robigd Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 Hello all,I am planning my first show for 2013 and had a question about controller placement. Is performance affected if I keep all of the controllers in my garage and run power to the outside? I am planning on using 32 regular channels as well as purchasing some CCB's. I am not sure if it is even possible to store a CCB controller inside since the lead cable is only 4', but I guess my question is more geared toward the regular residential 16 channel controllers.Thanks in advance for your responses! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travis p Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 (edited) first off do you live in a high crime area if not it will not hurt to place the controlers outside with the display this will save on ext.cords or spt 2 just do not mount them where a sprinkler system is rain will not bother them unless you leave the door open you can put them in the garage tho lots of folks do mine are out side i have one ccbccr controler mounted on my porch celling with out an enclosure runs fine welcome to the forum Edited December 30, 2012 by t purser Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robigd Posted December 30, 2012 Author Share Posted December 30, 2012 first off do you live in a high crime area if not it will not hurt to place the controlers outside with the display this will save on ext.cords or spt 2 just do not mount them where a sprinkler system is rain will not bother them unless you leave the door open you can put them in the garage tho lots of folks do mine are out side i have one ccbccr controler mounted on my porch celling with out an enclosure runs fine welcome to the forumThanks for the response! I live in a community where I feel I could leave the controllers on my lawn with a sign that says "take me", and nobody would touch them, so theft isn't an issue. I just wasnt sure if there would be performance/lag in the lights if the controller was 50 or so yards from the actual string of lights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcmarksafb Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 Wow that's a lot of extension cords. I would suggest putting your controller as close to your display as possible as each connection on your extension cords is a possible problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Simmons Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 I agree completely with putting the controllers as close as you can to the display elements they'll be controlling. Take the money you would have spent on extension cords (even if you make your own, it will still be a good chunk of change) and buy more controllers. A fellow can NEVER have enough controllers... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sclark Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 (edited) I live in a very low crime area but I have my controllers inside and run all the cords out through a pipe it takes about 80-150ft of extension cord to get to most of my stuff so I use about 4000 ft of cord total. Edited December 30, 2012 by sclark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Fischer Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 Yes performance will be affected if you put everything in the garage. Not the lights - they'll look just fine, but YOUR performance at set-up/tear-down time, and the performance of your wallet. Unless you're living in a neighborhood where police respond to gunshots several times a week, and your neighbors have had their copper water pipes stolen overnight, you'll be just fine putting them outside. Just lock them up or bolt them down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Don Gillespie Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 I am on my phone but here is a like for Tim's post Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robigd Posted December 30, 2012 Author Share Posted December 30, 2012 Thank you guys.I guess I am highly underestimating the cost of extension cords when running it from a central location.Sounds like my decision is made not to run everything from the garage! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Fischer Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 (edited) I guess I am highly underestimating the cost of extension cords when running it from a central location.Think of it this way: You have 3 8-channel arches that are 100' from the garage, as the wire runs. You now have to run 24 100' cords. I just checked HD's website and they are $17 each at the cheapest. That's $408. Now if you put the controllers right behind the arches, you might spend $30 or so on some cheap short cords or your own custom SPT cords, plus a 100' cord or two to power the controllers. Big difference in cost, HUGE difference in setup labor and storage space. Edited December 30, 2012 by Tim Fischer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Santas Helper Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 I could leave the controllers on my lawn with a sign that says "take me", Please let me know when you do this. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T17443 Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 Tim Fischer is dead on. Put the controllers as close to the lights as possible. I did this for 90% of my show. I then got a great idea to use 4 empty channels I had as well as a box full of old incans. The big tree I wanted to decorate was 200 feet from where I had placed the controller (it was close to the other 12 channels). After putting up a ton of lights I figured out the extension cords I needed for this last second add on were going to be about as much as another controller. In true LOR fashion I bought the controller! More channels for next year. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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