CMB-16DC

[paulcav151]

I read the manual, and apparently I missed where they explain exactly what I need to power the board, and what the outputs are. If someone can please tell me what I need to power the DC board, I can figure out the outputs myself later.

Thanks!

[Victory402]

Paul,

You can power the board with many different voltage levels. If your lights run on 12v, then thats the voltage you power the board with.

Keep in mind that the same power supply you use to power your lights will also power the board.

I think there are some jumpers you need to switch around on the board to adjust the voltage to whatever your power supply for your lights are.

Hope this helps...

[Guest guest]

The board electronics needs 12V..if your devices being powered are less, you need to use a separate 12V supply...barrel connector provided. Your input voltage becomes your output (device supply) voltage for each channel. Remember, it's DC input for power on this board.

Power for your devices is broken into 2 banks..1-8 and 9-16...terminal strips on left side of board. You even have the flexibility of two different supply voltages for the two 8 channel banks...which really adds some versatility.

Page 10 of the manual covers it all.

[rmturner54]

The DC board requires a 12VDC source or higher on the 1-8 channels power input. It will automatically be used to power the circuit board logic. You may use different voltages on banks 1-8 and 9-16. The ground between the two inputs is common.

I use a 150W 12VDC supply to power both sides of the board.

[Guest guest]

rmturner54 wrote:

The DC board requires a 12VDC source or higher on the 1-8 channels power input. It will automatically be used to power the circuit board logic. You may use different voltages on banks 1-8 and 9-16. The ground between the two inputs is common.

I use a 150W 12VDC supply to power both sides of the board.

150W DC supply..or is that a typo?

On that topic..found a good one on ebay..12V, 20A...36 dollars including shipping...30A model not too much more. Looks like there are a couple manufacturers providing a similar supply that everyone is selling.

When you look at the individual bank capacity, and what is typically run from the DC board, 20-30A will cover a lot of applications.

[Max-Paul]

DonFL wrote:

rmturner54 wrote:

The DC board requires a 12VDC source or higher on the 1-8 channels power input. It will automatically be used to power the circuit board logic. You may use different voltages on banks 1-8 and 9-16. The ground between the two inputs is common.

I use a 150W 12VDC supply to power both sides of the board.

150W DC supply..or is that a typo?

On that topic..found a good one on ebay..12V, 20A...36 dollars including shipping...30A model not too much more. Looks like there are a couple manufacturers providing a similar supply that everyone is selling.

When you look at the individual bank capacity, and what is typically run from the DC board, 20-30A will cover a lot of applications.

Why the shock and awe of 150 W DC supply at 12 volts? Apply Watt's law and reveal the amps. Then you wont be so in awe. I'll give you a hint, its less than the one ordered from e-bay.

[Guest guest]

Max-Paul wrote:

DonFL wrote:

rmturner54 wrote:

The DC board requires a 12VDC source or higher on the 1-8 channels power input. It will automatically be used to power the circuit board logic. You may use different voltages on banks 1-8 and 9-16. The ground between the two inputs is common.

I use a 150W 12VDC supply to power both sides of the board.

150W DC supply..or is that a typo?

On that topic..found a good one on ebay..12V, 20A...36 dollars including shipping...30A model not too much more. Looks like there are a couple manufacturers providing a similar supply that everyone is selling.

When you look at the individual bank capacity, and what is typically run from the DC board, 20-30A will cover a lot of applications.

Why the shock and awe of 150 W DC supply at 12 volts? Apply Watt's law and reveal the amps. Then you wont be so in awe. I'll give you a hint, its less than the one ordered from e-bay.

Duh..not enough coffee before responding...read 150A, not W...:shock:

[rmturner54]

I meant exactly what I wrote. 150W, 12VDC power supply , that's 12.5 amps to power the entire DC board.

And I bought mine 2 years ago for $19.99 from circuitspecialists.com

Its now $40.

[Guest guest]

Yup, i hear you..as mentioned above read it as 150A, hence my question. Too early in the morning to be thinking...sorry.

The prices have definitely went up..both ebay, and the supply houses..

[rmturner54]

Likewise, did not mean to sound harsh......working on first cup of coffee.

[Surfing4Dough]

2nd year LOR newbie, 1st year DC controller newbie with a question on this topic...

Awaiting arrival of 1 CMB-16DC-QC. Not confident in my understanding of this power issue (even after reading the manual and posts here). So if all I am planning to use this for is Rainbow Floods (RF) & Rainbow Spots (RS) (honestly not sure what else to use this for anyway), my power requirements would be minimal?

This is what I believe my max setup would ever be (probably won't even add the daisy chained set):

Channel Device
1,2,3 RF--RF (i.e., 2 floods daisy chained)
4,5,6 RF--RF
7,8,9 RS--RS
10,11,12 RS--RS
13,14,15 RS--RS
16 spare channel (what else can I use this for???)

Considering I think max demand of a RF is 1.08A, and a RS 0.36A, then that means I wouldn't be over 6.5A, and I assume that the DC board requires less than 0.5A (total of less than 7A then), so as long as I have a 12V power supply greater than 100W I would be fine? I think I have an old 386 PC in a closet, that I am going to crack open to see what its power supply consists of, but I would assume that I could somehow make that work as long as it is over 100W. Correct? Anything I would have to modify on the PS? Any insight on this would be appreciated.

And so I can account for my entire display power requirements, does PC-type power supply only require the demand of the lights connected to it, or does a 100W PS constantly pull 100W regardless of what is connected to it?

Sorry for the "Electricity for Dummies" questions, but would rather not destroy something or buy something not needed. Thanks!

[emcee]

Consider this web site as a starting place. There are many more such sites that will take you through the process of converting a PC power supply to a bench (or lighting) power supply.

http://web2.murraystate.edu/andy.batts/ps/powersupply.htm

For example, I used a terminal strip instead of binding post to make 12 volt connections ($4 at Fry's)

Mike :cool:

Attached files

[TJ Hvasta]

Aaahhh, Murray State.. a great college One of my fav conversion websites for PC supplys..

[rmturner54]

I knew that

[Max-Paul]

Surfing4Dough wrote:

2nd year LOR newbie, 1st year DC controller newbie with a question on this topic...

Awaiting arrival of 1 CMB-16DC-QC. Not confident in my understanding of this power issue (even after reading the manual and posts here). So if all I am planning to use this for is Rainbow Floods (RF) & Rainbow Spots (RS) (honestly not sure what else to use this for anyway), my power requirements would be minimal?

This is what I believe my max setup would ever be (probably won't even add the daisy chained set):

Channel Device
1,2,3 RF--RF (i.e., 2 floods daisy chained)
4,5,6 RF--RF
7,8,9 RS--RS
10,11,12 RS--RS
13,14,15 RS--RS
16 spare channel (what else can I use this for???)

Considering I think max demand of a RF is 1.08A, and a RS 0.36A, then that means I wouldn't be over 6.5A, and I assume that the DC board requires less than 0.5A (total of less than 7A then), so as long as I have a 12V power supply greater than 100W I would be fine? I think I have an old 386 PC in a closet, that I am going to crack open to see what its power supply consists of, but I would assume that I could somehow make that work as long as it is over 100W. Correct? Anything I would have to modify on the PS? Any insight on this would be appreciated.

And so I can account for my entire display power requirements, does PC-type power supply only require the demand of the lights connected to it, or does a 100W PS constantly pull 100W regardless of what is connected to it?

Sorry for the "Electricity for Dummies" questions, but would rather not destroy something or buy something not needed. Thanks!

Hi Surfing,

Just to be clear and you might already know this, if so, disreguard.

Ok, most PC power supplies are rated at total wattage. So, when you buy say a 400W power supply. What you are actually getting is lets say 150W for 5V, 250W 12V, 50W 3V and 50W -12V. Well those numbers are just something I pulled out of the air, but the purpose is to make a point to not mistake the total wattage which is in bold print. Usually there is a matrix that breaks this all down. Make sure that you look at the 12V and find out how many watts are actually available on the 12V buss.

As to your question about drawing wattage with and without the load. I cant give you actual numbers but the unloaded wattage draw from the 120V supply will be lower than when the load is on the Power Supply. I am going to take an educated guess and say that you unloaded draw on the 120V supply is going to be about 100 watts and with load about 140 Watts. But remember, even though you are not using the 3V, 5V or -12V supplies they will still be using some power from the 120V supply.

So, your up front cost is low by using a PC P.S. over time the extra current used will pay for a dedicated 12V P.S. But I dont have enough data to tell you how many years it will take.

[Ross Boelling]

I just ordered a 200W 12V supply from Jameco today for $39.95, overstock I guess, catalog lists for 89.99... www.jameco.com Part Number: 1585557 Metapo IM201C12-IM-02 +12V @ 0-16.6A 200.0W 7.0x4.5x2.0 120 0.5 0.5 — UL/CUL/TUV/CE 89.95 79.95 72.95

[Surfing4Dough]

Max-Paul wrote:

Surfing4Dough wrote:

2nd year LOR newbie, 1st year DC controller newbie with a question on this topic...

Awaiting arrival of 1 CMB-16DC-QC. Not confident in my understanding of this power issue (even after reading the manual and posts here). So if all I am planning to use this for is Rainbow Floods (RF) & Rainbow Spots (RS) (honestly not sure what else to use this for anyway), my power requirements would be minimal?

This is what I believe my max setup would ever be (probably won't even add the daisy chained set):

Channel Device
1,2,3 RF--RF (i.e., 2 floods daisy chained)
4,5,6 RF--RF
7,8,9 RS--RS
10,11,12 RS--RS
13,14,15 RS--RS
16 spare channel (what else can I use this for???)

Considering I think max demand of a RF is 1.08A, and a RS 0.36A, then that means I wouldn't be over 6.5A, and I assume that the DC board requires less than 0.5A (total of less than 7A then), so as long as I have a 12V power supply greater than 100W I would be fine? I think I have an old 386 PC in a closet, that I am going to crack open to see what its power supply consists of, but I would assume that I could somehow make that work as long as it is over 100W. Correct? Anything I would have to modify on the PS? Any insight on this would be appreciated.

And so I can account for my entire display power requirements, does PC-type power supply only require the demand of the lights connected to it, or does a 100W PS constantly pull 100W regardless of what is connected to it?

Sorry for the "Electricity for Dummies" questions, but would rather not destroy something or buy something not needed. Thanks!

Hi Surfing,

Just to be clear and you might already know this, if so, disreguard.

Ok, most PC power supplies are rated at total wattage. So, when you buy say a 400W power supply. What you are actually getting is lets say 150W for 5V, 250W 12V, 50W 3V and 50W -12V. Well those numbers are just something I pulled out of the air, but the purpose is to make a point to not mistake the total wattage which is in bold print. Usually there is a matrix that breaks this all down. Make sure that you look at the 12V and find out how many watts are actually available on the 12V buss.

As to your question about drawing wattage with and without the load. I cant give you actual numbers but the unloaded wattage draw from the 120V supply will be lower than when the load is on the Power Supply. I am going to take an educated guess and say that you unloaded draw on the 120V supply is going to be about 100 watts and with load about 140 Watts. But remember, even though you are not using the 3V, 5V or -12V supplies they will still be using some power from the 120V supply.

So, your up front cost is low by using a PC P.S. over time the extra current used will pay for a dedicated 12V P.S. But I dont have enough data to tell you how many years it will take.

Thank you for this useful reply (just now got to reading it due to being out of town). No I didn't know any of that since I have never really examined a PC power supply. That info probably gives me enough reason to instead get a devoted 12V supply.

[Robert Burton]

Boy what timing to run across this thread! I literally 30 to 40 minutes ago got my LOR DC board. And I too are going to use these with RBF's and RBS's. I have a 25amp power supply that I was going to use for this, but honestly the pc power supplies are interesting. I have one that has gone south...that was used on a ham radio repeater. It had 2 pc power supplies together to give me 50amps! I know that is overkill...and unfortunately might not be worth trying to fix (possibly).

Now my question is this. Literally am on the first page of the manual...so hopefully my questions aren't too dumb.

The 25amp supply I was going to use...is pretty big. A pc supply really would be smaller to fix into some sort of box. Would I be better off using the 25amp supply? The controller is going to be under a covered porch...so I think I can keep it out of the elements (the larger supply).

What do you think?

Thanks,
Robert
Fayetteville, GA

[rmturner54]

This is the power supply I used from http://www.web-tronics.com

IT's a single output, 150watt, 12V, 12.5A . Cost was $19.90 + $14 shipping 2 years ago.

Attached is how I mounted mine. Nothing fancy, but no problems witht he weather, it sits in the middle of my display


Attached files

[TJ Hvasta]

hmmmm, nice fit of that supply into the same case..

Rob, I have been tossing around the idea of pc supplies (I have several) or going with my old ham radio supplies.. the Astron 30a is prob like yours, too big/heavy.. but I was going to put it in the garage and just run the 12v spt2 out to the controller, maybe a 25' run.. the pc supplies, if you removed them from thier case, would prob fit like rm's did.

TJ, NS2E