaker cables. Mitee Cables feature Speakon connectors that are fully compatible with the Neutrik NL2 & NL4 series connector, available at a fraction of the Neutrik price. Here, you will find valuable guides about wiring and using Speakon connectors, along with adapters that make Speakon speaker cables compatible with other connector types.

With the addition of BuySpeakerCable.com, you can turn to GoodBuyGuys.com for all of your audio visual and sound system cable needs.

Tags: Pro Sound, speaker cable, speaker cables
Posted in Pro Sound, Pro lighting, extension cords, mic cables, speaker cables | No Comments »

They Won’t Lose This Cord Anytime Soon!

Friday, January 4th, 2008

A newspaper article headline in the business section of yesterdays Raleigh, NC News & Observer caught my eye.

“Losing The Cords On Flat TVs”

Thinking this AP article might be about extension cords, I read a little before realizing that the author, Peter Svensson was actually talking about the ability to send television data to a large screen TV wirelessly using technology similar to the WIFI signals now found distributing computer data in so many homes.

Three different wireless protocols for delivering data to flat panel televisions will be featured at next week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. It uses recently allocated spectrum that is not supposed to interfere with WIFI and it has a range that reportedly will limit it from spilling into your neighbor’s apartment. This has the potential to make the home theatre installer’s life a lot easier.

Unfortunately, no where in the article did the writer even mention the most important cord of all. THE POWER CABLE! That certainly isn’t going to be lost anytime soon.

One of the most popular locations for large flat panel televisions is over the mantle. How many houses are built with an electrical outlet in the middle of the wall over the fireplace? Not many.

More importantly, while the installation of low voltage cabling for video and data can be safely installed by a hobbyist or homeowner, the installation of a 110volt electrical outlet needs to be done by a licensed electrician. Doing this installation in a space adjacent to a fireplace flue requires special cable and a lot a care to prevent creating a fire hazard.

LCD and plasma display video monitors use a lot of power, and ideally, the electrical outlets they are plugged into also need special surge protection to protect the TV from electrical surges. Providing power for such an expensive item shouldn’t be done as an afterthought.

Now, when flat TVs can lose the power cord, that’s an article I look forward to reading.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords and OnStage Stand mic stands. Count on us to meet your power distribution needs.

Posted in Other News, Pro Sound, Pro lighting, extension cords | No Comments »

Why Does This Device Stay Trapped In The 1950’s?

Friday, December 14th, 2007

I was adding some components to our office alarm system yesterday and had to plug in a new outboard power supply (wall wart) to power it. While there was a spare outlet (two, actually) available, the two power supplies already plugged into two of the four available outlets rendered the last two useless.

Whether you are dealing with duplex (two outlets) or quad (four outlets) the spacing of your wall outlets has not changed for decades. The space above or below (as well as side-to-side for quads) is still spaced like it was when houses and offices were built in the 1950’s. There are lots of devices designed to get around the problem, but they require additional components, complication and expense.

Since no single connector would ever plug into multiple outlets at the same time, there is absolutely no reason to continue to adhere to this standard. Why don’t wall outlets built into new buildings reflect the need to plug power supplies directly into the wall without covering adjacent outlets? It wouldn’t prevent any devices currently in use from being plugged in, but would accomodate all the devices we now use that require wall warts.

This is a great opportunity for those who market residential and commercial installed wiring devices to solve a problem, create added convenience for the end user, make a safer environment (fewer overload and trip hazards) and maybe even make a little more money themselves.

Let me know what you think.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords and OnStage Stand mic stands. Count on us to meet your power distribution needs.

Posted in extension cords | No Comments »

Computer Guy, Meet Sound Guy

Thursday, November 29th, 2007

My experience with using personal computers goes back to the early 1980’s, so I’ve had more than my share of opportunities to set up, take down, reconfigure, and generally wander around computer peripheral cabling. The more I handle this stuff, the more mystified I get.

I began my career as a an audio techncian, and spent many years building, setting up, configuring, and repairing concert sound systems. People who design computer peripheral wiring could learn a lot from the audio industry.

While the performance and compatibility of computer peripherals continues to improve, the interconnections between these devices never catches up. I can’t think of a single data-type connector that comes close to matching the performance of the lowly audio XLR connector, a design that is well into its second half-century of use.

I just spent 15 frustrating minutes trying to replace a computer monitor in the office, only to be reminded that there are at least three (if not more) different pin configurations for a D-sub connector, even though they all have the same physical shell. Maybe, it’s just me, but I almost always have to try to plug in a USB connector at least two times, as there is nothing visible on the outside of the connector to indicate which end is up. I guess there are savings involved in making ethernet connectors with with almost useless plastic locking pins, but the savings quickly evaporate when you spend a half-hour trying to pry one out of a computer port after the release tab snaps off. The list goes on and on.

Audio connectors, on the other hand, are designed to be patched in the dark, repaired (when necessary) in the field, and to be common to hundreds and hundreds of different manufacturers equipment. The Shure SM57 microphone ( probably the most popular and common in the world) uses the same connector now as when it came to market in 1965. A 40 year old SM57 works with a brand new Chinese-made microphone cable right out of the box.

We’re depending more and more on computer-based devices all the time, and the portability designed into these items means that they are constantly having to be cabled and uncabled. Hopefully, manufacturers will consider adopting some connector standards that are up to the task.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords and OnStage Stand mic stands. Count on us to meet your cable needs.

Posted in Pro Sound, Pro lighting, extension cords, mic cables, microphones & mic stands | No Comments »

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