Setup questions

[Guest guest]

I thought I had it all figured out, but I had miscalculated my trees. I knew that 100 minis were usually about .3, and each tree has 400 lights so figured 1.2 for each tree

WHEN I MEASURED with the "watts up", each tree is actually 2.25, I tried all the different ones to make sure the reading was correct.

So....my plan to start with my ten trees as channels 1-10 doesn't really work, because just channels 1 - 8 each with one tree would add up to 18 amps which is too much for one side, right?

Let me add that since I started way too late, I won't have much time left to sequence, so I've been relying on the kindness of PC and MHD users who have been so kind about sharing Halloween sequences with us. (Thanks again ;o) btw)

Some questions:

1. Do you ever use two channels for an element that should really be one just because it overloads the need for power?

2. Won't the borrowed sequences look weird if I split my trees and pumpkins and they aren't in number order on the channels?

3. How can a flood light pull 13.85 amps? Should I just ditch those from our layout? That's like a whole LOR side?

4. How do a separate the lights in my inflatable spiders from the blowers? Is there a DIY on this somewhere in PC? I've search everywhere and can't find it.

Now I see what it would be better to switch everything to LED - no power worries!

Here are the elements I'm trying to get into my 64 channel LOR - any advice or suggestions are welcome. I'm afraid if I do it all wrong I won't have time to redo it before Halloween.

ITEM # of lights Amps

Tree 1 400 2.25

Tree 2 400 2.25

Tree 3 400 2.25

Tree 4 400 2.25

Tree 5 400 2.25

Tree 6 400 2.25

Tree 7 400 2.25

Tree 9 400 2.25

Tree 10 400 2.25

Haystacks 900 2.7

Street Tree 1400 5.2

Ugly Tree 200 .65

West nets 600 2.1

Bat Fence 800 2.49

Bat 1 100 .35

Bat 2 100 .35

Bat 3 100 .35

Bat 4 100 .35

Bat 5 100 .35

Spider 1 haven't figured out yet how to sep. blower from light

Spider 2

Blacklight fixtures 3 fixtures .9

Blacklight floods 2 floods 1.24

Upper roof - orange 2000 5.7

Front walkway arch 300 1

Middle nets 900 3.15

Garage door 600 1.92

East nets 900 3.15

House trim - orange 900 2.7

House trim - purple 1000 3

Purple columns 400 1.2

Entry way east 500 1.5

Entry way west 500 1.5

Purple pumpkins 7 @.04 each .28

Orange sparkle p. 2 @ .07 each .14

LED Branches 9 branches .09

Colored Floods 2 lights at 13.85 amps each! How can this be right???????

Rope light 6 sections 3.6

Jack of Lantern 1 1 .04

JOL 2 1 .04

JOL 3 1 .04

JOL 4 1 .04

JOL 5 1 .04

JOL 6 1 .04

JOL 7 1 .04

JOL 8 1 .04

JOL 9 1 .04

JOL 10 1 .04

JOL 11 1 .04

JOL 12 1 .04

JOL 13 1 .04

JOL 14 1 .04

JOL 15 1 .04

JOL 16 1 .04

Thanks so much for any and all advice. If I hadn't found these boards I couldn't have even tried any of this!

Susy

[Guest guest]

So you have the 64 channel board? I think max is 2 amps per channel on that board but still I think total Amps at one time is 40. So you have to be very careful on your calculations. You may have to set the intensity at like 80% or lower. Also yes the sequences will look weird. You can borrow them but the only usuable thing is the timing really. You still need to go in and set it up to be used for your display.

[Guest guest]

I had asked once before and was told it was

8 amps per channel

but no more than 15 amps "per side" - meaning 15 amps total for 8 channels on one side of the 16 channel box

Is that not correct? That's what I had been planning towards.

And yes, we ordered 64 channels, which is 4 16-channel boxes but it hasn't arrived yet, I'm just trying to get ready so we can plug in when it comes.

Susy

[Guest guest]

Are you sure the "watts up" unit is working correctly? 13.85 amps is not right for flood lights. Your ratios are not similar, which is why I suspect the unit. For example, the bat is 100 lights @ .34amps. If it was 400 lights, it would be 1.36amps...yet your mini trees of 400 lights are 2.25amps? The bat fence has 800 lights (double a mini-tree, yet the amps only increase by 11%, not 100%?)

400 lights of bats -- 1.36amps
400 light mini tree -- 2.25amps
800 light bat fence -- 2.49amps

Do you see a problem here? Either the watts up unit is bad, or daisy chaining 4 strands of lights for the mini-trees has a ton of resistence. Plus, the flood light is not 13amps. Maybe 10 floodlights would be 13 amps. Are you sure the watts up unit is working correctly?

[Guest guest]

bridegirl wrote:

I had asked once before and was told it was

8 amps per channel

but no more than 15 amps "per side" - meaning 15 amps total for 8 channels on one side of the 16 channel box

Is that not correct? That's what I had been planning towards.

And yes, we ordered 64 channels, which is 4 16-channel boxes but it hasn't arrived yet, I'm just trying to get ready so we can plug in when it comes.

Susy

OK ignore what I said then. You are right. I was thinking you had 1 64 channel board. You are correct then. Your problem may come if you try to turn it all on at the same time. As long as the board does not have more than 30 Amps hooked to it you are ok for a full power up (assuming each channel has less than 8 Amp).

[Guest guest]

Thanks for the replies.

As for the watts up workind properly, I have no idea how to tell???

All of the mini-lights that I bought and hung read similar amounts on the device.

The mini-lights on the bat - I bought those bats pre-strung from christmasdonebright, and they are animated bats, maybe that's why it's different?

The bat fence I bought pre-strung at target - maybe I have too many pieces of fence hooked together?

The flood light is weird because I tested the blacklight in the flood - almost nothing, then the bright light was 13.85, then I went back to the black light and it had the low reading again. So, I thought it was working.

How else could I tell for sure?

Thanks,

Susy

[Guest guest]

The easiest thing to do to get your amps under 15 for your trees would be to reassign a few of the trees to a different controller that is under utilized like the one controlling the JOL's at .04 each.
Run six trees and two JOL's on one side. It doesn't change your sequencing or channel order any, you just reassign the channel and make sure you plugs things into where they are assigned.

There are no rules that say ten trees have to be channels 1-10 on a controller. you could assign two trees to each of five controllers if you wanted.

For a floodlight to be 13.85 amps, it would have to be a 1662 watt lightbulb. So I doubt thats correct. How many watts does the bulb say it is?

[Guest guest]

I haven't used a watts up unit before, so I don't know. The best way is to go back to original packaging--it will tell you how much power each strand will take. So, you can compare that number with the watts up reading.

You've got me baffled on the flood light. Have you tried multiple flood lights? Maybe the one you're using is bad? Or, you could plug in two of those flood lights. If you don't trip a breaker immediately, you know the watts up unit is lying.

[Guest guest]

I am an electrical engineer, and 13.85 amps at 120 volts is 1662 watts, I really doubt that a you have a standard floodlight that is up at that watt rating. Like you said your meter is being screwy.

If you want to calculate what it should be taking, and therfore figure out how much of you LOR board it is taking. You should do this

Current in amps = Watt rating of bulb / 120 volts for AC line voltage

Example 100 Watt bulb takes 0.83 Amps

Hope this helps...

[Guest guest]

I believe the Watts up will show watt-hours as well as amps.

This means the number will keep climbing the longer you have it on.
Make sure you have it set to display amps and not watt hours.