Guest guest Posted November 5, 2006 Share Posted November 5, 2006 Hello All,We are planning to purchase some LOR controllers for next years holiday season for a christmas light show at our ambulance building. Right now we just use the traditional method of constant on lights but are looking to make things better. I am going to get and get the electrical work done over the summer but I am looking on some tips on how everything should be setup for the electrical. I was going to mount all the controllers on the side of our building right next to each other with the new outlets coming down and being right next to them. Now I did read that each controller needs its own 2 dedicated outlets, is that true? The design I have planned calls for around 6 controllers. Any help would be appreciated.JC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 5, 2006 Share Posted November 5, 2006 jc29ems wrote: Hello All,We are planning to purchase some LOR controllers for next years holiday season for a christmas light show at our ambulance building. Right now we just use the traditional method of constant on lights but are looking to make things better. I am going to get and get the electrical work done over the summer but I am looking on some tips on how everything should be setup for the electrical. I was going to mount all the controllers on the side of our building right next to each other with the new outlets coming down and being right next to them. Now I did read that each controller needs its own 2 dedicated outlets, is that true? The design I have planned calls for around 6 controllers. Any help would be appreciated.JCIt depends on how many amps you pull per controller. If you kept the overall total under 15 amps, then you could get away with 1 plug per controller. If you plan on going up to 30 amps, then you start needing more power. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 5, 2006 Share Posted November 5, 2006 JC,Yes, It depends on the amperage use if they are to be 2 dedicated outlets. You can use 1 outlet for both plugs (per controller) if your CB/wiring can handle it.Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 5, 2006 Share Posted November 5, 2006 Hey Don,Looks like great minds think alike :].Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 5, 2006 Share Posted November 5, 2006 Hey Guys,Let me know if this seems practical. I was going to get wired up for 30amps just incase. What I thought about was doing 3 outlets of 240 and then just sharing them between the 6 controllers, would that work out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 5, 2006 Share Posted November 5, 2006 Santas Helper wrote: Yes, It depends on the amperage use if they are to be 2 dedicated outlets. You can use 1 outlet for both plugs (per controller) if your CB/wiring can handle it. And, of course, it depends on the amperage that all your controllers are using. If it is low, you could plug all six controllers into the same single outlet. Outrageous?I've got four controllers with LEDs, and I don't plan on pulling much past two amps at peak. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 5, 2006 Share Posted November 5, 2006 I was looking at LEDs, they are still a little expensive for christmas lights.Now one more question I have is, I was looking at mounting all of the controllers on the side of our building. We have a large piece of property and I'll probably have a couple thousand feet of extension cord if I do that. That is recommended, mounting all the controllers by each other or getting each controller as close to that group as possible? I'm sure its probably cheeper to run the power wires and CAT5 or using the wireless the extra feet when doing the wiring then to run the extension cords for each channel.Just looking for opinions on some of our possibilities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 5, 2006 Share Posted November 5, 2006 jc29ems wrote: I was looking at LEDs, they are still a little expensive for Christmas lights.Now one more question I have is, I was looking at mounting all of the controllers on the side of our building. We have a large piece of property and I'll probably have a couple thousand feet of extension cord if I do that. That is recommended, mounting all the controllers by each other or getting each controller as close to that group as possible? I'm sure its probably cheaper to run the power wires and CAT5 or using the wireless the extra feet when doing the wiring then to run the extension cords for each channel.Just looking for opinions on some of our possibilities.The Communication between controllers is RS485, and from the PC to the first controller has to be less than 100 ft, but after that you can have pretty long runs between boards. therefore you can space out the controllers around your building and property to where extension cord use will be a minimum.Robo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 5, 2006 Share Posted November 5, 2006 robogeek wrote:The Communication between controllers is RS485, and from the PC to the first controller has to be less than 100 ft, but after that you can have pretty long runs between boards. therefore you can space out the controllers around your building and property to where extension cord use will be a minimum. And that is the key. Most people optimize for shortest cord length. Although other people would have to optimize for other concerns (security, for example).EDIT: "cord" = extension cord, not communications cord Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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