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As an example I have CTB16D's in metal boxes with HD heatsinks. I normally run 6 strings (600 minis) on each channel. This is about 2 amps per channel times 16 is 32 Amps This should be no problem for the model number I'm running. If I wanted I could load up other channels more but I have to watch my total to keep it under 40A. If you are having problems get an Ampmeter this will tell you exactly how much your drawing.

What unit do you have and how is it mounted?

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All I have to say is ALOT. If any of you have seen my 16 channels display videos you know I used every little bit of wiggle room in order to do my display. lol

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This might help. It's on the P.C. home page.



Figuring Power Needs for PlanetChristmas!



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Edit: here is the link. It didn't copy like I wanted it to.

http://planetchristmas.com/FigurePower.htm


WallPlug.jpgYou've got thousands of Christmas lights yet you have no idea how many can be plugged into a typical wall socket. We're here to help.

Let's use a simple electrical formula. Power (in watts) = Voltage (in volts) times Current (in amperes) or P=VI which is what engineers like to say (why "I" is an abbreviation for current is a closely guarded secret by electrical engineering purists.)

In the United States, a typical wall outlet is 120 volts and all Christmas light strings are wired to handle it. Your wall outlet is usually wired in parallel to several others and connected to some sort of circuit breaker or fuse, usually 15 or 20 amps. Your goal is to not overload the circuit breaker/fuse. It's good practice to never put more than 80% load on your breakers/fuses... strictly as a safety measure.

You will have to figure out if the outlet where you want to plug in your Christmas lights is on a 15 or 20 amp circuit breaker or fuse. The easiest way to find out is plug a radio in and turn it up pretty loud. Go to you electrical panel and start turning off circuit breakers or unscrewing fuses. When the radio stops making noise, you're on the right circuit. The breaker/fuse will tell you how much current that circuit can handle.

If you have a 15 amp circuit with 120 volts and factor in an 80% load, using the P=VI equation (P=V*I*0.8) you can have a total load of (120*15*0.8=) 1440 watts.

If you have a 20 amp circuit with 120 volts and factor in an 80% load, using the P=VI equation (P=V*I*0.8) you can have a total load of (120*20*0.8=) 1920 watts.

Use the chart below to get a pretty good idea how much power different types of Christmas lights consume. There are plenty of exceptions to the chart since there are so many different types of lights. To see if you're close, check the tag at the plug-end of a new string of lights and it will tell you how much current it consumes... in most cases, it will match up with the yellow column in the table and you can feel comfortable with...
LightPlug.jpgRule of Threes: On just about every string of Christmas lights you buy it will have a sticker saying to never plug more than three of them together in series. Don't try and bend the rules by sneaking in an extra string or two. The wires powering those little lights are small and not designed to handle a lot of electrical current. Violating the rule of three's will get you blown fuses, melted wire or a fire.



StackedPlugs.jpgPlugging Plugs into Plugs and the Rule of Threes: You can always plug the plugs into the top of other plugs. Theoretically there is no limit other than the total amount of current being supplied... but it's good practice to stick to the rule of threes... no more than three plugs plugged on top of each other and never connect more than three strings in series.




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Edit: here is the link. It didn't copy like I wanted it to.

http://planetchristmas.com/FigurePower.htm



Hope this helps,

Tom

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Just be careful thought. Johnny is right in what he said, that each channel can control 2400 lights, however, you can not exceed the power for each side of the board. If you have the heatsinks installed, you can get 8 amps...but if you the math...8 channels X 8 amps a channel, you get 64 amps for that side. NOT GOOD!! You need to work it out so that you don't exceed your 20 amp max. On top of that, a 20 amp breaker will trip at 80% power, so you really only have about 17amps.

Just some more food for thought.

Greg

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  • 1 month later...

Here is a useful page on Planet Christmas; it gives the approximate amperage for different types of lights. http://www.planetchristmas.com/FigurePower.htm

A 100 light mini string is about .33 amps. You will need to figure up what you are hooking up to each channel, each bank, and the entire controller to see if you are safe. I know it is a vague answer, but there are so many variables such as how you have the two banks connected to AC power? Is there a jumper between the two sides or is each bank plugged into a different circuit? What is connected (the amperage draw) to the other channels on each bank?

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  • 5 months later...

johnny christmas wrote:

each 100 ct strand is .34 amps...each channel is 8 amps max...you can have up to 24 strands of 100 ct lights (2400 minis) per channel


Some mini's (namely Target's) are .2 amps per 100, so if you use these "energy saving" variety you can squeeze even more out of your controllers...

Of course with LED's you could plaster your house and run them off one box if you wanted :D

-Tim
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Huseman Family Lights wrote:

How are you able to fit 8 Amps per channel with a 30 amp controller? That make no sense.

8 amps is the maximum capacity per channel. If at any given time you have a current draw of 8 amps on a channel, it is wise to make sure that whatever else is on at that time in your sequence isn't pulling more than 6 or 7(9 or 10 if setup to use 20A) amps on that side or it will blow fuses and/or damage the board. In other words, 15/20 amps is the total current allowed at any given time per side(channels 1-8 or 9-16). This is also only true if you are using separate power feeds for each side. If you are using a single power feed, then 15/20 amps is the maximum current allowed for all channels. The easiest thing to do, and the way I setup my display this past year, is to allocate 2 amps per channel(appx. 600 minis) being I used separate power feeds. That way all 8 channels on one side could be on at the same time and there should be no worries.
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  • 5 months later...

Jeff 1S.A.H.D. wrote:

Can you set you show at 50% or 75% and get more lights per a channel



Jeff



Stay At Home Dad = more lights



You can certainly do this as long as you make sure you never exceed that intensity level. If you use the spreadsheet I mentioned above, you'll see it has a 'Power Applied' column that will reduce the total amps per channel.

Mark
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Mark Steele wrote:

Jeff 1S.A.H.D. wrote:
Can you set you show at 50% or 75% and get more lights per a channel



You can certainly do this as long as you make sure you never exceed that intensity level. If you use the spreadsheet I mentioned above, you'll see it has a 'Power Applied' column that will reduce the total amps per channel.

Mark

Be careful about light intensity... I saw someone posted results of power draw vs. intensity levels. 50% intensity, did not use 50% of the power, it was about 75% I wish I could find the original post now. There was several power levels and amp draw's from about 25% up to 100%
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Shubb wrote:

Be careful about light intensity... I saw someone posted results of power draw vs. intensity levels. 50% intensity, did not use 50% of the power, it was about 75% I wish I could find the original post now. There was several power levels and amp draw's from about 25% up to 100%

That's a good suggestion. I'll pull out a controller and my Kill-A-Watt meter this weekend and do a little experimenting on this and report back.

Mark
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If I remember correctly, LOR lowers the intensity by lowering the voltage. So you have to remember the Amp readings are at lower voltages.

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"Remember, you can and many people do over-configure a controller because they can control which channels are on. They simply don’t turn on everything in an 8 channel bank at the same time. Never put more than 8 amps on a channel. Controllers also allow you to set a “maximum burn.” This means you use the Hardware Utility program to tell the controller that it cannot exceed xx% of full power, thus limiting the power draw. You can experiment with this feature to see how low you can go before it affects your display."


this was right out of the LOR FAQ under


"What is the power handling capacity of a controller?"


thanks for the info just counted my lights, I have 26.02 Amp total on a "true"
30 Amp show time (15 Amp & 15Amp wired) I should be ok right ???


thanks again

Jeff S.A.H.D.

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