Common questions
Before you plug in
The same handful of questions arrives over and over. Here they are with the answers we actually give, including the ones that end in no.
Will this fit the outlet I have?
If it is an ordinary American duplex receptacle, yes. That is the one with two sets of openings stacked vertically, each set having two flat slots and a round hole. Decora style faceplates are fine, since the receptacle behind them is the same.
Three cases do not work: a receptacle with a test and reset button on its face, a receptacle with USB ports built into it, and a receptacle sunk into a recessed box behind a wall mounted television. In the first two the face is taken up by something else, and in the third the plate has nothing flat to sit against.
Which way does the ground pin point?
Look at your wall and find the round hole. If it sits below the two flat slots, you need the version with the ground pin down. If it sits above them, you need the version with the ground pin up.
This is not a preference and it is not adjustable. A plate cut for one arrangement will not enter the other, so it is the first thing to check and the most common reason a piece goes back.
Does anything have to be unscrewed?
No. The body plugs into the upper receptacle the way any plug would, and the existing faceplate stays where it is. Nothing is opened, nothing is rewired, and the outlet underneath keeps working exactly as it did.
Will the adhesive hold on my wall?
On clean painted drywall that has cured, yes. The strips are there to stop the cord from drifting, not to carry weight.
Three surfaces defeat them: heavy textured plaster, wallpaper, and paint younger than about a month. Textured plaster gives the strip too few high points to grip, wallpaper lets go at its own seam rather than at the glue, and fresh paint is still off gassing and will peel away in a sheet.
Can the cord run under a rug?
No, and this is the one we will not soften. Flat cord under a rug gets walked on, and the traffic works the conductors against each other where nobody can see it happening. The cord is made to run along a baseboard behind furniture, on top of the floor and in the open.
The same answer covers running it through a wall or stapling it to a stud. Anything that goes inside a wall has to be cable rated for that, and a cord set is not.
What is the difference between the C7 and C13 ends?
They are the two small connectors printed on the back of most televisions. C7 is the flat oval with two rounded lobes, the shape people call a figure eight. C13 is the chunkier squared off one with three openings in a row.
Look at the socket on the back of the set rather than at the model number. The two are not interchangeable, and a kit bought for the wrong one cannot be made to work.
How long a cord should I get?
Measure from the outlet to where the cord has to end, then follow the route it will actually take, down the wall and around the furniture leg rather than straight across the room. Add a foot for the turn.
Slack that has nowhere to go ends up coiled behind a couch, which is worse than a cord that is slightly short. Lengths in this catalog run from three feet up to eight.
Can I plug a power strip into it?
No. Plugging one cord set into another is the arrangement every instruction sheet in the category tells you to avoid, because each link adds resistance and the last one in the chain carries everything.
If the far end needs more sockets than a piece provides, get the piece that has more sockets on it rather than adding a strip behind the furniture.