WildWeasel Posted October 23, 2016 Share Posted October 23, 2016 (edited) Hello all! I am new to the whole holiday light show and LoR hobby. My wife is the curator of a local museum and I'm "volunteering" my technical skills (I am an IT technician for a local school district) to create a holiday light show. Her boss is a very competitive person and she wants to one up the county courthouse here in town with their basic LoR show. So I've been doing my research and planning for the past month (I wish they would have told me about this during the summer...) and I'm getting a shopping list of the components I want to use. This leads me to my question: What is the range the LOR1602 Pro AC Light Controllers between each? I understand it is transmitted over Ethernet cables (Cat6 in our case), so what is the reliable maximum distance between controllers? I've poured over the LoR web site and have yet to come across that number. Thanks for any input!! WildWeasel Edited October 23, 2016 by WildWeasel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Posted October 23, 2016 Share Posted October 23, 2016 LOR runs on the RS485 protocol. You have a distance of 4000 feet that is available. If you have any networking (Cisco, TCP/IP, routing/switching) background, be sure to remember that the controllers are simply using the network cables to make the connection. When you are connecting this to one of the USB485 adapters, you are NOT dealing with TCP/IP, but RS485 protocol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmmienLightFan Posted October 23, 2016 Share Posted October 23, 2016 16 minutes ago, WildWeasel said: I understand it is transmitted over Ethernet cables (Cat6 in our case), so what is the reliable maximum distance between controllers? A long, long way. So fr that you don't have to worry about the maximum range, unless your controllers are placed over a kilometre apart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ItsMeBobO Posted October 23, 2016 Share Posted October 23, 2016 (edited) Welcome Wild Weasel ! Ut oh.. you have thrown down a challenge. You may have opened the flood gates. What is your budget range? Edited October 23, 2016 by ItsMeBobO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WildWeasel Posted October 24, 2016 Author Share Posted October 24, 2016 6 hours ago, Don said: LOR runs on the RS485 protocol. You have a distance of 4000 feet that is available. If you have any networking (Cisco, TCP/IP, routing/switching) background, be sure to remember that the controllers are simply using the network cables to make the connection. When you are connecting this to one of the USB485 adapters, you are NOT dealing with TCP/IP, but RS485 protocol. 4,000 ft?! I was afraid it was going to be in the 100 ft range, so this makes me happy and we will have a lot of flexibility for future expansion. I completed Cisco's CCNA coursework in '07, so I do have experience with TCP/IP networking. I have to admit that I am not familiar with RS485, hence the question. 6 hours ago, ItsMeBobO said: Welcome Wild Weasel ! Ut oh.. you have thrown down a challenge. You may have opened the flood gates. What is your budget range? Thanks @ItsMeBobO! There is no budget per se, but the budget isn't vast. Right now I'm looking about the $1500-$2000 for the show parts. They have a lot of lights and displays, but they wanted to add the show aspect, with an FM transmitter. I'm working on building a foundation that we can build on every year. Right now I'm looking at combining a PRO Series LOR1602Wg3-MP3 and two Professional AC Light Controllers(LOR1602) to get us started. I'm also looking at FM transmitters that will go the whole length of the display (~600ft) and the only thing I've found is on Amazon: TIVDIO 5W / 15W Wireless FM Transmitter Dual Mode Long Range Mini Home Radio Stereo Station PLL LCD with Antenna(Silver). If you guys have any suggestions, please share! 6 hours ago, EmmienLightFan said: A long, long way. So fr that you don't have to worry about the maximum range, unless your controllers are placed over a kilometre apart. The area I'm working with is about 100 ft deep and 600 ft long, so there is no need to go a full km! This photo is one my wife took last year of the display items they currently own. As you can see, snow is a regular thing out here. What are some procedures to keep the network cables from corroding? Or do I just relegate myself to re-terminating the network cables every year? Thank you everyone for your input!! WildWeasel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmmienLightFan Posted October 24, 2016 Share Posted October 24, 2016 18 hours ago, WildWeasel said: As you can see, snow is a regular thing out here. What are some procedures to keep the network cables from corroding? Or do I just relegate myself to re-terminating the network cables every year? Thank you everyone for your input!! WildWeasel Direct burial Cat6 holds up well. I ran lots of Cat6 through my guttering, which probably froze over a few times. All terminations should be inside some sort of enclosure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WildWeasel Posted October 25, 2016 Author Share Posted October 25, 2016 14 hours ago, EmmienLightFan said: Direct burial Cat6 holds up well. I ran lots of Cat6 through my guttering, which probably froze over a few times. All terminations should be inside some sort of enclosure. I had a meeting the grounds guy at the museum and he said that we can't bury anything. I suggested that we could go with the ELL (Easy Light Linker) and bypass the weather issues all together. He was very pleased with the idea, so now another item to look into. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. P Posted October 25, 2016 Share Posted October 25, 2016 The only issues with ELLs is the cost. If you only have a $1500 budget for the size of the display that you posted above the ELLs will eat up a good size of your budget. The cost for a pair is equivalent to an extra controller so I would recommend that you do a good layout before you purchase and see what would benefit you more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WildWeasel Posted October 25, 2016 Author Share Posted October 25, 2016 3 minutes ago, Mr. P said: The only issues with ELLs is the cost. If you only have a $1500 budget for the size of the display that you posted above the ELLs will eat up a good size of your budget. The cost for a pair is equivalent to an extra controller so I would recommend that you do a good layout before you purchase and see what would benefit you more. The $1500 budget was me trying to regulate myself from going crazy with this project. He was very excited about the idea since it would mean a few less cables strewn across the property. I'm going to meet with the site superintendent later this week and we'll see how it goes. I suspect that she will agree to the ELLs and we'll go ahead with the purchase. WildWeasel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmac Posted October 25, 2016 Share Posted October 25, 2016 (edited) On 10/24/2016 at 0:00 AM, WildWeasel said: I'm also looking at FM transmitters that will go the whole length of the display (~600ft) and the only thing I've found is on Amazon: TIVDIO 5W / 15W Wireless FM Transmitter Dual Mode Long Range Mini Home Radio Stereo Station PLL LCD with Antenna(Silver). If you guys have any suggestions, please share! You might want to look at this FM Transmitter, is less money than what your looking at and quite a few guys on this form use it and really like it and say it works well. https://www.amazon.com/CZH-CZH-05B-Wireless-Broadcast-Transmitter/dp/B01JS39622/ref=sr_1_20?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1477436300&sr=1-20&keywords=Fail+safe+fm+transmitter Edited October 25, 2016 by gmac Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted October 25, 2016 Share Posted October 25, 2016 On 10/23/2016 at 9:00 PM, WildWeasel said: Right now I'm looking at combining a PRO Series LOR1602Wg3-MP3 and two Professional AC Light Controllers(LOR1602) to get us started. I'm also looking at FM transmitters that will go the whole length of the display (~600ft) and the only thing I've found is on Amazon: TIVDIO 5W / 15W Wireless FM Transmitter Dual Mode Long Range Mini Home Radio Stereo Station PLL LCD with Antenna(Silver). If you guys have any suggestions, please share! Just so it's said, that transmitter is not even close to legal power for use in the United States. Although the power limits for Part 15 is specified as a certain field strength at a specified distance, not as a transmitter power, so you can't simply say that a certain transmit power level makes it legal. However with that said, you can at least get in the neighborhood of legal signal by looking at the transmitter power level. This transmitter is somewhere in the 20 to 100 times more power than is legal. The FCC fines CAN get quit large for excessive power (or you may get away with it for years). gmac suggested looking at the CZH-05B. Many people here use that transmitter quite successfully - including me. I run it on low power into a 6dB attenuator, but then into a real antenna - http://newburghlights.org/Technical.html near the bottom of the page. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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