Black outlets on audio gear in low lighting

[tonepoet]

Not sure what forum to put this in, but.... I've wondered why audio gear has black outlets when they may be used in low light conditions. Why not white or cream colored outlets so that you can easily see the openings you need to insert the plugs into?

(The photo below shows the scene much brighter than it truly is inside the case). This is the back of a Furman power conditioner above the back of a MOTU 8-Pre audio interface in a 4-U touring case. I use this for recording drums and guitars. When I need to plug in my laptop to record, it is dark inside there. You can't see where the openings in the outlets are. So, the solution below is to color the needed outlet with a silver Sharpie. Bam!.... no problem seeing it now.

 

[GAD]

This is why I buy power conditioners with gooseneck lights in them. They're way better than power strips (especially because I run an AxeFX so bad power is worse than it would be with an analog amp). Mine has two gooseneck lights in the back and two pull-out lights on the front. They seem gimmicky at first but they are so very useful. Plus they give a quick visual indication of what the voltage is out of the wall.

I have two - one in each rack case I have. I want to say I bought them each for about $200 on Ebay, which seems like a lot, but for the price of a nice pedal it adds a lot of convenience and some piece of mind.

This isn't the exact model I have, but it's pretty close:

Furman PL-PRO C 120VAC, 60HZ, Max 20 Amps Power Conditioner | eBay

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BTW that one's got some of the LEDs out on the front, which he didn't mention.

 

[GAD]

Here’s a quick snap of mine from the front. Please disregard the dust. Yikes.

 

[GAD]

Now that I'm thinking about it, the goosenecks in the back were an option while the lights on the front were standard. At any rate I just re-read your post and you said it is a power conditioner so maybe just a slight upgrade or model change would help you out.

 

[tonepoet]

This is why I buy power conditioners with gooseneck lights in them.

Very cool. I have the pull out lights in the front but have never seen the ones with a goose neck light in the back. Good to know.

 

[lungimsam]

I have often wondered why the raised lettering on electronics is not painted so one does not have to shine a light on it to read it, even in normal light conditions.

 

[GAD]

Very cool. I have the pull out lights in the front but have never seen the ones with a goose neck light in the back. Good to know.

Check if you have BNC connectors (I think) on the back. The goosenecks connect to those and that could be a nice surprise.

 

[fronobulax]

I think there is an industrial mindset for rack mounted equipment. The first thing is it is rack mounted so once something is installed connections are only made on the front which is presumably lit from room lighting or rack lighting. Rack mounted once was almost synonymous with professionals and professional is better than consumer. So I think colored plugs is one of those features that isn't needed in a professional environment and no one has thought to add it now that the line between professional and consumer is blurred. Same thing for labels. If the label is important - i.e. network port - it will be labelled with something that is legible.

So there is probably a good reason why your gear is the way it is although there is a marketing opportunity to make professional style gear more consumer friendly.

I will note that you can get gooseneck lights that plug into a USB port. I have battery powered music stand lights that I have been known to use to illuminate the dark places on my gear so there are other solutions besides the Sharpie, which, I will admit, is pretty clever.