My first control box

[RaceMedic]

Newbie questions here.

1. On the bottom of the control box there are three holes for the power cords, plugs etc. There is an additional small one ... is that just for air ?

2. What is the best way to run the CAT5 cable into the box ?

Thanks !

Dave

[Surfing4Dough]

RaceMedic wrote:

Newbie questions here.

1. On the bottom of the control box there are three holes for the power cords, plugs etc. There is an additional small one ... is that just for air ? See question #2.

2. What is the best way to run the CAT5 cable into the box ? See question #1.

Thanks !

Dave

[RaceMedic]

Now I feel stupid. :shock:

Thanks,

Dave

[Surfing4Dough]

In all seriousness though, one thing that I have done is that I drilled a small hole into the side of the heat sink up near the RJ45 jacks (where the cat5 connects to board) and I loop the cat5 over to that area and zip tie it to the heat sink. That creates a strain relief of sorts since you will eventually trip on the cat5 cord laying on the ground and if you don't secure it somehow, it will yank on the controller board and probably damage it (several here have pulled the RJ45 jacks off the board).
Arrow in the picture below is pointing to the hole I drilled.



Attached files

[RaceMedic]

That is exactly what I was worried about ... GOOD idea !

Dave

[jem5136]

Also, and I know this is way off topic, if you are planning on having a Mega Tree this year and you use guy wires(which is a really good idea if you live somewhere with wind, snow, or rain), don't walk into them. Sometimes they rip out of the socket at the top of your mega tree, and it hurts...really bad. Trust me, I know from experience. They are hard to see at night when you have a couple thousand lights flashing beside you:D

Learn from others mistakes! Thats all I can say.

[Ponddude]

Surfing4Dough wrote:

RaceMedic wrote:

Newbie questions here.

1.  On the bottom of the control box there are three holes for the power cords, plugs etc.  There is an additional small one ... is that just for air ?  See question #2.

2.  What is the best way to run the CAT5 cable into the box ?  See question #1.

Thanks !

Dave

ROFLMFAO!!!!!!!! :D:D

[Scott T]

Surfing4Dough wrote:

I loop the cat5 over to that area and zip tie it to the heat sink.  That creates a strain relief of sorts since you will eventually trip on the cat5 cord laying on the ground and if you don't secure it somehow, it will yank on the controller board and probably damage it (several here have pulled the RJ45 jacks off the board).

Great idea. This should be noted as a "Best Practice"

[Steven]

RaceMedic wrote:

1. On the bottom of the control box there are three holes for the power cords, plugs etc. There is an additional small one ... is that just for air ?

You must have a 2010 box. The boxes from last year only had 3 holes, and the manual advised to run the CAT5 cable through the middle hole, along side the power supply cables.

My CAT5 cables were always getting bent and twisted, and I was worried about tripping over them and destroying the jacks on the board, so this year I did a little overkill, as I have seen others do, and invested in some of these:


(I found them for $4 each on eBay.)

The cases from the last few years had enough space between the holes in the bottom to drill new holes these new connectors. I also drilled holes in the heat sink to route the STP cable from the connectors to the jacks on the board.

Now the CAT5 cable would break first if were pulled hard enough.