Wall mounting a 20 inch flat screen tv problem

[JavaEnquirer]

Hi,

I'm planning on mounting a 20 inch flat screen television on a bedroom wall. I also want the cabling to be descrete. However, I have two problems:

1. I can sink the aerial cable quite easilly into the wall and replaster. I'd like to do something similar with the power cable. ( The missus doesn't want a powerpoint tucked behind or to the side of the TV, and doesn't want to see trailing cables. ) The power cable for the TV is similar to a modern computer monitor's e.g. you can pull it out and plug it back in, it's not fixed to the appliance. So, does anyone know where I can buy a super-long flat screen TV cable, or some kind of extender? I've looked, but to no avail. Anyone else have any other ideas?

1. The wall I want to fix the TV to is one of those horrendous rat-run style non-load bearing walls. The bricks are not only hollow, but they have just been stacked on top of the other, resting on their narrowest side. They don't overlap like conventional brick work, just a stack of bricks thrown together in a rush. The house is a hundred year old terrace. The bricks won't hold a rawl plug.

Else where in the house, say where I've wanted to hang a heavy mirror, I've excavated the fronts of some bricks and filled them up with plaster or some other filler. However, the TV is heavier and more expensive. I was thinking of doing something similar, but perhaps strengthening a lot more bricks, and trying to spread the load a bit, maybe cementing some metal rods into the rat-run holes. This probably sounds very amateurish, but we've got no other wall to play with and replacing the wall is something we could do without at the moment. I have visions of the TV crashing to the floor one night, with the two or three bricks the mount is attached to just popping out of the middle of the wall!

Many thanks in advance.

[Owain]

Discreet? I do agree, blabbermouth cabling is the pits.

If it uses the 'standard' computer-style IEC connector you can buy those with screw terminals from eg Maplins in straight and right angle variants and wire up your own flex. However, flex isn't intended for permanent extensions and you should have either a socket or a Fused Connection Unit fairly close to the appliance to keep the flex short enough that it is adequately protected by the fuse. It should be feasible to have a FCU at socket level with a sunk flex in plastic conduit running up to the screen, coming out in a back box in the appropriate place. Remember that concealed cabling must run horizontally or vertically from a visible accessory or be protected by steel conduit/trunking/capping.

Maplin also sell SCART plugs (require soldering) and flex if you want to make up leads to satellite decoder etc in situ.

What's the other side of the wall? Can you drill right through the wall and have a piece of strong plywood on the other side to spread the load and prevent the fixings from pulling out. You would use long bolts through the wall.

Owain

[al]

Assuming it's a proprietry cable at the TV end, just chop the other end and extend with a junction box to a normal 3 pin if need be (assuming the length already there is enough to get out of sight, if not to a socket) ..?

Errrr ... No More Nails .... jk ... ;o)

How about from the roof or a discreet floor standing (braced) frame? Not quite what you want, but if you don't have a real wall ....

a