z_special Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 Just wondering if anyone has extended the distance by splicing in a multi conductor cable between the CCR controller and the actual ribbon. My plan is to permenantly mount all my hardware in my garage and run pvc conduit under the soffet of the house with the multi cable in the conduit. THen having drops of cable every 15 feet to connect to the CCR. Since the load of the CCR in so small I figure using a 18 gauge cable will create little or no losses (voltage drop) to effect performance.Has anyone tried this? your feed back is appreciated:shock: Zane Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Harvey Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 The ability to extend CCR cabling is very limited. (I believe this also applies to most digital RGB strip). see post 4 in http://forums.lightorama.com/forum89/22431.htmlAlso, while the power used by the CCR is not large, because the CCR opeerates at low voltage (12V DC), the current is still significant - up to 3A/ribbon when all white.I would be careful in doing any significant extension to the CCR wiring and thoroughly test any changes made.Regards Geoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edvas69 Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 I have approximatly doubled the length of the CCR cable. the spec for the 6803 IC should be about 5 metres but that can vary.Another way to extend the range of a CCR is by placing a 6803 pixel in between the CCR and the controller. The only issue here is that you will lose the last pixel on the CCR strip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
z_special Posted January 31, 2012 Author Share Posted January 31, 2012 Well according to the Canadian Electrical Code(CEC) the maximum allowable ampacity is 5 amps, so at 3 amps is not even 60% of the maximum load of the cable. Like I mentioned in my first post, this would have little or no line loss.Just looking for someone that might have extended the cable from the controller to the CCR. Thanks though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edvas69 Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 Its not the current that is the limitation with the CCR and extending the cable distance. Its the data and clock line that is the limitation as this signal deteriates with distance. As i mentioned earlier I have doubled the length of the cable between the CCR strip and the CCR controller but i reakon its pretty close to its maiximum length Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
z_special Posted February 1, 2012 Author Share Posted February 1, 2012 Fast Eddy, I understand what it is you are saying about bus speed due to length. I was looking at some of our network cables here at work and the distances it travels and speed the data travels at and just figured it would not be a issue. I mean a cat 6 cable is 23 awg and we are sending data at least 500 ft with out a issue.I did check out your website, very nice work. I love the candles and the candy canes very cool. I would just have to beef things up to work here in Edmonton due to the snow and cold. We do see temperatures here around -35 plus wind chill on top. This is why I wanted to keep all controllers inside instead of having to spend more $ building weather proof boxs. If you don't mind I would like to PM you to get a few ideas from you inregards to your display. Thanks again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrownOut Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 Zane- the clock and data signal coming out of the the 6801 chip in each pixel is very weak. This has nothing to do with the speed of the data. I have tried a few setups this last year and had problems from a cable being too long and data being lost on some commands. I had to keep my cables between 10ft and 12ft at the very max and away from other 110volt lines that caused interference. I wish it was like Ethernet where it can be much longer, but it is not.Hope that helps. -Logan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edvas69 Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 z_special wrote: Fast Eddy, I understand what it is you are saying about bus speed due to length. I was looking at some of our network cables here at work and the distances it travels and speed the data travels at and just figured it would not be a issue. I mean a cat 6 cable is 23 awg and we are sending data at least 500 ft with out a issue.I did check out your website, very nice work. I love the candles and the candy canes very cool. I would just have to beef things up to work here in Edmonton due to the snow and cold. We do see temperatures here around -35 plus wind chill on top. This is why I wanted to keep all controllers inside instead of having to spend more $ building weather proof boxs. If you don't mind I would like to PM you to get a few ideas from you inregards to your display. Thanks againBrownout has summed it up, by adding better data cables will not really help a great deal here, you may get a bit better distance but it wouldnt be enough for what your wanting. The length can also be determined by how much electrical interferance there is about as this can reduce your length.Feel free to PM me or you can usually find me over in the chat room at www.auschristmaslighting.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chip Posted November 13, 2013 Share Posted November 13, 2013 Hey there z_special I am a newbie. I have the exact same question as you and for the same reasoning. I want to mount all my power supplies and controllers in one permanent location and run the 4conductor to the ribbon head. Were you able to figure out how long you could extend the 4conductor cable between the controller and the CCR ribbon? I want to extend somewhere between 50 and 100 feet. I was thinking of 16ga 4conductor wire..... The posts above don't give me much hope, maybe you were more successful? I hope ! Thanks for your response or anyone else who could help this newbie out! Chip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stachows Posted November 16, 2013 Share Posted November 16, 2013 I just extended one about 15 feet, and although the lights work they flicker like there is some signal loss. I am using 18 AWG solid core wires. I am looking for a way to make this work well at 15 feet... right now, the flicker looks horrible. The inability to extend them definitely limits their usefulness. Any help would be appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karldrahovsky Posted November 26, 2013 Share Posted November 26, 2013 Wow, reading through this; I just ordered 22G 4-wire strand to extend this weekend. Just arrived. My tree is 12 ft wide at bottom, box in middle, still the Control wire is not enough to take all cables to the far ends. (Perhaps I should only try one to get the 12th ribbon to reach? Wondering what I should do. Plus isn't this a risk of theft, from kids/vandals if we cannot take a longer cable to better protect the investment? Was going to solder, and heat shrink each connection and hopefully expert solder joints. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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