One small step...

[Duke]

Here's some pics of my first single 16PC enclosure in progress:



The enclosure is a 8X8X4 Carlon J-Box from HD or Lowes



I used a Liquid Tight 90 elbow for the 16 hot wires and I will be adding 2-3 neutrals that will be shared. I have it pointing to the ground to avoid water getting in. (Unless there's a flood or the box ends up upside down. I may try to fill it with silicone to make it water tight but repairs would be a mess or impossible without making another harness) The ends will be connected to pins that will be inserted into Molex connectors as Jeff Millard has done. This particular controller will be used to control a 13 segment "Marty Fan" and a 3 channel Nativity Star. They will have the mating Molex connectors on them and will be 100% LED. On the right is the Cord Grip to which I added a rubber gasket to make it water tight.



This is a view of the bottom. Note the wart on the right. It's the RJ45 connections and they too point towards the ground and I sealed the holes into the box with silicone. I did not use a backplane and you can see the screws I used for stand-offs and yes.... more silicone.

EDIT:
Dan, It would be nice if we could have a template for the holes used to mount these boards. Once the heatsinks are installed, it's tricky to try and transfer the holes for drilling.

[hobbes]

Duke,

The enclosure looks great. Where did you get the RJ-45 box mounted on the right side of the last pic? I don't see screw holes inside the box so can I assume that it is attached using double sided tape?

Also I was wondering why you will be mounting it with the circuit board parallel to the ground instead of upright. I know it should be watertight but if it was mounted upright, gravity would help move water off of the board if it did find a way in.

Offtopic: I like your avatar. It makes me laugh when I see it's eyes blink.

tom.

[Duke]

Tom, if you look in between the red RJ45 cables in the top pic you will see 2 screws poking thru the box on the interior rib. I got the wall mounted, dual RJ45, wart from Lowes. The red cables are also from Lowes and it is a 12" cable cut in half. I also had to buy the modular inserts that go into the "wart" again from.... yup.... Lowes. I've yet to silicone the snap-on "wart" cover incase I need to do fix-it's if things are awry during testing. I mounted the board on the bottom because it's the only surface that it will fit on. The box is only 4 inches tall and the board is 5 1/4. The cover has a gasket on it and is retained with 8 screws. Shouldn't leak. My only concern is the 90 degree elbow.



Edit:

My avatar? Yeah it is goofy! Glad you got a laugh out of it. That's what it's 'posed ta do. I had a larger version but it's living in the dark quietly on another PC.

[Bob VandenBoom]

Just wondering if anybody has tried one of these for an external RJ45 connection.

http://pacwireless.com/products/RJ45-ECS_datasheet.pdf

Looks pretty solid and not too terribly expensive. Of course you'd need two, so you're starting to get up there in cost. Bit it sure looks simple....and dry.

[Duke]

I seen somewhere in the forum that someone was going to or has used them.
Yeah they are more $$$. The cost about 6$ each and I have 10 enclosures to build so that would put me at $120. A bit much. They are also 4 inches long. I'm trying to keep things as compact and as clean as possible which is why I also opted to use Molex connectors. I had found some panel mount Molex connectors that were water tight but they too were very pricey so I'll br using the white nylon ones that Jeff Millard used for his mega tree.

http://lightorama.mywowbb.com/view_topic.php?id=6977&forum_id=25&highlight=jeffmill

(Thanks Jeff)

[Peter B]

That's great.

Here is a picture of the one I'm building. It will house two units, and also has seperate isolators. Just in-case it gets too cold outside I've fitted a heater which will be thermostatically controlled. These LOR controllers are mounted in weather proof serel cabinets

Pete.




Attached files

[Guest wbottomley]

Peter... you shouldn't need a heater in your enclosure unless you live in Siberia.

I know a guy that lives in Alaska and his works fine without one.

[Peter B]

Ah point taken, thank you. Was not too sure how much heat the units would generate. So I guess there wouldn't be a moisture/damp issue? :?

Pete.

[Guest wbottomley]

How much heat the board puts out is a variable.

More load, more heat.

Out of my soon to be 20 controllers, I have a couple that pushes nearly 30 amps. Now that's with everything on at one time. But that never happens.

Here's a look at how mine are laid out..

[Peter B]

Absolutely wicked!!!!

May I ask why you are missing one fuse from the holder! tut tut. Did you blow it?

Pete.

[Guest wbottomley]

If you look at the bottom center of the picture, you see one power cord. That cord is connected to the right side of the board. Since this board is only pulling 10 amps, I jumped the right side to the left side (small jumpers beside the power cord).

When using jumpers, the left side of the board does NOT need a fuse. That's because it's protected from the main fuse on the right side.

[Peter B]

See, The Newbies still lurking within me!

Pete.

[Guest wbottomley]

No problem. That's why this forum was set up.

[Anthony in Houston]

Duke wrote:

The cover has a gasket on it and is retained with 8 screws. Shouldn't leak. My only concern is the 90 degree elbow.

Duke

I used about 12 of these boxes last year and all of the boxes were placed around the yard, on the roof and just about any place I could put them. I would recommend standing the boxes up with the board on edge. I had only one case where the box had moisture inside it. The moisture was most likely due to condensation due to the typical Houston weather.

With the board standing on edge the surface area of the top of the box is smaller and if moisture does get inside there will be less chance of the moisture getting on the board should it start to drip.

These boxes work great and I have about 12 more of them for other controllers that I will be using this year.

One other note on the box, Lowes has changed the brand they get to Cantex. This box is thicker and the regular electrical connectors for steel boxes will not bolt up to the box you will need to use the plastic water tight connectors for the box.

Anthony

[Duke]

Anthony, thank you for the reassurance that I'm headed in the right direction.
I also have a plan to add ventilation if required but since I'm running 100% LEDs I'm hoping I won't need it. The pics of the controller above will have to handle 1.16 amps total at full load. That's 29 strings of 100 led's each at .04 amps for each string. I'll test one out this spring under humid rainy conditions under full load and see if I develop any problems before I put them all out in the field for '08. I made a test set of lights using (16) 4 watt night lights and had them on 100% and the triacs never even got warm enough to tell the difference between them and ambient temps.

Also, I don't know when Lowes changed to Cantex out your way but I managed to get 2 of these that were still made by Carlon over here. Thanks again for the tips.

[Duke]

Update.......

Here's the completed box with Molex's, Tygon tubing strain relief, and a viewport for the status LED.

The Molex on the left is a 15 pin and contains 13 hots and 2 neutrals for a Marty Fan.
The Molex on the right is a 4 pin and contains 3 hots and 1 neutral for a Holdman Star.



Needing something for a strain relief, I took a piece of Tygon tubing left over from a computer build and wrapped it around the wire bundle and secured it with a tie wrap. They ain't movin' if pulled. The Tygon has a sort of stickyness to it and if the bundle is pulled it jams against the shoulder of the elbow.



I wanted to be able to see the status light without having to remove 8 screws so I added a clear viewport made from those center caps found on faucets and siliconed it. It snapped hard into place and I should also note that the silicone I am using is made by Dap and it's actually an adhesive silicon sealer. This stuff is really sticky unlike any other silicone I have used in my life. I'm still peeling it off my fingers.



Status light viewed through viewport with bright flourescent shop lights on.
The silicone will dry clear, I was in a hurry and snapped the pic.

It's ALIVE!!

[-klb-]

I'm still trying not to cringe every time I see green used for something other than ground... Black, Blue, Red, Brown, Orange, or Yellow, any of them wouldn't be raising hairs on the back of my neck every time I look at it..

- Kevin

[Duke]

-klb- wrote:

I'm still trying not to cringe every time I see green used for something other than ground... Black, Blue, Red, Brown, Orange, or Yellow, any of them wouldn't be raising hairs on the back of my neck every time I look at it..

- Kevin

Sorry, it's all I had at the time. I know it's not code but neither are the Molex connectors. :shock:

I did get spools of black, red and white for all the future wiring. I felt the same way as you when I started but figured I would be the only one that would be workng on it if it needed repair and since it's in a PVC enclosure there are no grounds. I did use white for the neutrals running to the Molex. I promise I won't do it anymore.

[-klb-]

I agree that it is not that big a deal, or else I wouldn't have resisted the urge to comment for so long. Thankfully in this case, it should be plenty obvious, as it is all green, with a white. Where things like this are more likely to bite you is if there were only a few green ones mixed in, and you come back to it a year or two later. It can be too easy to make presumptions that your work follows conventions, or in some other way forget what you did..

Even on things where I would think it should be self evident, I am increasingly discovering that I don't remember what I did a few years ago when I go back to touch it again... As a result I am increasingly becoming a proponent of good documentation, and following conventions like wire color coding where possible.

- Kevin

[beeiilll]

Jeff Millard wrote:

In a specialized construction like this, it's not really an issue. Green wire directly into a Molex connector designed and built by Bob, only used by Bob... won't get anyone in trouble... I have a boat load of specialized cables like this, and they'll never be in the hands of anyone but me. I also paid no attention to standard color coding, and used what I had on hand. This hobby of ours is way too costly not to take advantage of bulk leftover green #12 and #14 THHN.

Jeff


Edit: Hey Bob, are the white wires #12? I recall you saying you were going to bulk up on the neutrals. Did you use the same pins? I was able to get #12 in them. It was really close... but it worked fine.

While it is "not really" an issue to use Green wire or Molex connectors on projects like these (and lets face it, we all grab whatever we have laying around when we are in a hurry and just want to "get er done"), how about one of the veterans here doing a write up about some of these things for the newbies and people who are not familiar with power and codes?

With the fact that this is becoming a "big thing" to do, it would be a great help to people who are new to the hobby as well as a "refresher" for others.

It would be nice to see something that would cover some of the common things that happen when these projects are going on such as:

1. Grounding issues for sub panels and controllers.

2. Wire color code standards.

3. Wire sizing for shared neutrals.

4. Wire identification methods.

I have been reading a couple of different threads here and over on PC that could use this information.

While I may be the "only one" who works on or deals with my equipment that is not to say that in a few years when I get overly familiar and that nasty "Aww I've done this a hundred times, it's no big deal" semi-lazy bug creeps in that I couldn't have someone else helping and they wouldn't "know" my layout.

Also maybe it is time to set up some basic standards to help guide people with the hobby. And yes electric codes will vary from state to state as to the exact allowable things that can be done, but the NEC codes will help somebody from making a "fatal design flaw" for a 100 amp portable sub panel that would more than justify having some basic rules to follow especially for those starting out who don't have a background in electrical work.

I have been "bitten" on job sites because some "newbie" cut the ground pin off a 3 prong plug because it wouldn't plug into an older 2 prong outlet instead of using an adapter. It happens and will continue to happen because that is the "nature of the beast", but it looks like it is getting to the point that there will need to be some guidelines soon even for this "hobby".

Here's one for you. How many of you know which power dongle on your controllers runs the logic side of your LOR controllers? Pretty simple question, but not so much fun if you have a lot of power outlets scattered around the yard and you are trying to figure out if you have an outlet, breaker, or board failure at 9 PM and it is 0 degrees outside, snowing, and pitch black.

Not everyone will build a custom enclosure setup like Jeff's (although I certainly am envious and wish I could enlist him for a week or two :cool:) and the more that can be done to make this a safe and fun hobby will just help everybody involved.

Sorry to rant, but I like safety especially in electrical things. :shock:

And lastly it is important to always remind the new folks "If you have any doubt about something, ask somebody who knows before you plug that in!".



Bill