Im gonna ask anyway...

[Bob Wingert]

I already did this so tell me if I'm going to have issues. I have 3 LOR boxes, on each one where the 2 plugs come out of the LOR box, I plugged both cords into a triple tap then ran an extention cord into the tap. From there, ran the extention cord into 1 resectable in the garage which is a dedicated 20A outlet. Did this 3 times into 3 seperate outlets. I turned the lights on last night which is about 50% up. Didn't have issues. Now these are all LED's, this should be ok right? Or does both of them power plugs need to go into the outlet?

If it's a dumb question, please say so

[ItsMeBobO]

Add up the current draw for all your lights. Or use a kill-o-watt meter. With them being all LED you may be ok but you should not guess. Or you could trip a breaker in the middle of a show.

You asked a good question, not dumb at all. I have 7 of my 8 plugged up this way. I have often wondered why LOR Dan has not offered a single power cord 32 channel LED model for low power draw shows.

[Bob Wingert]

Thanks Bob-o. I did use the meter and am well below the power draw. That whole 2 plug thing just threw me for a loop. Wasn't sure if that 2nd cord had some type of special grounding or not? I'm so not an electrical guy. And after the wife said she "thought" she heard a pop last night. I didn't hear anything and nothing was effected, so I figured I'd better check before I run the rest of these lights today.

[Paul Roberson]

We do the same with mine. We have actually converted our controllers over to single power input cords. Just added jumpers to get the power to the other side of the board.

This shows how to do it on page 12. I did not want to use triple taps for each controller. This will make take a 30 amp controller down to a 15 amp controller. With all LEDs that should not be a problem.

We have 8 controllers running our 96 string mega tree. All 8 are plugged into the same receptacle. All on at the same time pulls 8.56 amps. This includes the strobes and the incandescent rope light 3d star.



btw. I am aware that 8 controllers can control more. There are 8 open channel on 3 of the controllers and 4 open on another one. We need more light strings on our tree. : )

[Max-Paul]

I cant believe you asked that question pokrplr. LOL It is a good question. Ok I have to say that Paul has me beat I think. I am running my whole display off of one outlet. I have add a few more things this year so it will be interesting to see if I am still good. Have added some rope lights and a few more blow molds with 60W incans. But the LEDs sure are a plus in keeping the current down.

[Paul Roberson]

If it's incan rope light, that stuff is a power hog. I should know by the end of this week how much my whole display pulls. : )

[Dan C]

I use a kill-O-Watt meter to make sure I'm not overloading anything. But since most of my lights are LED's I don't even come close to maxing anything out.

The largest draw I have is my Large tree in the front of my house. Its a mix of LED's and Incan. with about 2500 lights it draws around 3.8 amps on one channel.

once I get everything setup I'd like to plug it into one single outlet and use the meter to see what my entire current draw is. I bet I'm still less than 10 amps total.

[Dad02]

If it doesn't dim the lights inside......there's not enough lights outside.

[Paul Roberson]

BrianC wrote:

If it doesn't dim the lights inside......there's not enough lights outside.

Our display use to dim our inside lights. Now we have changed over to LEDs and increased our light count and don't think we can add enough LEDs to dim our inside lights.

[jjdurrant]

Not a stupid question.. I was wondering the same and thanks for asking!

[captainron19]

Thats exactly what I do...

I have added (4) 20AMP outlets to my exterior of my house .... 2 of my controllers are only drawing 5 AMPS each (total of 10 amps) so I will actually put both of those controllers onto the same outlet.

Another controller (far away from my house) pulls the most of all of mine (16 amps which is just within the 80% range of the 20 amp circuit) so I will actually plug both cords into a cube and run 1 extension cord to the outlet.


And no not a dumb question at all.... the only dumb question is one not asked.

[Kevin Leuenberger]

Captainron19,

Are you running LEDs or incandescents? I just ran 3 20 amp circuits and one 15 amp circuit, and was wondering if that was enough. I have two controllers, and planning for at least two more plus a dc board. However, dont have any LEDs at this time, as cost of LED lights still make me wince when I think about how many I would need to replace my 99 cent after christmas specials.

[captainron19]

I have a combination of both. All of my gutters and garage doors are c9 retro LEDs that I made custom lengths. Windows are all c6 LEDS, arches are incandescent.

All lights on my mega tree are incandescent but I use the Phillips 52% efficient minis from Target (You can connect 9 strands together).

It is good to use the spreadsheet for configuring your channels and amperage. Not sure where I originally downloaded it but if you need it let me know and I can email it to you.