Light-O-Rama #PC-CTB16PC

[Lou Knudson]

I recently purchased three Light-O-Rama #PC-CTB16PC sixteen channel lighting controllers. I am in the process of designing an outdoor enclosure with GFCI receptacles to provide the power to them. I know that each controller has the capacity of 30 amp.'s for the dual feed controller. I have not completed the layout of my Christmas display since this is the first year using LOR so I have not determined how much each channel will draw.

Is there a general rule of thumb to follow as far as how much power needs to be provided to each controller? I am starting out with the 48 channels, but want the capacity to expand the system. Providing 30 amp.'s per controller adds up really fast, but it seems since not all the lights will be on at once the power required should be less than 30 amp.'s per controller.

[hbomb341]

Lou Knudson wrote:

Is there a general rule of thumb to follow as far as how much power needs to be provided to each controller? I am starting out with the 48 channels, but want the capacity to expand the system. Providing 30 amp.'s per controller adds up really fast, but it seems since not all the lights will be on at once the power required should be less than 30 amp.'s per controller.

You hit the nail on the head - they pull power so till you have your design layed out and power requires down you wont know. I personally like to have all my controller have the option to go MAX even thoe I don't ever pull that much - so my design is over engineered but it ends up one less thing to worry about. But if you are using LED's you almsot could use 1 plug for your entire display - but lock in your display elements and it will tell you power demands.

Harrison

[barbosaa]

Hi. You should calculate every amps per channel

You cant use more 8 amps per channel and no more that 15 amps per set 8 channels and no more 30 amps all unit



I´ve atached my amps calculations file Excell , i hope its usefull for you


Attached files AMPERIOS (version 1) (version 1).zip

[Richard Hamilton]

Lou Knudson wrote:

Is there a general rule of thumb to follow as far as how much power needs to be provided to each controller?

The LOR folks would have the official word on this. My view as a user is...

These controllers are very efficient and seem to draw almost the same current as required by the lights themself. I would add up the wattage of all lights that you plan to connect to a controller. Strings are always marked on the box with how much power they draw. Divide that number by 120 volts to get the amperage. I'd then add a 15% safety margin to account for variations of current draw on the lights and account for some controller inefficiency.

Example, if you have 16 strings of incandescant bulbs drawing 60 watts each, that would be 960 watts, (8 amps). I'd plan about 9 amps at peak load.

Just to toss in a pitch for LEDS... by comparion, 16 strings of typical LEDs (70 bulbs per string) would draw a peak of about 5 watts each; less than 1 amp for the whole controller.

If in doubt, buy one of those cheap watt meters for about $20 dollars at a hardware store and plug the LOR into it for measuring load. Keep in mind that the breakers on most house circuits are 15 amps, some are 20. Check your electrical panel and try to spread out the load of your controllers across multiple circuits.

[Guest wbottomley]

The first year, you'll over do power requirements.

Year's afterward, you'll figure out how to run power to your controllers.

For example... I have 9700 lights per mega tree. It takes three controllers to run one tree. Each controller has at 100% intensity and crank out a little over 10 amps each. That would be over 30 amps for all three.

I use a 12 ga. extension cord to run all three.

But wait a minute... that cord will only handle 18 amps. Correct!

Out of those three controllers, one color or maybe two is on at one point.

So that would place it in the range of 5-8 amps.

I never have all four colors on at once.

My point is... your first year is getting to know how it functions. The second year, experimenting, and the third year, this stuff is a breeze.

[Dr. Jones]

My point is... your first year is getting to know how it functions. The second year, experimenting, and the third year, this stuff is a breeze.

HA HA HA

until you take over the neighborhood - or at least the the neighbor 96-320 channels

then there is the fourth year:shock:

[Guest wbottomley]

Dr. Jones.... 4th for me and 320 channels.

I know what you're talking about. LOL!