Connection from LOR box to outlet?

[Tim]

Question.....Are there LOR users out there that do NOT have a direct connect from the LOR box to the outlet? If so, are you using a specific gauge of extention cord or will any do? This is the connection from the box to the power source, not the box to the lights. I'm thinking of putting a box at my neighbors house but want to use my electric so I need to get the box connected to my house. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[lleibeck]

I have my boxes close (5) to the displays they control. I opted for this option in order to reduce running a lot of ext cords to one point. This way I only run the supply lines to the controller.

The wire size all depends on the length of the run and the amps you are pulling through. This site has a calculator for determining wire size, AWG but the wire to the receptacle is # 12 that's bad. Think of it as size size must go from larger to thinner gage, never the other way around.

in my display I was able to use #12 extension cords.



L

[Brian Mitchell]

In ballpark figures. If your box is drawing 10 amps or less, you can use 16 gauge cord. 10-13 amps a 14 gauge cord, 13-15 use a 12 guage cord.

[medman2000]

Before I went to almost all LED, I was definitely pushing it with the 16g cord - it was the cheapest and I needed a lot - but found it melting the snow and ice all around it and at least a few times melted the ends of the extension cords together. Last year (still before LED) I upgraded to the 12g cord for each run from outlet to LOR box and went much better. This year, with the LED I could actually run more than 250 channels on just one 12g cord from one outlet (I think my total amps for the LEDs are around 10).

So - summary - don't melt the snow and you're pulling a safe amount of current through whatever cord you buy - and if you buy LED you get additional savings in the size of extension cords you'll need

[Donald Puryear]

keep in mind distance matters. 100 ft or longer should be #12. best tool to have is an amp meter, You can get them at home depot along with a plug adapter. This takes all the guess work out of it.

[TexasBullrider4]

I dont know about u guys but i just plug the darn thing in the wall inside it works fine for me.

[medman2000]

TexasBullrider4 wrote:

I dont know about u guys but i just plug the darn thing in the wall inside it works fine for me.

That's how I used to do it too - would just keep plugging stuff in until the circuit breaker would trip, then I'd subtract a string or two and go to the next outlet. Of course all heck broke loose whenever the rain would fall or whatever. The amp meter made a huge difference last year - no more running into the house to turn the house lights back on, or yelling cause someone turned on a vacuum and used the wrong outlet, etc.

[Tim]

Thanks to everyone for their input! I will check the total amps of the box and go with the appropriate gauge. I think being safe and taking the extra time to figure out the correct size is more important than just plugging and praying. Happy New Year to all!

[cenote]

medman2000 wrote:

but found it melting the snow and ice all around it

What a great idea, since I remove snow as part of my job. (Overloaded wire + Light snow coverage =Less work, and more sequencing hrs)

Chuck

[randallr]

I placed 23 controllers as close to target areas as possble... I used a lot of 14/3 Romex cable-- common neutral and 15 amp capacity to each side of controller.

14 Gauge is building code for 15 amp circuits

12 Gauge is code for 20 amp circuits

10 Gauge is code for 30 amp circuits

I ran 10/3 romex out to central junction boxes, which would break off into 4 of the 14/3 runs.

As an added note--- I used both the neutral and ground in the romex for the neutral, as I always thought that the neutral needed to be same capacity as hot wire .. i.e. running 2 15amp hot wires and 1 15amp neutral would mean the neutral couldn't carry the load... HOWEVER- I measured with the Amp meter and the neutral doesn't read NEAR the amps that the hot wire is running... A 'real' eletrician told me that neutral doesn't have to be as big because it only carries the 'load imbalance'.. I really want to know the real fact --- does the neutral need to be as big?

[cenote]

randallr wrote:

I really want to know the real fact --- does the neutral need to be as big?

I have two commercial electricians directly in my family, and both have told me the same. If your loads are balanced, there is no load on the neutral. But remember, are all you lights on exactly the same on both sides?

Chuck (Not a "certified" electrician)

[randallr]

I also started a thread on planetchristmas about this - http://planetchristmas.mywowbb.com/view_topic.php?id=20594&forum_id=54&jump_to=195258

I did keep the two "hot' phases seperated all the way through, so each controller has phase1 black going to one bank and phase2 red going to the other bank... As it sounds, I didn't need to use both white and ground wire for neutral's, could have just used the white split to both banks, and actually had a 'real' ground wire. Heck, I could have even used GFCI's!

[Donald Puryear]

randallr wrote:

I placed 23 controllers as close to target areas as possble... I used a lot of 14/3 Romex cable-- common neutral and 15 amp capacity to each side of controller.

14 Gauge is building code for 15 amp circuits

12 Gauge is code for 20 amp circuits

10 Gauge is code for 30 amp circuits

I ran 10/3 romex out to central junction boxes, which would break off into 4 of the 14/3 runs.

As an added note--- I used both the neutral and ground in the romex for the neutral, as I always thought that the neutral needed to be same capacity as hot wire .. i.e. running 2 15amp hot wires and 1 15amp neutral would mean the neutral couldn't carry the load... HOWEVER- I measured with the Amp meter and the neutral doesn't read NEAR the amps that the hot wire is running... A 'real' eletrician told me that neutral doesn't have to be as big because it only carries the 'load imbalance'.. I really want to know the real fact --- does the neutral need to be as big?

Only if the loads are unbalanced. But you should NEVER tie the neutral and ground together!!!!!!!!!!!. The neutral is to care the unbalanced load to the panel, the ground is to bond the metal structure (of the enclosure) to ground. (it should never have voltage on it.)