a31ford Posted July 15, 2013 Share Posted July 15, 2013 (edited) Steve, and Plasma, (and Group). I might be using different terminology (electronics background, not electrical), BUt totally agree that the word "Bonded", and "Bonding" are what I'm talking about. A side note to all of this, is on the RS485 cables, both negative and positive (as well as signal A and signal B ) (data high and data low, respectively) since the power supply is ALSO "on the cable", this would loop ALL the LOR boards to have the same power supply negative & positive (even an MP3 director), NOW add the sound output, and trigger cables, the potential for a controller side loop (electronics portion) does indeed exist. I'm NOT saying LOR makes bad stuff, What I'm saying is "all the cables are interconnected somehow", and with that said, it's easy for 3rd party equipment to mess things up, somehow..... ELL's are a solution I guess ? What were we talking about ? cars ? tractors ? my memory is good, if I can remember what conversation we where having Greg. Edited July 15, 2013 by a31ford Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Boyd Posted July 15, 2013 Share Posted July 15, 2013 Since we're on this subject, I have a question. I am using several props with pixels and LEDs on aluminum or galvanized steel. The LED's will be free hanging and the pixels will be attached to a thick banding strap and the strap attached to aluminum or steel. For 2 of the props, I will be using The Monkhouse Portable Hole II, so the actual galvanized steel pole will be off the ground by a minimum of 7.5" but, the floor flange, nipple and coupling is embedded in the concrete and is exposed to the earth underneath. Height on each prop is ~20', 16', 9' and 8'. Should I ground thes elements with a rod as explained above? All will either have steel or aluminum in the build. Ron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plasmadrive Posted July 15, 2013 Share Posted July 15, 2013 Greg, "A side note to all of this, is on the RS485 cables, both negative and positive (as well as signal A and signal B ) (data high and data low, respectively) since the power supply is ALSO "on the cable", this would loop ALL the LOR boards to have the same power supply negative & positive (even an MP3 director), NOW add the sound output, and trigger cables, the potential for a controller side loop (electronics portion) does indeed exist. You are correct about the low voltage "controller side loop" can possibly exist but it is also not referenced to "ground" (as in Earth ground). The RS485 is differential so should be no issue there. The LV power supplies would have all commons tied together I would imagine but not grounded.. not sure about the + sides though (still haven't seen a schematic). Again, ground should play no part. HOWEVER.... tying that all back to the PC is another story. I neglected that part since I use ELLs I hadn't even thought about it. I also don't know if the USB to 485 converter is isolated.. That could tie it all to ground in the PC.. Good point! Especially since you have such a long batch of runs. One thing you could do is use data cable without the power connections for the LV supply connected. That would make only your data available from one controller to the next.. I wonder what LOR would say about that.. Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Posted July 15, 2013 Share Posted July 15, 2013 I also don't know if the USB to 485 converter is isolated.. That could tie it all to ground in the PC. IIUC, the USB-RS485 Adapter with Booster is not isolated from the PC, while the USB-485 Isolated Adapter is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
viennaxmas Posted July 26, 2013 Share Posted July 26, 2013 IIUC, the USB-RS485 Adapter with Booster is not isolated from the PC, while the USB-485 Isolated Adapter is.After some issues I had with the not-isolated adapters, I can only recommend going Isolated on everything... (just as a re-cap: I had a LOR and a DMX adapter get fried by some funky power supply on dumb RGB strips). Now my problem for this year will be how to isolate E1.31... Might have to to with a short fiber run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Posted July 26, 2013 Share Posted July 26, 2013 Now my problem for this year will be how to isolate E1.31... Might have to to with a short fiber run.E1.31 (over 10baseT) is already isolated, as it goes through transformers. I have read on other boards that the typical Ethernet transformer isolation voltage is 1500V, which is good enough to protect against rogue power supplies, but if you want to protect against lightning, you'll need to use fiber. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a31ford Posted July 26, 2013 Share Posted July 26, 2013 Actually, I ran across this little diddy a while back, (even have the original box for it !!) I also scanned the back of the device (Top of image), it's a cat5 lightning surge protector for 4 ethernet cables (PNET-4), made by APC. Just thought it might be cheaper than fiber, AND, it will protect 4 separate network devices. Greg Manning Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a31ford Posted July 26, 2013 Share Posted July 26, 2013 for some reason, I can't edit my post above, so here's the update to it, http://www.apc.com/products/family/index.cfm?id=145 this is the new APC stuff for surge protection OTHER than power plugs. Greg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
viennaxmas Posted July 26, 2013 Share Posted July 26, 2013 for some reason, I can't edit my post above, so here's the update to it, http://www.apc.com/products/family/index.cfm?id=145 this is the new APC stuff for surge protection OTHER than power plugs. Greg Tranks! Good to know. I World hate to fry 42 RU of equipment through my Christmas lights... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donl1150 Posted August 6, 2013 Share Posted August 6, 2013 I am new to LOR and just received my first controller. I have a CTB16PC and will have to supply my own dongles, power cables and PVC enclosure. My question relates to grounding..... and I do want to ground each controller.On page 14 of the user manual, there is a picture of the power cables grounded to the strain relief. Similarly, on page 18 the dongles are also shown grounded to the strain relief. However, since it appears the strain relief and heat sink are not electrically connected to each other and they are mounted in a PVC enclosure, what is the purpose? The ground won't serve its intended. Am I missing something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Posted August 7, 2013 Share Posted August 7, 2013 However, since it appears the strain relief and heat sink are not electrically connected to each other and they are mounted in a PVC enclosure, what is the purpose? The ground won't serve its intended. Am I missing something? In the standard CTB16PC plastic mounting box, the only purpose of the ground connector is to connect to the ground pin on the 16 pigtails, and thus is only useful when powering a device with a ground pin, like a floodlight in a metal enclosure. When used with Christmas light strings, the ground pin offers no protection, which is why we use a GFCI. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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