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Thinking about my needs for LOR use


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Posted

I am not in the LOR business yet...but hope to be soon :D

I am assessing my $ end of things to see what I am going to be able to do this year. I really don't even know at this time how much I can really spend on this (More the better huh :))

Last year I had a problem with tripping breakers...when the wife turned on her hair dryer or the space heater in the upstairs bathroom. BEFORE thinking about going this route I thought about adding another breaker just for the lights. I have ONE slot left in my present box. I guess what I am really debating is will I need to add more.

I know that once I get into this...I am hooked. (I have read about the LOR condition...very hard to get over) However I really am not sure if a 16 channel setup would be sufficient. I had a modest setup this year;
C9's about 200
Mini were somewhere around 5 to 6 thousand
And 2 inflatables (already bought another)

I guess the question boils down to this...
People who are running say...32 channels. Did you find that you had to add many more breakers for your use? Again...trying to work out a budget here :happytree:

Thanks,
Robert

Posted

it depends on which LOR board and how many lights, i run 32 channels on 4 15 amp circuits, its more how many amps in lights you intend on using than how many channels of LOR, if you can figure out how many lights you intend on using you can use this chart to see how many amps it will pull http://www.planetchristmas.com/FigurePower.htm, the answer to your question is yes you will probly have to eventually install, MORE POWER!!!(in a tim allen grunting voice)

Posted

Robert:

Do not forget that a space heater pulls almost 15 amps itself. A hair dyer is around 5 amps. Anything else on this line will trip the breaker. You need to balance the loads first. Computer control lighting will helps save the juice, but you need to balance it all out. It will take some time to figure it out, but the headache is worth it.

Posted

Btw, I have seen a hair drier that used 2000 watts. That perticular drier melted the wire and he outlet it was plugged into. Most hair driers use about 10-13 amps.

Tom

Posted

RobertB wrote:

Last year I had a problem with tripping breakers...when the wife turned on her hair dryer or the space heater in the upstairs bathroom. BEFORE thinking about going this route I thought about adding another breaker just for the lights. I have ONE slot left in my present box. I guess what I am really debating is will I need to add more.
People who are running say...32 channels. Did you find that you had to add many more breakers for your use? Again...trying to work out a budget here :happytree:

You must make sure that the rest of the family understands the priorities! NO hair dryer or space heater use while the display is on! :]

The addition of LOR alone won't cause you to need more breakers. (It might actually reduce the load since everything is not necessarily on at once.) If you have one slot open you can install one of those "tandem" breakers (2 in 1) and add 2 20 amp circuits.

TED
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