Home power Requirements

[Kian]

What size electrical panel do most people have? Do you have dedicated 30amp circuits for each controller? I am planning on in the near future to power 8 controllers and I am wondering how i should deal with providing power for these.

[Guest wbottomley]

I'm running 49 controllers on a double pole 50 amp breaker.

[JBullard]

I am running 30 controllers on 2 15 amp circuits.

I use LEDs

[CKSedg]

I am also using LEDs. I have 10 controllers and could easily run them on 2 15 amp circuits, but I have plenty of extra circuits I installed around the yard. When I was running incandescents, I was always battling having too much on one circuit. With LEDs that is not an issue.

[edvas69]

Its not the amount of controllers that determine how many circuits you require, its the load put onto the controllers. Most controllers dont ever even get close to their maximum load. So instead determine the load of your lights to then decide if you need extra power circuits

[Kian]

Thanks everyone!

[chris waller]

Running a 400 amp main and a 200 amp sub just for the lor controllers

[Guest guest]

Dedicated 60A (until my wife decides she wants to move her dryer to the actual laundry room..) for one part of the property, a separate new 200A panel and service on another part of the property being newly decorated this year.

[TitusCarnathan]

running 5 controllers on 20 amp breaker slowly switching over to led I currently use about 12 - 15 amps total for my display

[Caleb Linburg]

Running 2 controllers on 4 15 amp breakers. I had trouble with blowing fuses and flipping breakers until I switched one of my trees to a different box.

[khawes]

I've got 7 controllers and with all the lights on it draws 8.33 amps. I have all LEDs except for a 24" snowflake, 6 C9s and 104' of rope light. For ease of setup I happen to run on two circuits.

[bob_moody]

I built a portable subpanel. It runs from a 50Amp@220 RV plug on the side of the house. There are 12 15 amp circuits each feeding a 15 amp GFI plug.

During testing I hit 40 amps on one side and 38 on the other with everything turned up full intensity (so I'm still under budget on amps)

With the exception of the roof line (retro blue C9 LED's) all my lights are incand. (about 25,000 of them). The MERRY CHRISTMAS sign on the roof is all C9 incand, and the yard grid (8 x 8 ... 2-100 count strings long x 3-100 count strings wide) are all incand.






Attached files

[Ethan]

I have a 200 amp service with 8 dedicated breakers for the controllers and a backup subpanel so there are multiple ways for a breaker to flip if it is overloaded. But I have primarily LED's so I am barely using anything near capacity load.

[David Rise]

bob_moody wrote:

I built a portable subpanel. It runs from a 50Amp@220 RV plug on the side of the house. There are 12 15 amp circuits each feeding a 15 amp GFI plug.

During testing I hit 40 amps on one side and 38 on the other with everything turned up full intensity (so I'm still under budget on amps)

With the exception of the roof line (retro blue C9 LED's) all my lights are incand. (about 25,000 of them). The MERRY CHRISTMAS sign on the roof is all C9 incand, and the yard grid (8 x 8 ... 2-100 count strings long x 3-100 count strings wide) are all incand.

I did this as well. I currently only have 8 outlets installed on it, but will be adding 4 more for next year.

[bob_moody]

David,

It sounds like you have the panel I had. I upgraded this year becasue of the additional LOR controlers (10 total)

My box design was NOT well thought out. It looks good for the most part, but it is top heavy. I had to put a perm backet on the wall to hold it.

The handle at the top of the "cart" is currently wood. I will cut it out and replace it with a piece of all thread and cover it with PVC. Then I can slide it through the clamp on the wall, put a nut on it and forget it.

Even will all incandecent lights (except roofline and windows) I am under budget on amps. Max draw is about 40 on one leg and 38.5 on the other. So I still have a little head room with the RV Plug and socket config I'm using.

Bob

[stanward]

Are you serious???? That means you have a CT (Current Transformer) that feeds an Instrument Meter from your utility company.

chris waller wrote:

Running a 400 amp main and a 200 amp sub just for the lor controllers

[Guest guest]

??

whats so strange about a 400A main? I have a 400A main, not anything special about it as far as I know (except its on the other side of my house from where I need a few more circuits for Christmas lights, and so I'll be on a LED buying adventure this winter..).

Instrument Meter?

[Denise Brunner]

I run 20 controllers on ONE 20 amp breaker...... all 50,000 lights don't draw over 16 amps when full on. Yes I am all LED !!!

[wmilkie]

4 controllers on a 9v battery;

Not really
All led, 4 controllers all lights on only draws about 3-4 amps; easily on a 15 amp circuit

[De Trommelslager]

chris waller wrote:

Running a 400 amp main and a 200 amp sub just for the lor controllers

stanward wrote:

Are you serious???? That means you have a CT (Current Transformer) that feeds an Instrument Meter from your utility company.

Not exactly. At least in an industrial sense where you would have a CT cabinet and a meter enclosure. The 400A services do use CTs, but everything is contained within the meter and meter base.


I have a 100A sub panel that is dedicated to outside lighting. Current full load on it is 10 amps for the exterior lighting, so there is plenty of room for display loads. We are going to start the LOR next year, and will begin with LEDs, so loads shouldn't become a concern.


For those that need some rough numbers, here's some quick and dirty figures:

100 lamp incans 40.8 Watts .34 Amps
100 lamp LED 9.6 Watts .08 Amps

Full load (80% of rating) for a 15 Amp circuit:

Incans 35.2 x 100 lamp strings or 3,529 lamps total
LED 150 x 100 lamp strings or 15,000 lamps total

For the LOR controller loads per channel:

8 Amp channels (100% load)
Incans 23.5 x 100 lamp strings or 2,350 lamps total
LED 100 x 100 lamp strings or 10,000 lamps total

2 Amp channels (100% load)
Incans 5.8 x 100 lamp strings or 580 lamps total
LED 25 x 100 lamp strings or 2,580 lamps total

Use at your own risk! These figures are for a rough estimate only. Verify your equipment's ratings and loads before installation.

NOTE: This does not take into account mixed lighting, or other types of lamps or loads placed onto the circuit. The above figures are for mini lights (40.8 watts per 100) and M5 LEDs (9.6 Watts per 100). This also assumes that the circuit voltage is 120V. Your mileage may vary, so perform a load calculation based upon your lights or measure the actual current of the circuit before connecting into the LOR equipment.