AMPS PER Channel

[Guest guest]

I looked at the LORWIKI and read my brochures, but I still cannot seem to get a clear answer.

I have a 1602 controller. How many amps can each individual channel handle? How many light strings on average per channel (I know that depends on the type of mini-light used)?

Or, is the number of lights per channel insignificant? What I mean by that is if you for some silly reason you wanted to put all of your lights on 1 channel (1 plug on the controller) you would be fine as long as it did not exceed the total ampacity ratings of the ceramic fuses on the entire board and not just that plug.

I saw that you could put about 9000 minis if you have the controller upgraded with 20 amp fast blow fuses and the main power cords upgraded to 10 AWG. A few hundred less if you left it as is as a 30 AMP controller.

The reason I ask is I have some channels that I may only have 300 mini lights on but another channel that I would like to max out as much as I can so I get as close to the full power available from the controller (maximizing my dollars spent).

Can anyone advise? Thanks!

[Guest guest]

Each channel can handle 8AMPS, MAX.

However, each side of the controller can handle a total of 15AMPS in the default configuration. (More, if you have modified it, but we won't get into that.)

A 'standard' string of 100 count mini lights is .34amps. If you divide 30amps by .34amps, you get 88.23. This means you could have about 8800 lights on a 16 channel, 30amp controller. If you were to evenly space these out, you would have about 5.5 strings per channel. Throw away that half string per channel, and you can run about 8000 on a standard 16 channel, 30amp controller.

[Guest guest]

Thanks for the quick reply, Don.

I have a mega-tree and 3 "mini" mega-trees.

The 16 channels are configured as follows:

Mega Tree - 1 channel solid color / 8 channels for effects

3 mini mega trees - 2 channels each

Stobes - 1 channel

The smaller trees will only use about 1500 lights total spread over the 6 channels. I will them use about 16 sets for the 8 mega channels. In theory and taking my small amount of strobes into account, does this mean that I could put about 50 100 count light strings on just channel 9 (my mega-trees solid color)? I want the tree to illumiate brightly when I call for just channel 9.

Thanks!

[LightORamaChuck]

Let me recommend a couple of PlanetChristmas reference pages:

For figuring how much current various Christmas light strings need: http://www.planetchristmas.com/FigurePower.htm

For figuring the wire size you need for moving around electrical current: http://www.planetchristmas.com/WireSize.htm

[Guest guest]

Max power per side:

Assuming 2 seperate power sources, each feeding one half of the board, that gives you 15 amps per side (or 20 if you change the fuses, change the supply cord to 12awg or better, and make certain you have a circuit breaker that can feed them (more on that below.)

Max power per board:

At 15 amps per side, that's 30 amps per board. 30 amps divided by .33 per string gives you a max of 90 strings (9000 lights) per board. Or, at 20 amps per side, that's 40 amps per board. 40 amps divided by .33 per string gives you a max of 120 strings (12000 lights) per board.

Max power per channel:

The max amps per channel is 8 amps, regardless of the supply current (15a or 20a) to the board. So, 8 amps divided by .33 per string gives you a max of 24 strings (2400 lights) per channel.

Wire size:

Just to be thorough: The "Code" rates 12awg wire for 20 amps, and 10awg for 30 amps. BUT! The"code" states that you can only build to 80% of a wires rated capacity. So, although you put a 20 amp breaker on 12awg, and a 30 amp breaker on 10awg, at 80%, those circuits are only "good" for a constant load of 16amps and 24 amps respectively. This is to avoid nusance tripping, as well as reduce fire danger (a 12awg gets warm at 20amps). That is why you will see 12awg and 10awg sometimes get "mixed up" when wiring to the boards.

[Guest guest]

Thanks everyone. I think I got it now. First year with a small LOR display and it has been fun so far.

[Guest guest]

Micheal, another huge factor is what heat sink do you have if any. If you have the CTB-16D (w/o heatsink) then you are maxed to 2 amps per channel. If you have the CTB-16D (w/ heatsink) then you are maxed to 8 amps per channel. And then if you did one of the build your own kits there is a 8 amp version and a 7.5 amp version.

So you also need to take a look at that info as well.

[Guest guest]

Don wrote:

Each channel can handle 8AMPS, MAX.

However, each side of the controller can handle a total of 15AMPS in the default configuration. (More, if you have modified it, but we won't get into that.)

A 'standard' string of 100 count mini lights is .34amps. If you divide 30amps by .34amps, you get 88.23. This means you could have about 8800 lights on a 16 channel, 30amp controller. If you were to evenly space these out, you would have about 5.5 strings per channel. Throw away that half string per channel, and you can run about 8000 on a standard 16 channel, 30amp controller.

Now, technically, about 8,000 lights would be the max you would have lit at any one time, if you had 5 strings per channel on 16 channels, and all 16 channels were on at full power.

However, could you have up to 23, 100 bulbs strings on any one channel, totalling 2,300 lights? (23 strings times .34 amps = 7.82 amps). Then, you could have 16 channels with 2,300 lights each, or a total of 36,800 lights total. HOWEVER, using this example, only 4,600 lights could be on at any one time, as 7.82 amps times 2 would exceed the 15 amp limit on any one side. So, each side could have 1 channel lit at a time.

It would actually be better to have 1 less string per channel, to total 7.48 amps, so one could have 2 channels on per side, or 4 channels total.

(Understand, using the 80% rule, one wouldn't want 7.48 amps per channel either...6.4 amps would be about the max under this rule)

I am correct on this theory, right??? :cool:

[Guest guest]

The 80% loading is for the "code" type of stuff, such as teh breakers, and the wire. The LOR equipment is so well built, I have no doubt that it can run at its rated capacity (8amps per channel).