Darryl Lambert Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 Yes you can use the easy light linker thats what it's designed for. It gets you places where running a cable is difficult if not impossible.Why not just run a cable there? I have 4- CMB16D's + 4- sandevice controllers on my roof in various places & there all connected with cat5. It's definately the cheapest option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lightingnewb Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 Yes you can use the easy light linker thats what it's designed for. It gets you places where running a cable is difficult if not impossible.Why not just run a cable there? I have 4- CMB16D's + 4- sandevice controllers on my roof in various places & there all connected with cat5. It's definately the cheapest option. The magic spot is at least 50ft away from the current location. I guess I could buy a really long cat5 cable and do it, though it would be at least 75 ft in distance... Ah what the heck... It's all about learning curves, am I right? Maybe I'll try it. It'll probably be cheaper than the $150 I'd throw away for a measly 8 channels. Also, does it matter where I plug the CMB24D in? (for Cat5) or can I daisy-chain it to the 2nd Residential Controller I use? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darryl Lambert Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 All the LOR controllers can be daisy-chained. Makes running cables alot easier. A 75foot cat5 cable on monoprice is $8.76 where a pair of easy light linkers ( you would need 2, 1 to send & 1 to receive ) is $249.95 . Need I say more? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lightingnewb Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 All the LOR controllers can be daisy-chained. Makes running cables alot easier. A 75foot cat5 cable on monoprice is $8.76 where a pair of easy light linkers ( you would need 2, 1 to send & 1 to receive ) is $249.95 . Need I say more? Nope. I'm sold to go Cat5 - now would you say Cat5 is safe for (1) long distance and (2) outdoor weather? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgrant Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 Cat5 or Cat6 is ok for outside but in the winter, depending on the location, it might become very stiff. The wires used are single-strand so you don't want to go bending them or walking on them in the cold. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lightingnewb Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 Okay... so I could use the traditional cat5 and as long as I don't step on the wire I'll be fine, even if it's 80-90ft away from the main controllers? Suh-weet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgrant Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 Should work just fine...but test here in the year just to make sure of course. One more thing, once you get the wires all laid out during setup, make sure you don't run the Cat5/6 on top of, under, around or next too any power wires. Keep them apart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lightingnewb Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 By power wires, do you mean extension cord (like my SPT-2) wire? Or the wire from the RGB Strips? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grinch Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 (edited) By power wires, do you mean extension cord (like my SPT-2) wire? Or the wire from the RGB Strips?dgrant is talking about Power wires such as SPT-1 or SPT-2 OR extension cords that plug into an outlet for 110 volts. Edited February 5, 2015 by Grinch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darryl Lambert Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 Okay... so I could use the traditional cat5 and as long as I don't step on the wire I'll be fine, even if it's 80-90ft away from the main controllers? Suh-weet!According to the RS485 user guide you can go 4000 feet. As for the cold I'm up hear in the great white north & have had no issues with my cat5 cables. There running everywhere, over the roof, on the lawn. Except one year when some critter took a liking to the taste of cat5 and my extention cords. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grinch Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 According to the RS485 user guide you can go 4000 feet. As for the cold I'm up hear in the great white north & have had no issues with my cat5 cables. There running everywhere, over the roof, on the lawn. Except one year when some critter took a liking to the taste of cat5 and my extention cords. Yes there is no problem with the Cat5 in the cold, here in the Chicago area we feed the critters nuts rather than cat5 cables. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lightingnewb Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 Yes there is no problem with the Cat5 in the cold, here in the Chicago area we feed the critters nuts rather than cat5 cables.Yay! Phew. Okay... so I'm probably going to buy a CG1500 or something similar, but you know the pigtails that come out of LOR controller boxes or this non-LOR CMB-24D kit? How do I get a hand on those pigtails/plugs? I essentially want to mount the card and power supply just like the pictured one in the link, but I don't want to buy that specific one (I can't use it with LOR products)...Is there a particular set of instructions/guide that I can follow for mounting and whatnot for my RGB devices? Lost in the lighting world... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sax Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 I can go 100 ft from my controller to my strand of 100 rgb bullet nodes using extension cables you can get anywhere....but I get mine from Ray. 18 awg. Stranded wire.My homemade 20 awg goes 50 ft without any issues.That is coming off my LOR dc controller or the 27 channel dmx DC controllers. Dumb rgb is not sensitive to distance as much as pixels are. Especially 12vdc dumb. There are not any data signals, which tend to become unusable first. Dumb rgb is simply voltage going down your 4 wires. Always test before you put in the yard. That is the only way to be certain. But for me, extension cables are still cheaper than a new controller if it is stolen. If you think your in an area where theft is not a problem, great. But I keep all my controllers out of site. And in a location that is protected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sax Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 Yay! Phew. Okay... so I'm probably going to buy a CG1500 or something similar, but you know the pigtails that come out of LOR controller boxes or this non-LOR CMB-24D kit? How do I get a hand on those pigtails/plugs? I essentially want to mount the card and power supply just like the pictured one in the link, but I don't want to buy that specific one (I can't use it with LOR products)...Is there a particular set of instructions/guide that I can follow for mounting and whatnot for my RGB devices? Lost in the lighting world...The easiest plug and play solution is at holiday Coro. Go here. http://www.holidaycoro.com/Light-O-Rama-LOR-CMB24D-Mounting-Kit-p/641-kit1.htmYou can get the case and all the other components from other vendors but this is as plug and play as it gets.I get my pigtails from Ray but holiday Coro sells those too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darryl Lambert Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 Looking at the lor website it appears that the ribbons have no connectors them. It's just a 4 conductor wire. So you'll need pigtails like these http://m.aliexpress.com/item/601827982.html?tracelog=storedetail2mobilesitedetail Just put the female ends on the controller & connect the male ends to the wire from the ribbons. The link is from Ray Wu's store you'll find power supplies there as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgrant Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 I run up to 75 feet for dumb strips but using my own 16awg wire/cable. Works nice. Now running intelligent rgb, I keep hearing people having issues when trying to extend more than say, 10 feet. I tried here using about 30 feet of 16awg and it worked in my "test" case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vince4xmas Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 I have built several RGB controllers with no issues.Get the CMB24D from Lightorama (usually is on their summer sale), Locate a 12VDC power supply to match your light loads, an enclosure, a 120VAC pigtail plug and 4 wire weatherproof pigtail connectors (Male and Female cordset). I have found these on sale in several places. Believe HolidayCoro has them on sale now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lightingnewb Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 (edited) I found pricing to be at a minimum $50-60 USD cheaper than LOR here. I would buy somewhere between 5-7 RGB strips, use their CMB-24D ReadyToGo kit, and what not... but then I realized something. The 3- or 5-pin connectors on the pigtails near the controller (here) don't extend very far, and I don't have much length coming from each strip... so where do I buy more of the power supply for the RGB strips? Thanks again to everyone's who has contributed in one way or another. I value your opinions and feedback. Edited February 5, 2015 by lightingnewb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vince4xmas Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 I have used cordsets from CreativeLightingDisplays. Work well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lightingnewb Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 I have used cordsets from CreativeLightingDisplays. Work well.Okay, but where do I buy longer lengths? 10-inch chunks of pigtail won't get me very far and I need an inexpensive solution... I need at least 30-35 ft of pigtail from strip to controller. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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