drums114 Posted April 3, 2013 Share Posted April 3, 2013 Is this the best way to run dumb strips? http://store.creativ...16D-RGB-RTG.htm Thinking of buying 2 boxes and 10 strips to lay on my roof. You think the strips and boxes would be ok sitting on my roof? I live in IL. I am thinking this method will be the easiet and most efficent rather than me trying to piece everything together and then soldering everything together risking doing something wrong. Let me know your thoughts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Simmons Posted April 3, 2013 Share Posted April 3, 2013 It appears as though the box needs to be open/ventilated. I'm not convinced that's a good idea for rooftop applications. Apparently, you're going to need to create some kind of weather-resistant ventilated enclosure to place on the roof into which you can place the open door (or door-less) light controller enclosure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edvas69 Posted April 3, 2013 Share Posted April 3, 2013 Seems strange that you have an enclosed cover but it has to be opened whilst running, kind of defeats the purpose Important:The power supply will get very hot from the constant running. We recommend you ventilate the enclosure by either leaving the door open or remove the door while in use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WilliamS Posted April 3, 2013 Share Posted April 3, 2013 I did run 2 of those power supplies in the same enclosures for my E681's in Florida. Lids stayed closed, weather stayed warm and I had 0 issues with them. This was my experience with them in Florida. Your mileage may vary but mine never got so hot to touch were it would do any harm to me or the plastic. The fans did come on full power anytime they were running regardless of load. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max-Paul Posted April 3, 2013 Share Posted April 3, 2013 I dont know which enclosure that is, but I built a similar system for some converted candy canes. Using the same DC board and a 48V power supply. I used a CG 1500 box and mounted the power supply on its side, so that the fan blows sideways. The way that P.S. is mounted there will be very small clearance between the fan and the cover. As for you mounting the box on the roof. You give no clue as to how you plan to mount it. are you going to mount it to a soil stack so it is vertical? Do you plan to mount it to a dormer so it is vertical? Or lay it down on the roof? What would you say that the pitch of the roof is?I would say if vertical no problem. If the pitch is 4/12 or better (steeper) you are good to go to the point if you keep the cords on the lower side. The cover and the base create a "S" like baffle that captures any rain and channels it to the bottom middle where there is a break in the baffle that allows the water to exit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattpatt Posted April 4, 2013 Share Posted April 4, 2013 I ran my single DC controller with a 350W power supply all in the same case with no ventilation and never had a problem. This is in TX and it doesn't even get very cold around Christmas but YMMV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowepg Posted April 4, 2013 Share Posted April 4, 2013 I'm brand new to using rgb dumb strips... Well, actually I tried running a few at the last minute last Xmas- but I didn't have the right controller. So I just bought the controller listed above and was going to use this kit as a guide to build the control box. A few newbie questions: My plan is to outline my house with dumb strips.... It will likely take more than the 5 independent channels this controller will drive. However, several strips will be lit together. I can envision needing as many as (3) 5-meter strips tied together. I know i can't just daisy chain them because of the power, but is this power supply enough that I could split one of the 5 cable to run as many as 3 strips together? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CLD Kevin Posted April 4, 2013 Share Posted April 4, 2013 Seems strange that you have an enclosed cover but it has to be opened whilst running, kind of defeats the purposeImportant:The power supply will get very hot from the constant running. We recommend you ventilate the enclosure by either leaving the door open or remove the door while in use.I understand what your saying, but it was just a recommend...not a requirement. Is it better to leave the door open for ventilation....for sure. Last year a ran the same setup mounted on the lawn with the door closed. No issues. But its all about making sure the customer is aware...no surprises. If I didn't saying anything, then I can already hear the complaints. Overly cautions...maybe so. Maybe I should change the wording as " recommend, but not requirement". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattpatt Posted April 4, 2013 Share Posted April 4, 2013 I daisy chained two 16' strips together last year with no problems. I never tried three. Didn't want to push my luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drums114 Posted April 5, 2013 Author Share Posted April 5, 2013 Thanks for the info. I am not 100 sure how to mount the boxes. I was wondering how far you can run the 4 wires to each strip. If I could add wire, I could put the boxes under my porch out of the elements. And if so how would I create those extension wires? Let me know. I just hope there was a sale on them. I am will to try them if there was a discount. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scubado Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 I just got a 500' roll of Security wire 18/4 for $56 on Ebay. It's stranded which is a lot more manageable than solid wire. It will do fine from your porch to the roof and probably to your yard elements as well. Depends on how many ribbons you put on each run and distance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 Depends on how many ribbons you put on each run and distance.If your ribbons cause too much voltage drop (which typically causes "white" to look "pink") you can run a separate cable to each strip, and connect them to a common RGB channel at the controller. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max-Paul Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 (edited) Mattpatt, how do you have your power supply mounted? on its side or on its back? drum114, in this manner I have a lot of book knowledge, but none in the real world for this application. Others yes I have real world. With that said all I can say is that you will need to use a larger gauge wire than the common 20 gauge. Not sure if 18 gauge will do it either. In a nutshell here is why. Wire, any gauge will have some resistance. The smaller the more resistance per foot. And matters are worsen the more current drawn. I am going to just pull up some fictional values to show you the issue. Lets just say that 20 gauge wire has a resistance of .2 ohms per foot and 18 gauge wire has a resistance of .1 ohm per foot. Ok now we have two cables 30' long. One is 18 gauge and one is 20 gauge. Ok so using the above resistance values the 18 gauge would have a total resistance of 3 ohms and the 20 gauge would have a total resistance of 6 ohms. Just working with the 18 gauge wire, lets see what happens when you have a 1 amp and a 5 amp load. We will do this also with the 20 gauge next. Ohms law says that voltage = resistance times current. Now this will tell us how many volts will be lost or dropped in the wire. And what we drop or loose in the wire will not be available to the pixel strips. Ok so 3 ohms times 1 amp is 3 volts. And with the 5 amp load times 3 ohms we drop 15 volts. Ya I know the numbers are high, but please remember I am just pulling numbers for demonstrations. Obviously the real numbers will be smaller, but still a concern. Ok lets use the numbers from the 20 gauge wire. 1 amp times 6 ohms is 6 volts dropped. and the 5 amp load times the 6 ohms is 30 volts dropped.One last time, the above numbers are just made up. So the reason I used made up numbers is cause it all depends on 5V or 12V pixel strips. And this will change the current load required. And is it a single 4 or 5 meter strip or two in series? Sorry just to many varibles for me to make a call. Maybe someone who had done this can give you more insight. Edited April 5, 2013 by Max-Paul 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edvas69 Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 I understand what your saying, but it was just a recommend...not a requirement. Is it better to leave the door open for ventilation....for sure. Last year a ran the same setup mounted on the lawn with the door closed. No issues. But its all about making sure the customer is aware...no surprises. If I didn't saying anything, then I can already hear the complaints. Overly cautions...maybe so. Maybe I should change the wording as " recommend, but not requirement". That may actually be better because the reality is for most parts of the US in winter the ambient temps are very low and heat build up would be minimal compared to someone using these in say Florida or an Aussie summer. Of course how much load is put on the controller and power supply and for how long also play big part in the heat load. So maybe you could say if you live in a warm climate and the control box is getting very warm then its recommended that additional ventilation is used like opening the door or removing the door or adding fan forced ventilation. Because many who read that may be turned off thinking they have to run it with the door open which in many situations isnt the case because the warning is in red and very obvious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scubado Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 On one of my runs I have about 8 meters of ribbon on 18 guage solid wire with a 50' run with no problems. Also have RGBW 10w each leds on 18 guage with a 50' run with no problems. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CLD Kevin Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 Because many who read that may be turned off thinking they have to run it with the door open which in many situations isnt the case because the warning is in red and very obvious.This post got me thinking about address this again and I have an couple ideas. I order some parts today. Adding additional fan mounted to the inside enclosure that will suck the hot inside air and force it out. I don't think bringing the outside air in would be a good idea because depending on the climate (winter cold), the air may be wet. Removing only the hot inside air won't make it cool, but at least it won't overheat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scubado Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 (edited) This post got me thinking about address this again and I have an couple ideas. I order some parts today. Adding additional fan mounted to the inside enclosure that will suck the hot inside air and force it out. I don't think bringing the outside air in would be a good idea because depending on the climate (winter cold), the air may be wet. Removing only the hot inside air won't make it cool, but at least it won't overheat.If air is exiting, air is entering as well If you're having problems overheating, move to a cooler climate Edited April 5, 2013 by scubado Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edvas69 Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 This post got me thinking about address this again and I have an couple ideas. I order some parts today. Adding additional fan mounted to the inside enclosure that will suck the hot inside air and force it out. I don't think bringing the outside air in would be a good idea because depending on the climate (winter cold), the air may be wet. Removing only the hot inside air won't make it cool, but at least it won't overheat. Simple convection ventilation may be all thats required and that can be in the form of adding 2 x 90 degree elbows pointing down at two different levels and on different sides of the box, this way the convextion currents will keep air flowing through the box. But without an air inlet then as scubado mentioned you dont get airflow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max-Paul Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 These boxes are not air tight. As I have mentioned many of times. There are over lapping lips that create a baffle that water gets trapped in and then follows the baffle down to the lowest point. Where the baffle is interrupted and the water has a way out. I suspect as a few of you others is that the clearance between the fan and the cover limit the amount of air flowing through the P.S. causing the air to come out of the P.S. to be hotter. Although the idea of having a couple of 90 degree PVC connectors mounted one high and one low could not hurt. But first mount the P.S. on its side so that there is more room for the air to exhaust out of the fan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magish01 Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 If air is exiting, air is entering as well If you're having problems overheating, move to a cooler climate I'm thinking of doing my July 4th show at the same time as Christmas. Cooler time of year and only have to set up once! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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