Hooking up controllers

[GregC]

Can I run two cat5 cables from one controller box? Example: Box 1 to box 2 & Box 1 to box 3 then from 3 to box 4 since there are two cat5 ports in the controller boxes.

 

Thanks,

Greg

[gmacw]

Hey Greg,

 

Not really.  On a typical board there are three places for cable so I can see how you would ask but one of the three is an RJ11 connector (phone line) and I believe can be used for a trigger like motion detector (not 100% sure on that one).

 

The other two are for your Cat cable to daisy chain together all the other controllers and/or ELLs.  So one CAT connector for input & the other for output to next controller.  To do the way your suggesting could be done by using a controller with an MP3 director built in. So insteaed of using a computer to send the sequences to Box 1, the director would have a flash card in the director of box 1 and then both cat5 connectors can send signals out to Box 2 & Box3.  

[GregC]

Thanks gmacw,

 

I was trying to avoid from having such a long run of cat5 cables. Do I have to run in order 1,2,3, etc or can I go 1,3,4,2? or will that mess up the timing or the way the show will look?

[PhilMassey]

Any order.

[GregC]

Ok.. Thanks Phil

[gmacw]

Yeah Greg any order and if you need to jump over a driveway or a place where you can't easily run CAT5 that's when the ELLs (Easy LIght LInkers) come in handy.  You can send to the next controller wirelessly (requires two ELLs)..

[Orville]

The RJ11 jack acts the same as the cat5 jacks, it's only a different plug, wiring is still basically the same as using cat5, you can use a short telephone line cord from one controller to another in a pinch.  I just don't think the phone cable is as robust or as good as the cat5.  But it can be used from one controller to another.   Used one myself one year when I had a cat5 cable go bad and needed a quick, immediate replacement.  Worked just fine until I could get a new cable.

 

Just not sure how well an RJ11 cable would work for a long duration though.   Only used mine for about 2-3 weeks until I could get a new cat5.

 

But your situation is a bit different.     All I can say is you can try using the phone RJ11 jacks and cable and see if it holds up for the season.

[lightingnewb]

Yeah Greg any order and if you need to jump over a driveway or a place where you can't easily run CAT5 that's when the ELLs (Easy LIght LInkers) come in handy.  You can send to the next controller wirelessly (requires two ELLs)..

 

I'm actually running my show a little abnormal - I'm running two Residential 16 channel kits daisy chained, and a 150ft cat5 to my CMB24-D under a gable since it is waterproof. (People sell waterproof Cat5 for $60/150 ft...) So cat5 can run, without normal issues, roughly 500-600 ft.Which is great for residential displays. (We're not using the waterproof cat5 because we are being experimental... or we're crazy. Definitely the former over the latter.  )

 

At any rate, my point is that ELLs are expensive and may be frustrating to assemble/install... while cat5 is pretty versatile and cheap. One last thing - number the casing of your controllers with the assigned unit ID you give them.

 

We are daisy chaining ours from Unit 01, to Unit 02, to Unit 03 for sake of convenience. It's all a matter of preference. Good luck!

[Orville]

I number my controllers with a black sharpie, been doing it that way since I got them, I also mark the dangles {channel cords} on the controllers with a silver sharpie so I can see easily what dangle controls what channel.  Those little marker tabs do fade over time or sometimes break off, and having the dangle marked you know exactly what channel it controls in case the marker label comes off, plus they are so small, they are harder to see than a silver 1,2,3,....16 on the dangle that's much larger.   I mark the dangle on both sides of the female receptacle.

 

Also note, marking the controller box with a black sharpie, if you ever have a controller fail and have to replace it, the black sharpie can be erased with a standard pink pencil eraser {takes a little elbow grease and rubbing}, that way, once the broken unit is repaired you can erase the ID on the box and re-assign and put a new ID for that unit that would be relinquished to a back up unit or put back into service at another location in a display.

Edited November 30, 2015 by Orville

[dgrant]

I use multiple ELL's too. One lesson I learned this year, which was a bit strange but not unexpected, the ELL has two RJ45 ports on it. I was hoping that it was designed that you could split off two different directions from it, with two individual daisy-chains. Last year, that worked just fine with no impact, but it didn't work this year. The ELL for one group of controllers, had to be at the beginning of the daisy-chain to work. I have other ELL's on a remote megatree and another on a remote CCR. They work just fine too.

[portcity_gt]

A kinda related tip....i have to cross my driveway to get data to my mega tree, i ran my cat5 through 1/2 emt conduit and just laid it across the driveway. This is the second year of running over it with my f350 dually daily anf its held ip fine.