Planning new home with LoR in mind

[Benhar]

It has been my dream to create a light show but living in a condo, I didn’t want to anger my association. My family is building a house, so I will have no reservations in making our presence in the neighborhood known! :)

Since the house is a clean slate, I want to plan our electrical so I have outlets and enough circuits ready. I understand the voltage and amps part, what I’m struggling with is placement. 

We have our electrical walk through this coming week. If you could start from scratch, where do you wish you could have outlets, data, conduit, etc. 

[TheDucks]

No question about volts: 120 is the North American Standard and what LOR is shipped as.

AMPS is about intended Load (sometimes expressed as: Watts  / 120V = Amps).  Another consideration is duty cycle. The NEC says loads that exist over 4 hours  can not exceed 80% of the connector rating (plug + outlet) or breaker. LOR shopd 5-15P. that means, that each bank is limited to 12A if on for 4 hours (the bank may be rates for 20A, but the supplied cordset&plug is 15A.  You can fit 5-20R outlets 👍 (recommended. They accept either plug).

LEDS have seriously reduced current draw. eg I have 2 CTB16PC, 2 CMB24's and a Pixie4 (with 3 @ 330W 12V supplies). When I set everything that could do white to 100%: 5.4A (I estimate that if I slammed everything to 100%, it might hit 10A.)

The points are: Know your potential loads (strings, floods,mechanical props). More circuit locations are better than not enough. once the walls are closed, it get expensive. GFCI the individual outlets (not a GFCI breaker): Just read the posts here about tripped GFCI's. Only part of you show goes down this way.

Put outlets where you might put Controllers: That includes roof or 2nd floor eaves,   be sure to have some on either sid of walks or driveways to avoid tripping hazards .Out in the Yard (light post or fence post)  Avoid direct spray from irrigation as much as possible.

Run conduit for the Network (class 2 network can NOT share the same pipe with class 1 voltages) to those yard controller locations

Just my 2cents

[Mega Arch]

41 minutes ago, TheDucks said:

No question about volts: 120 is the North American Standard and what LOR is shipped as.

AMPS is about intended Load (sometimes expressed as: Watts  / 120V = Amps).  Another consideration is duty cycle. The NEC says loads that exist over 4 hours  can not exceed 80% of the connector rating (plug + outlet) or breaker. LOR shopd 5-15P. that means, that each bank is limited to 12A if on for 4 hours (the bank may be rates for 20A, but the supplied cordset&plug is 15A.  You can fit 5-20R outlets 👍 (recommended. They accept either plug).

LEDS have seriously reduced current draw. eg I have 2 CTB16PC, 2 CMB24's and a Pixie4 (with 3 @ 330W 12V supplies). When I set everything that could do white to 100%: 5.4A (I estimate that if I slammed everything to 100%, it might hit 10A.)

The points are: Know your potential loads (strings, floods,mechanical props). More circuit locations are better than not enough. once the walls are closed, it get expensive. GFCI the individual outlets (not a GFCI breaker): Just read the posts here about tripped GFCI's. Only part of you show goes down this way.

Put outlets where you might put Controllers: That includes roof or 2nd floor eaves,   be sure to have some on either sid of walks or driveways to avoid tripping hazards .Out in the Yard (light post or fence post)  Avoid direct spray from irrigation as much as possible.

Run conduit for the Network (class 2 network can NOT share the same pipe with class 1 voltages) to those yard controller locations

Just my 2cents

PERFECT

plus place extra conduit runs under the driveway and front yard sidewalk. Then you can pull/add whatever might come up in the future...

[Orville]

If I were starting over my attic would house all the AC Controllers and I'd have them wired to outlets from directly to each controller using the spade connections and terminals.  Outlets would be in the soffett {underneath the overhang around the house}  and I'd spread those channel outlets out at about 5 feet apart.  I'd also have them wired into the walls completely around the outside of the house.  The attic would become my LOR Workroom.

I'd also have Smart RGB lights inset in the soffett as well so I could have either option, use just RGB or a combo of AC Controllers and RGB lighting, that way if I wanted to mount props on the roof, such as a large inflatable, a blow mold, etc. I'd have easier access to a controller channel that way.  All outlets would be marked by Controller ID# and Channel #.  Each outlet would be split, that is each half would be a channel, so one dual outlet would be for example ID #01, Ch. #1 for the top and Ch. #2 for the bottom, next outlet would be Ch #3 top, Ch #4 bottom and so on until all 16 channels {8 outlets} were used for that controller.   I actually have a Controller in a large wooden box set up this way for use for indoor lighting, so it works.

This way all power is still in the attic and power is only supplied to these particular outlet when the controller is sending lighting commands to those outlets to light or turn on something plugged into one of them.  Outlets in the yard I'd have them color coded, green for regular AC power on all the time or green for those connected and labeled to controllers mounted in the attic.

Since RGB Controllers usually have to be kept closer to their lights, still need outlets with constanct AC power for those if you want to set up things like a CCR Tree,  RGB Siging faces or any RGB type prop out in the yard or on a wall.

Just the way I'd set up my home if I could have it done up the way I want it.

[{Bryce}]

The one thing that I would like the most is to have any conduit traveling from the inside to the outside of the house. This is important, especially if you are planning on using your computer to run the show. This very much depends on the software license level you have/are planning on getting. Find places where you can leave hardware. That way the show is much easier to set up for the beginning of each season. Hope this sheds some light.

[Benhar]

Thank you all for the feedback and points to consider. I know I have a long way until I can come close to some shows that I’ve seen, but at least it gives me something to strive to. 

I don’t expect my first season to be anything spectacular, but I want to be sure I’m as future-proofed as I can be. One thing I am stil confused about are circuits.

Just so I know I’m thinking this through correctly: let’s say in the future, I’m going to have three, 16-channel controllers (small potatos, I know). The controllers are 30A, so they need two separate 15A circuits? So for three controllers, I need six circuits? 

 

[Mega Arch]

7 hours ago, Benhar said:

Thank you all for the feedback and points to consider. I know I have a long way until I can come close to some shows that I’ve seen, but at least it gives me something to strive to. 

I don’t expect my first season to be anything spectacular, but I want to be sure I’m as future-proofed as I can be. One thing I am stil confused about are circuits.

Just so I know I’m thinking this through correctly: let’s say in the future, I’m going to have three, 16-channel controllers (small potatos, I know). The controllers are 30A, so they need two separate 15A circuits? So for three controllers, I need six circuits? 

 

In the old days maybe. But if you use LED lights, almost no way you can max out a 15 amp.

Now I would add 5 or so separate circuits so you can spread your show out. Keeps down on GFCI tripping.

And speaking of GFCIs, spend the extra $1 and tell contractor you want outdoor rated receptacles. They still need to be in weatherproof-when-in-use covers. But they will hold up longer as they are built with moisture resistant internal hardware, etc. 

Edited December 26, 2018 by Mega Arch

[TheDucks]

9 hours ago, Benhar said:

Thank you all for the feedback and points to consider. I know I have a long way until I can come close to some shows that I’ve seen, but at least it gives me something to strive to. 

I don’t expect my first season to be anything spectacular, but I want to be sure I’m as future-proofed as I can be. One thing I am stil confused about are circuits.

Just so I know I’m thinking this through correctly: let’s say in the future, I’m going to have three, 16-channel controllers (small potatos, I know). The controllers are 30A, so they need two separate 15A circuits? So for three controllers, I need six circuits? 

 

LED's. Look at the label part that says "You can connect ## many strings (end to end)". That is  just about ~3A, or less than half of a single CTB16 channels rating.  3A * 8 channels per bank would be 24 (overloaded BANK Amps). So, if you plan to use a LOT of strings, per channel, then YES, you need 2 circuits for THAT controller.  FWIW I just converted both my AC controllers to a single cord (12A continuous load rating) as none of my channel loads even made it to 1A (12W was my biggest: 4 Big Bulb path markers. I could put the other 3 sets on the same channel without a worry if I did not want independent control)

💡 If you need 2 circuits at a location: Have the electrician put in a 2-Gang box.  GFCI outlets can NOT be split. Even if you only need 1 circuit, you might put in a 2-gang and make the second outlet a simple 'down stream' connection

[Orville]

The one thing I forgot to mention I'd add is inside/outside pass through plates for Cat5 cables or any type cat cable that needs to go outside to the RGB controllers.  Would have at least a dual pass through and at these pass throughs would also be eave mounted under the overhang for roof items, and I'd have them mount near ground level around the house, probably would have them spaced at about 20-30 feet apart from each other at each location.  I'd have conduit so that the the cat cables coming from them could pass through under the sidewalk and driveway, so no trip hazards across those walkway/driving areas.  I'd also make sure there were E-Z Access panels that blend in for replacement of a bad cable, since they do go bad from time to time.  So definitely don't want to have to hammer down or tear open a wall just to replace a cable!

After all, still have to connect those RGB Controllers back to the computer to get those RGB lights and Props dancing to the music.