The regulatory climate and economics will support a wide variety of “wall-wart” power supplies for the foreseeable future. These are, at best, a headache to deal with. Some of the ways I’ve dealt with them are:
- Using Wiremold Plugmold strips with receptacles on 6″ centres. This is my favourite and I put three of these in my studio. Hint: They will just fit on the narrow dimension of 2x lumber so I have them on the back of 2×6 studs holding the shelving.
- Three-wire, 1-foot extension cords. I found some that had a through receptacle on the plug end, so you didn’t lose the plug in your power strip and still supplied the wall-wart. A wide selection from CyberGuys (Thanks, John).
1-foot cords without feed-through: Best buy (Thanks, Bill): Jameco, others: Cables To Go, SF Cable
1-foot cords with feed-through: Cables Unlimited Power Strip Liberator Plus (also at TigerDirect and TigerDirect.ca) - Two-wire, 1-foot extension cords with three receptacles. These used to be available at Radio Shack in the U.S., but I did not see them in their online catalog. Maybe they are still in the stores. We no longer have Radio Shack in Canada. It is now The Source by Circuit City. Brian from OKC found these 6-inch ones with one outlet.
- Dedicated power strips for wall-warts, such as the Furman Pluglock. I actually haven’t used that exact product personally, but it looks like a good idea.