How many lights on a channel?

[TheJackal]

Not sure if this is the correct section. How many strings of, say 50ct., 22# gauge M5/M6 lights can you safely put on 1 channel?

How about Walmart type incandescent strings?

Edited December 25, 2012 by TheJackal

[Ron Boyd]

http://www.p3international.com/products/special/p4400/p4400-ce.html

Check your strings with one of these (available at several places online) to find out how many amps each string is, and then check the manual for your particular controller and see how much amperage each channel and Channel bank will hold. There is your answer.

Merry Christmas

[Ivan Beaver]

Not sure if this is the correct section. How many strings of, say 50ct., 22# gauge M5/M6 lights can you safely put on 1 channel?

How about Walmart type incandescent strings?

There are TWO considerations.

ONE is the current limit of a single channel. Exceed that and damage will occur to the triac.

THe SECOND is the TOTAL load of the dimpack. If you load down more than a couple of channels, you won't be able to use the rest of the channels 9at the same time).

So you would have to do your programming so the TOTAL current from a dimpack is not exceeded.

The correct answer is to pay attention to both.

And it is not a matter of how many strings, but how much current each string pulls.

Different strings have different current draws.

[Max-Paul]

Dimpack is a name used in DMX and theater lighting. I believe you are calling one of the AC or DC controllers that LOR sells as a dimpack. A term that will get many here confused.

[LORisAwesome]

The controllers are divided into two banks each bank has 8 channels. Channels 1-8 is a bank and channels 9-16 is the other bank.

Each channel can handle a maximum of 8 amps, but, each bank can only handle 15 amps. If you connect 8 amps worth of lights up to all 8 channels that is 64 amps and exceeds the maximum of the bank. You can program your sequences so that you do not overload the controller. IMHO it is easier to make sure that you do not connect more than the limits I mentioned, that way you don't have to worry about it in the programming.

Light strings usually tell you how many watts they use on the box. Unfortunately we are more interested in the amperage. You can calculate the amperage by using Ohms law and a little algebra. The easier way is to get a kill-o-watt meter. They run 20-30 dollars, you can find them at Home Depot, Lowes, Amazon.com. With the Kill-O-Watt all you have to do is plug the light string in and read the amperage from the display. This also probably more accurate than using the Ohms law method.

Jerry

Edited December 28, 2012 by LORisAwesome

[TheJackal]

Sorry took so long to get back, works been a killer. Back on topic.

I have 2 'rolls' of these I bought before looking into LOR. According to the packaging, the string is rated at 0.4 amps (I'll get the Kill-O-Watt meter to verify this). Assuming that number is correct, using the CTB16PC with regular heat sinks (comes installed?) and dual power feed rates the controller this way:

1 channel can handle up to 8 amps - 20 strings, leaving 7 amps for the other 7 channels and 15 amps for the other 8 bank

or

1 bank of 8 can handle up to 15 amps - 37 strings, leaving 15 amps for the other bank

or

All 16 channels can handle up to 30 amps - 75 strings

LED's draw less power (<.1 amp according to numbers I've seen) so it would multiply those numbers accordingly. Is this correct or am I missing something?

[TheJackal]

Took to long to go back and edit.......all these numbers are hypothetical and ABSOLUTE max. I, most likely, would buy a 2nd controller before getting that close to the limits.

[LORisAwesome]

Sorry took so long to get back, works been a killer. Back on topic.

I have 2 'rolls' of these I bought before looking into LOR. According to the packaging, the string is rated at 0.4 amps (I'll get the Kill-O-Watt meter to verify this). Assuming that number is correct, using the CTB16PC with regular heat sinks (comes installed?) and dual power feed rates the controller this way:

1 channel can handle up to 8 amps - 20 strings, leaving 7 amps for the other 7 channels and 15 amps for the other 8 bank

or

1 bank of 8 can handle up to 15 amps - 37 strings, leaving 15 amps for the other bank

or

All 16 channels can handle up to 30 amps - 75 strings

LED's draw less power (<.1 amp according to numbers I've seen) so it would multiply those numbers accordingly. Is this correct or am I missing something?

You will need the high power heat sinks for each bank to handle 15 amps. Sorry, should have mentioned that before.

Jerry

[TheJackal]

You will need the high power heat sinks for each bank to handle 15 amps. Sorry, should have mentioned that before.

Jerry

According to the spec sheet, the regular heat sinks (installed) will allow 15 amps on each bank. I don't see any option or specs for high power heat sink. This is what's confusing me.

Edited December 30, 2012 by TheJackal

[GaryM]

Referring to the spec sheet, what is being called a "high power heat sink" in this thread is what is called a "regular" heat sink on the spec sheet, and shown in the picture on the spec sheet.

The spec sheet shows one of the older version boards, not what you will see referred to as "gen3", which you can see here: http://store.lightorama.com/caasaop.html

Concepts are the same, just different versions/generations of the hardware.