In-desk power and data: cut-outs, outlets and who installs what
An in-desk power module is specified by its cut-out, not its outlet count, and the cut-out is machined before the top leaves the factory. The published figures for every Fuel and Seamless model, and the three trades that have to connect them.
An in-desk power module is specified by its cut-out, not by its outlet count. The four Fuel in-desk power boxes take a worktop cut-out from 402 by 86 mm up to 402 by 410 mm and carry four to eight general purpose outlets. The four Seamless in-desk power modules all fit inside a 293 by 248 mm cut-out and carry two to eight. Both ranges are published to suit worktops 10 to 50 mm thick. The cut-out is machined before the top leaves the factory, so the module has to be chosen while the table is still a drawing. Outlet count, data provision and lid finish are variations on a hole that already exists.
That is the part of the specification that goes wrong. Power and data at the desk gets treated as a late decision, something the electrician and the cabler will sort out on site. Furniture does not work that way. A top arrives with an opening in it or it does not, and the opening is sized to one particular module.
What an in-desk module is, and what it is not
Three different things get called desk power, and they involve different trades, different standards and different moments in the programme.
The first is the in-desk box: a housing that drops into a machined opening in the worktop, with a lid that closes over it. The second is the under-desk tray: a steel or felt assembly fixed to the underside of the top, carrying outlets and holding the slack from fly leads. The third is the desktop hub, which sits on the surface or clamps to a monitor arm and is plugged in like any other device.
Only the first one changes the joinery. The other two can be added after the furniture is installed, which is why they are the fallback when a cut-out was never drawn.
The housing and the outlets are often two line items
A module is a housing. Whether the outlets come with it is a separate question, and the answer is not consistent across ranges. The Power Planter desk power hub is published as taking two CMS power outlets supplied by others, and feeds through a grommet of 80 mm diameter. The Fuel and Seamless boxes are published with their outlet counts as part of the model.
On a schedule that distinction decides whether the furniture package or the electrical package carries the outlets. Get it wrong in both directions and you either pay twice or arrive with a box and nothing to put in it.
The cut-out is the specification
Both ranges publish the worktop cut-out for every model, which makes them unusually easy to specify properly. The figures below are from the manufacturer's technical specification sheets.
| Module | Worktop cut-out (mm) | Body (mm) | Power outlets | Data provision | Published use |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fuel 90 | 402 x 86 | 410 x 92 | 4 GPO | up to 3 | Desks and workstations |
| Fuel 91 | 1000 x 210 | 990 x 166 | 8 GPO | up to 15 | Long tables and folding tables |
| Fuel 95 | 402 x 310 | 378 x 275 x 158 | 4 GPO | up to 9 | Twin access, meeting tables |
| Fuel 98 | 402 x 410 | 378 x 375 x 204 | 4 GPO, maximum 6 | up to 9 | Twin access, larger tables |
| Seamless SE-1010 | 220 x 248 x 14 | 275 x 140 x 95 | 2 GPO | 2 | Breakout and small meeting tables |
| Seamless SE-1020 | 293 x 150 x 14 | 303 x 140 x 95 | 4 GPO | 4 | Meeting and small boardroom tables |
| Seamless SE-1030 | 290 x 216 x 14 | 303 x 140 x 95 | 8 GPO | 4 | Larger meeting and boardroom tables |
| Seamless SE-1040 | 290 x 210 x 20 | 352 x 65 | 4 GPO | 4 | Diva tables and small boardroom tables |
Read down the Seamless rows and the useful anomaly appears. SE-1010 wants a 220 by 248 mm opening and gives two outlets. SE-1020 wants 293 by 150 mm, which is a smaller opening by area, and gives four. The cut-out shape drives the outlet count, not the area, because the outlets sit in a line inside the body. A specifier choosing on hole size alone will pick the wrong one.
Fuel 91 is the model that gets mis-specified in the other direction. At 1000 by 210 mm with eight outlets and provision for up to fifteen data, it is a services spine for a long table, not a desk fitting. Dropping it into a 1800 mm workstation removes most of the usable depth of the top.
Twin access costs depth, not length
Fuel 95 and Fuel 98 open from both sides, which suits a table where people sit opposite each other. Both keep the same 402 mm length as Fuel 90 and grow in the other direction, to 310 and 410 mm. On a 1200 mm deep meeting table a 410 mm cut-out takes a third of the depth out of the centre line, so the table has to be deep enough to carry it and still leave working surface either side. That calculation belongs with the table selection, which is covered in meeting table sizes: what fits at the table and in the room.
Worktop thickness, and the edge detail that defeats it
Both Fuel and Seamless are published to suit worktops 10 to 50 mm thick. That is a wide band and it covers nearly every commercial top, so it is rarely the constraint people expect. The constraint is what happens at the edge.
A 25 mm top with a built-up mitred edge reads as 50 mm on the elevation and 25 mm at the cut-out, because the build-up usually stops short of the centre of the table. A top that is genuinely 50 mm across its full area sits at the top of the published range with nothing in reserve. Neither is a problem if the joiner knows which module is going in. Both are a problem if the module is chosen after the shop drawing is approved.
The Seamless lid is the sharper version of the same point. It is cut from the worktop itself so that the closed module disappears into the table, which means the top and the module have to be made together. There is no retrofit of a lid that matches a top made last year.
Specifier's note. The cut-out is machined at the factory, not on site. Once the worktop is released for production the module is fixed, and changing it later is a new top rather than an adjustment. Put the module model number on the furniture schedule at the same time as the table size, and give the joiner the manufacturer's cut-out dimension rather than the model name alone. Where the module has not been settled and the programme will not wait, specify an under-desk tray instead and keep the top solid, because a tray can be added after installation and a hole cannot be filled.
Power and data in the same box, and the rule that keeps them apart
Customer cabling in Australia has to be kept a minimum distance from low voltage power cabling. AS/CA S009:2020, Installation requirements for customer cabling (Wiring Rules), sets this out: clause 9.1 covers separation from low voltage power or high voltage circuits, clause 16.3 covers indoor cabling separation from low voltage power cables, and the distances themselves sit in Table 2 and in Table G1 of Appendix G. The numbers are in the standard and the registered cabler is the person who applies them.
What matters for the furniture is that the module has to give the cabler somewhere for that separation to happen. A single open cavity with power and data thrown in together pushes the problem onto site, and the answer there is sometimes that the data cannot go in the box at all.
The ranges that solve this say so in their published descriptions. Seamless publishes power and data segregation as a feature of the module. TRAX_t carries fly leads in a felt tray and keeps a separate top tier cableway for data. The TRAX product tear sheet from Klaro Design puts it plainly: data cabling is segregated from the main compartment by steel tracks located directly below the carriage. That is a design decision inside the product, and it is the difference between a cabler terminating in the box and a cabler terminating somewhere else.
Who installs what, and the instruments that decide it
Three separate regulatory regimes meet inside one hole in a table top. None of them is the furniture supplier's to interpret, and all three affect what the furniture has to be.
| Element | Who performs it | Governing instrument |
|---|---|---|
| The module housing, supplied as furniture | Furniture supplier | AS/NZS 4417.1 and AS/NZS 4417.2 for RCM marking |
| A module supplied with a plug on a flexible cord | Furniture supplier | AS/NZS 3105, approval and test specification for electrical portable outlet devices |
| The circuit and the outlet the module plugs into | Licensed electrical contractor | AS/NZS 3000, the Australian and New Zealand Wiring Rules |
| Any fixed wiring run into a module | Licensed electrical contractor | AS/NZS 3000 |
| The data cabling and its outlet | Registered cabling provider | Telecommunications Cabling Provider Rules 2025 and AS/CA S009:2020 |
| The cabling products used | Registered cabling provider | AS/CA S008:2020 and the Telecommunications Labelling Notice instrument 2025 |
| Certification of the cabling on completion | Responsible cabling provider | Telecommunications Cabling Provider Rules 2025 |
The cabling rules are newer than most schedules allow for. The Telecommunications Cabling Provider Rules 2025 commenced on 31 March 2025. Under them, cabling work must be performed by or under the supervision of a registered cabling provider, must comply with AS/CA S009:2020, must use customer cabling or equipment complying with the Telecommunications (Labelling Notice for Customer Equipment and Customer Cabling) Instrument 2025, and must be certified by the responsible cabling provider on completion. Registration comes in three forms: open, restricted and lift.
Restricted registration is scoped to domestic and small business work. On a commercial floor the person terminating the data in your table needs open registration, and the certification at the end is a document someone has to produce. It is worth knowing whose contract that sits in before practical completion, not after.
RCM, EESS and the evidence to ask for
In-scope electrical equipment under the Electrical Equipment Safety System is equipment rated at a voltage greater than 50 V AC RMS or 120 V ripple-free DC, rated at less than 1000 V AC RMS or 1500 V ripple-free DC, and designed or marketed as suitable for household, personal or similar use. The scheme is explicit that marketing does not decide the question: the EESS states that it does not matter whether products are marketed for home, business or industrial use, because in-scope is defined in law. A desk power box sold into a commercial fitout can still be in scope.
| Risk level | Equipment registration | Certificate of Conformity | RCM marking | Compliance folder |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level 1, low or unknown risk | Voluntary | Not applicable | Mandatory | Highly recommended |
| Level 2, medium risk, defined in AS/NZS 4417.2 | Mandatory | Not applicable | Mandatory | Mandatory |
| Level 3, high risk, defined in AS/NZS 4417.2 | Mandatory | Mandatory | Mandatory | Highly recommended |
The responsible supplier is the entity that carries this. It has to be an Australian or New Zealand legal entity holding an Australian Business Number, registered on the EESS registration database, and it declares that each item it supplies is electrically safe, which the scheme notes may require more than compliance with the relevant standard or a certificate or test report.
For a specifier the practical form of all this is one line in the schedule: name the module, and ask for the RCM evidence and the responsible supplier registration against it. For Level 2 and Level 3 equipment there is a database entry to point at.
The 0.9 m cord that moves the floor box
One figure in AS/NZS 3105 has a direct effect on the electrical drawing. Clause 8.4 limits the length of flexible cords where cord extension sockets or connectors are used to not more than 0.9 m. The Electrical Regulatory Authorities Council records, in its information notice on electrical portable outlet devices, that this requirement does not apply to devices with a single cord extension socket outlet facility.
So a multi-outlet portable device has a short tail. If the module in the middle of a boardroom table is portable outlet equipment, the outlet it plugs into cannot be at the wall. It has to be in a floor box, or in a leg, within reach of that cord. Discover this on site and the options are a new floor penetration or an extension lead, and one of those is not acceptable on a completed fitout.
Under the desk, and the feed from above
Where the top stays solid, the services go underneath it or come down to it. These are the published sizes for the trays, carriages and feeds in the accessories range.
| Product | Published size (mm) | Power and data provision | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|---|
| TRAX_t | 1273 and 1775 long, able to be cut to size | 4 GPO, USB and up to 2 data to each size or per user | Under the top, services carriage fixed anywhere along the length |
| TRAX_lite | 100 deep, 600 to 1400 wide, 150 high | 4 GPO and up to 2 data provision allowance | Undermount on a single or height adjustable desk |
| TRAX carriage | 1137, 1404 and 1670 overall, custom sizes available | Up to 2 data, 4 GPO and an inline USB adaptor | Removable carriage, position adjustable along the tracks |
| ZERO umbilical | 700, 1000 and 2700 long | Carries power and data from ceiling to desk | Ceiling fed workstations and meeting tables |
| Power Planter RO-8010 | 210 x 820 x 220, grommet 80 diameter | 2 by 2 power outlets as standard, outlets by others | On the worktop |
| Power Planter RO-8011 | 210 x 460 x 220, grommet 80 diameter | 2 by 2 power outlets as standard, outlets by others | On the worktop |
| M/Connect 3 | Not published | 5 ports, 30 W maximum power delivery | On the worktop or clamped to a monitor arm |
TRAX_lite is the one that answers the common problem: a desk that already exists and a solid top. It is a linear undermount assembly, a 2 mm mild steel plate with a 3 mm PET felt sling, installed independently of the furniture. The published width band of 600 to 1400 mm covers single desks through to a back to back pair.
Height adjustable desks are the case where the tray earns its place twice over. The top travels, the floor box does not, and the slack has to live somewhere that does not snag at either end of the stroke. A felt tray holds it; a cable sock does not. The frame side of that problem, including the cable tray requirement on the Ovation H frame and the 30 mm minimum gap between back to back pods, is covered in Thinking Works desking: Ovation, Rosie and Okidoki compared.
Feeding from the ceiling
Where there is no floor box and no chance of one, services come down. The ZERO umbilical cable riser is published at 700, 1000 and 2700 mm, with extra links available to suit ceiling height, made from post-consumer HDPE on steel tension wire. The three lengths are not a range to interpolate: they are the stock lengths, and the extra links are how a 3200 mm slab height gets covered.
A ceiling feed changes the furniture layout more than a floor box does, because the drop lands at a fixed point and the desk cannot move away from it. On a floor that is meant to be reconfigurable, that is a trade worth making deliberately rather than by default.
USB-C at the desk, and why the wattage belongs on the schedule
A USB-C port is no longer one thing. Before Revision 3.1 of the USB Power Delivery specification, power delivery was capped at 100 W using a 20 V based solution with cables rated to 5 A maximum current. Revision 3.1 added three fixed voltages above that.
| Fixed voltage | Introduced | Power band |
|---|---|---|
| 5 V, 9 V, 15 V, 20 V | Before Revision 3.1 | Up to 100 W |
| 28 V | Revision 3.1 | Over 100 W |
| 36 V | Revision 3.1 | Over 140 W |
| 48 V | Revision 3.1 | Over 180 W, to 240 W |
Revision 3.1 also introduced an adjustable voltage mode, giving a range from 15 V up to one of those three maximum voltages depending on available power, with devices able to request a voltage at 100 mV precision.
Against that spread, the published figure on a desk hub is the only number worth specifying. The Humanscale M/Connect 3 docking and charging hub is published with five charging ports, two of them dedicated to high speed charging, and 30 W maximum power delivery on the USB Data Hub. Three models are published: the M/Power Charging Hub, the USB Data Hub, and the Pro Dock, which uses a split dock arrangement keeping USB-C and USB-A ports above the work surface while housing fixed connections beneath it.
Thirty watts charges a phone or a tablet and will hold a laptop that is not working hard. It is not a single cable docking solution for a laptop that wants 65 W or more, and the brief usually assumes it is. If the requirement is one cable to the laptop, the number to put on the schedule is the wattage, not the port count. The mounting side of the same decision, including worktop thickness limits by mount type, is in monitor arm weight ranges: why the wrong arm fails in month three.
What to ask for before the schedule is issued
Seven questions settle almost every coordination problem that in-desk power creates. All seven are answerable from published material, and none of them needs a site visit.
- The worktop cut-out dimension for the specific model, not the model name alone.
- The published worktop thickness range, checked against the top as drawn including any built-up edge.
- Whether the outlets are supplied with the housing or by others, and which package carries them.
- Whether power and data are segregated inside the housing, so the cabler can terminate in the box.
- The cord length, because that sets how close the general purpose outlet has to be.
- The RCM marking and, for Level 2 and Level 3 equipment, the EESS registration against the responsible supplier.
- Who certifies the cabling on completion, and whose contract that certificate sits in.
Answer those while the table is still a drawing and the hole will be in the right place, the right size, and connected by people who are allowed to connect it.
Frequently asked
What size cut-out does an in-desk power box need?
It depends entirely on the model, and the published figures run from a narrow slot to a services spine. The four Fuel boxes are published at 402 by 86 mm for Fuel 90, 1000 by 210 mm for Fuel 91, 402 by 310 mm for Fuel 95 and 402 by 410 mm for Fuel 98. The four Seamless modules are published at 220 by 248 mm, 293 by 150 mm, 290 by 216 mm and 290 by 210 mm, with a rebate of 14 mm on three of them and 20 mm on the fourth. Give the joiner the dimension, not the model name, because the cut-out is machined before the top is finished.
Can an in-desk power module be fitted to a table that already exists?
Sometimes, and the answer is set by how the lid works. A Seamless lid is cut from the worktop itself so the module disappears into the table, which means the top and the module are made together and there is no retrofit. An under-desk tray is the alternative: TRAX_lite is published as a linear undermount assembly installed independently of the furniture, and the TRAX carriage is published as allowing post completion supply where tops already have a cut out or a lid. Where the module has not been settled, keep the top solid, because a tray can be added later and a hole cannot be filled.
Who is allowed to install power and data in a desk?
Three different trades, under three different instruments. The circuit and the general purpose outlet the module plugs into are electrical work under AS/NZS 3000, the Australian and New Zealand Wiring Rules, and are done by a licensed electrical contractor. The data cabling is cabling work under the Telecommunications Cabling Provider Rules 2025, which commenced on 31 March 2025, and must be performed by or under the supervision of a registered cabling provider, comply with AS/CA S009:2020, and be certified by the responsible cabling provider on completion. The furniture supplier supplies the housing, and in some ranges the outlets fitted into it.
Can power and data share the same in-desk box?
Yes, provided the box lets the cabler keep them apart. AS/CA S009:2020 sets minimum separation between customer cabling and low voltage power cabling, with clause 9.1 covering separation from low voltage power or high voltage circuits and clause 16.3 covering indoor cabling separation from low voltage power cables, and the distances set out in Table 2 and in Table G1 of Appendix G. Ranges that solve this publish it: Seamless publishes power and data segregation, TRAX_t keeps a separate top tier cableway for data, and the TRAX tear sheet states that data cabling is segregated from the main compartment by steel tracks located directly below the carriage.
How many watts does a desk USB-C port need?
More than most published desk hubs deliver, if the brief is one cable to a laptop. M/Connect 3 is published with 30 W maximum power delivery on the USB Data Hub, across five charging ports with two dedicated to high speed charging. The USB Power Delivery specification was capped at 100 W on a 20 V based solution with cables rated to 5 A until Revision 3.1 added fixed voltages of 28 V above 100 W, 36 V above 140 W and 48 V above 180 W, taking the ceiling to 240 W. Thirty watts charges a phone or a tablet and holds a light laptop, so the wattage belongs on the schedule rather than the port count.
Geneva specifies in-desk modules, under-desk trays and desktop hubs across the ranges it represents, including the Fuel and Seamless modules from Thinking Works and the TRAX and ZERO systems in the Klaro Design range. If you have a table drawing and no decision on the cut-out yet, send us the drawing and we will come back with the module that fits it and the dimension your joiner needs: get in touch with our team.