Bill Schnur Posted November 17, 2018 Share Posted November 17, 2018 I recently purchased the starter package controller 16 channels. It say it requires 30amp. Is this really needed? I will only have one to two strands on each line with no LED lights(which I know draw less. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Posted November 17, 2018 Share Posted November 17, 2018 It supports up to 30 amps* not requires. *When properly wired. With your stated usage, this won't be a problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Hamilton Posted November 17, 2018 Share Posted November 17, 2018 Just to embellish on the reply a little bit. If you want to know how much amperage will be drawn from your outlet. Add up the amperage from all strings that you put on the controller. Although the controller also draws some current, it isn't a lot in comparison to your light strings. This gives you a ball park amount of current that you will be using. And with LED lights, you would won't even get close to the limit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDucks Posted November 18, 2018 Share Posted November 18, 2018 1 hour ago, Richard Hamilton said: Just to embellish on the reply a little bit. If you want to know how much amperage will be drawn from your outlet. Add up the amperage from all strings that you put on the controller. Although the controller also draws some current, it isn't a lot in comparison to your light strings. This gives you a ball park amount of current that you will be using. And with LED lights, you would won't even get close to the limit. That is not exactly correct. Because you are working at 12V (or 5V) the currents are much higher for a given wattage compared to 120VAC. A string of 50 12V bullets is 3A. 1000 bullets would be 30A. Now that is a lot of LEDS and well past what you can reliably drive with the 8 ports on a CMB24 (the voltage drop on strings of 100 becomes pretty bad.. I guess that you could run 2 strings of 100 (200 nodes) per port, but that would push the capacity HARD 2 * 6A * 4) My 12V PSU can supply 33A. running it that hard for very long, is not advised (80% derate rule) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilMassey Posted November 18, 2018 Share Posted November 18, 2018 They are talking specifically about AC controllers, not DC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Posted November 18, 2018 Share Posted November 18, 2018 Yeah, this is the starter kit, 16 channels. All AC. Let's not confuse things. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDucks Posted November 18, 2018 Share Posted November 18, 2018 My bad. I thought there were more than 1 flavor of 'starter kit' (t just thought that was the term for a 'bundle: controller w/dongle and showtime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Hamilton Posted November 18, 2018 Share Posted November 18, 2018 (edited) 17 hours ago, TheDucks said: That is not exactly correct. Because you are working at 12V (or 5V) the currents are much higher for a given wattage compared to 120VAC. A string of 50 12V bullets is 3A. 1000 bullets would be 30A. Now that is a lot of LEDS and well past what you can reliably drive with the 8 ports on a CMB24 (the voltage drop on strings of 100 becomes pretty bad.. I guess that you could run 2 strings of 100 (200 nodes) per port, but that would push the capacity HARD 2 * 6A * 4) My 12V PSU can supply 33A. running it that hard for very long, is not advised (80% derate rule) Being an electronics engineer, I agree with your comment. Thanks for clearing things up. What I was referring to is that a string of commercially available lights will always quote a wattage or current at 120V AC even if the string might actually be working at a lower voltage via an inline device reducing the voltage. And since the controller output strings are 120VAC, it is an apples to apples comparison. It seems that you understand that. 😁 So, I am suggesting that the OP compare the amperage or wattage that is quoted on a string of lights from the manufacturer and use that as the guideline. Edited November 18, 2018 by Richard Hamilton Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Schnur Posted November 23, 2018 Author Share Posted November 23, 2018 Thank you all for you help and advice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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