[errantspark]

I have to deal with this problem constantly and I haven't figured out a good solution yet. I'm not sure this is particularly meaningful in a normal mains-connected environment but as someone who's base power source is a finite amount of 24v DC, I hate eating the inversion losses when I could save ~7-16% using switching supplies off the main bus.

Currently everything I have is connected up with a hodgepodge of those green pluggable terminal blocks. It's not an elegant solution but it's hard to standardize on something, especially when I have devices that run off 5, 9, 12, 24 and 48 volts. I still run an inverter most of the time (I have two, pure and modified depending on the load).

I think it's possible to devise a decent solution here, I like the XLR based designs but I'm afraid of plugging things into the wrong voltage. I think maybe the good solution is to make a color-mapping for the common voltages up to 48v (past that you require an electrician to do wiring in the US iirc) and then make cables that are XLR on one end, and whatever-plug on the other end with an LED that lights up corresponding to the voltage. That way you know if your barrel jack is 12 or 5. It doesn't have to be foolproof, or even customer friendly really. People setting up DC buses to run all their electronics should be able to accept the responsibility of frying something if they give it too much juice.