turbojack Posted November 26, 2019 Share Posted November 26, 2019 I have some Led strips in the house and had a Pix 8 inside running the 2 strips. I start the show and lights are working great in the window. I then go outside and start checking everything in the front yard to make sure everything is working and plugged in. While I am in the front yard I hear our fire alarm go off and my phone starts saying "Fire". I open the front door and house is full of smoke. I look around and the room that the controller was in had the most smoke. Good part was I did not see any flames. I unplug unit and take it outside. Then start trying to get all of the smoke out of the house. Board is about 3 years old. When I go back with a new board I am going to put a fuse holder in line with the power going to the board so hopefully if something shorts out again it will kill power to the complete board. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted November 26, 2019 Share Posted November 26, 2019 Good thing that you had a working smoke detector! Could have been a lot worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDucks Posted November 26, 2019 Share Posted November 26, 2019 The fuses ON board only protect the Outputs. Please tell us you were not running that board loose, where the traces could contact anything. 😲 You just discovered a excellent reason to mount electronics in a FIRE RESISTANT (UL rated) enclosure and not just a Tupperware type plastic box . If you do put inline fuses, be sure to use Automotive type. Those are 32V (for low resistance) designed. They make a larger size Blade style the goes from 30 to 50A That looks like a HC PSU. If you remove the 4 screws on the Power cord end, there is a adjustment where you can raise the voltage (to compensate for the fuse drop) to be correct at the Pixie terminals. 5.1V or 12.7 are safe numbers USE CARE, while the power is applied. An insulated 'pot type' screwdriver is recommended. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbojack Posted November 26, 2019 Author Share Posted November 26, 2019 Board was in a box that HC sells. Not sure if it is UL approved for fire. Picture is after I removed from the box. Since I was in the process of connecting everything up I did have the box open up. I am going to mount the new one in a metal electrical junction box. Ducks, thanks for the info on the voltage and fuses. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDucks Posted November 26, 2019 Share Posted November 26, 2019 2 hours ago, turbojack said: Board was in a box that HC sells. Not sure if it is UL approved for fire. Picture is after I removed from the box. Since I was in the process of connecting everything up I did have the box open up. I am going to mount the new one in a metal electrical junction box. Ducks, thanks for the info on the voltage and fuses. HC (and LOR) use boxes designed for electronics (UL rated). They will smoke, but not stay burning without power (on the bad part inside). The reason I was asking. Was something shorted (the technical usage of this term), that caused large currents to flow or a component to burn. If the board was not mounted, it could float any place, and contact metal Burning that bad usually takes a bit of power Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbojack Posted November 26, 2019 Author Share Posted November 26, 2019 The power supply is 200 watts, thus the reason for wanting to go back with a fuse ahead of the board. I had the box open since I had just connected the cat5 wires and was going thru doing my first test of the display. After I had connected the cat5's I did not close the box when I went outside. Something could have fallen off of the table or window frame and contacted on the board or the board could have gone south on it's own. I took it out and put on patio table under bright lights to see what happen but it was burned up pretty good. If something had contacted the board it burned up with the board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayStang Posted November 29, 2019 Share Posted November 29, 2019 (edited) On 11/26/2019 at 11:56 AM, turbojack said: The power supply is 200 watts, thus the reason for wanting to go back with a fuse ahead of the board. I had the box open since I had just connected the cat5 wires and was going thru doing my first test of the display. After I had connected the cat5's I did not close the box when I went outside. Something could have fallen off of the table or window frame and contacted on the board or the board could have gone south on it's own. I took it out and put on patio table under bright lights to see what happen but it was burned up pretty good. If something had contacted the board it burned up with the board. cat have a bald spot? My son (16) helping me with extension cords for our inflatables " Can you get me a screw driver? a rock is stuck in this." ( I almost let him do it? ) but I went with is that cord plugged in? Edited November 29, 2019 by JayStang Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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