Rain,Rain ,Rain

[DLH lites]

The last few days here in Fort Lauderdale, we have had those good ole south fl rain storms, pouring ,buckets, filled our pool to over flow.  Drowned all the plugs.  It stopped and I dryed off what I thought was causing the gfi's to click last night. Well that lasted about hour and half. While I was standing in the street watching and making sure it was all working  it started to pour ,no not pour it was like a fire hose. I was soaked by the time I got to the front door, and of course CLICK. I went in and shut it all down,had a martini. Will try again tonight , the sky has cleared ,20% chance of rain .

[dibblejr]

Use spikes in the ground to keep any extension cord plugs off the ground.

I also cover all multiple connectors with 5 gallon buckets that are spiked down.

We have had that same rain and the only breaker that ever pops is the tomato cage trees.

Perhaps this year I will build new ones out of pvc but I doubt it. My show goes on without them.

JR

[dibblejr]

The best thing to do to figure out what is tripping the GFCI

When they trip before resetting unplu everything from the tripped one.

Then plug everything in 1 by 1 to find the culprit.

Put everything else on another GF I that way when you lose that one the show goes on.

Also GFCIs do go bad after so many trips/ resets.

JR

Edited December 13, 2019 by dibblejr

[DLH lites]

The GFCI's are old , I wanted to replace them before the season but  short hospital stay stoped that  ,but guess that will now be my sunday job . It is only one outlet that goes ,But I will replace all four .  Think I found the trouble this morning ,one long ext cord with a cube tap for three floods  it was soaked cleaned it up and put it in a zip lock bad and taped that sucker shut.  Thanks for the info !

 

David

[dibblejr]

Just now, DLH lites said:

The GFCI's are old , I wanted to replace them before the season but  short hospital stay stoped that  ,but guess that will now be my sunday job . It is only one outlet that goes ,But I will replace all four .  Think I found the trouble this morning ,one long ext cord with a cube tap for three floods  it was soaked cleaned it up and put it in a zip lock bad and taped that sucker shut.  Thanks for the info !

 

David

I don't think bagging anything, controllers or wires are good. If moisture does get in, it will stay there. Wires even sweat.

JR

[Orville]

5 hours ago, DLH lites said:

The GFCI's are old , I wanted to replace them before the season but  short hospital stay stoped that  ,but guess that will now be my sunday job . It is only one outlet that goes ,But I will replace all four .  Think I found the trouble this morning ,one long ext cord with a cube tap for three floods  it was soaked cleaned it up and put it in a zip lock bad and taped that sucker shut.  Thanks for the info !

 

David

Bad idea, as others said, if moisture gets in there, it'll stay in there, even on the hottest day here in Florida, it won't dry out completely.  

Like others have suggested, but some cheap green ground Christmas light stakes and get the cord connections off the ground, try and use two or more stakes if needed.  On my triple taps, I have one stake at the cord end and 1 on each cord coming into it, so 4 stakes in use.  I also try and have all the female cord end pointing downward as well. 

Also on any open pass through, and end female plugs on light strands, I use those electric outlet plastic child proof caps on them, and even in any unused channel dangles from my controllers get capped off with them.  Prevents dirt, mud and debris getting into the plug from rain or sprinkler splash.  Been using this emthod for years now.

My show will continue to run in conditions like yours, my first year I was having GFCI trips galore, brand new GFCI too, added the above to my cords and dangles, and I have yet to have my GFCI trip in any type of rainstorm to date.   And where I live, when it rains, sometimes the yards will flood and retain water for long periods.  I've had cords get submerged that had the child proof caps on them and my show still went on without a hitch.

 

[DLH lites]

Orville,

 Thanks for the info. I have been using the plastic  kid safe socket portectors on all ending females and every where else they would work . I had the ext cord with the three flood lights in the cube tap tied to the palm tree pointing down , thought that would work but when the storm hit  water poured down that tree like a river so it got soaked. Will keep an eye on it ,It all worked great last night. 46 sets of nets pluged into each other here and there were dry,go figure.  The idea for the socket protectors org came from you so thanks so much.

David

[Orville]

11 hours ago, DLH lites said:

Orville,

 Thanks for the info. I have been using the plastic  kid safe socket portectors on all ending females and every where else they would work . I had the ext cord with the three flood lights in the cube tap tied to the palm tree pointing down , thought that would work but when the storm hit  water poured down that tree like a river so it got soaked. Will keep an eye on it ,It all worked great last night. 46 sets of nets pluged into each other here and there were dry,go figure.  The idea for the socket protectors org came from you so thanks so much.

David

Question, when you made the tie down to the tree, did you add a drip loop to the cord? 

When I had a tree in my old home, I used to tie my cords to the limbs and trunk of the tree too, but at each connection site, I looped the cord and then the female end was placed a bit more sideways after the drip loop, but elevated slightly next to the loop usually about 1-2" down from the top of loop, this way water would go to the loop and drip off, even in a gully-washer, my connections never got water in them, if the cords would have just been straight down the tree, I can bet they'd have had similar issues as you've experienced.  

So if you aren't using drip loops, add them to your cord connections that run along areas that get a  lot of water.    I also use a zip tie to keep the loop secured and in place, or large plastic screw down C clamps that'll hold things in place.  Even Duct or electrical tape is okay for holding a drip loop together, but I prefer the zip ties, just more secure {and no sticky mess as with tape!}.  But however you do it, as long as the drip loop can serve it's purpose, you're good.

[Euro92]

I can't seem to not trip my gfci when it rains. I feel bad cause I work late and can't get home to fix or dry whatever is tripping my gfci. I just put black electrical tape over plugs but maybe invest in those kids safety plugs. Feels bad cause this whole week its going to rain. Go figure in California we actually get rain.

[k6ccc]

Once in a while it rains here 😀. We need it, so no complaining.

I never have had any GFCI issues, but I have zero AC strings in my show - all pixels...  Actually that is no longer true I have two traditional string based singing faces...

 

[dibblejr]

34 minutes ago, Euro92 said:

I can't seem to not trip my gfci when it rains. I feel bad cause I work late and can't get home to fix or dry whatever is tripping my gfci. I just put black electrical tape over plugs but maybe invest in those kids safety plugs. Feels bad cause this whole week its going to rain. Go figure in California we actually get rain.

My show survives the downpours we get however my tomato cages are affected by the never ending drizzle. The rest of the show goes on. Its something Ive gotten accustomed to but I feel the pain. I have every zone on a gfci 16 this year with 4 spares just incase one trips I can separate the props and isolate the problem. We have had 75% of the days since Dec 1 raining cats and dogs. We have had 4 days in a row pouring but tomorrow going to be 75 and dry. Things will dry out on my cages and the show will be 100%.

Best of luck

JR

[dibblejr]

12 minutes ago, k6ccc said:

Once in a while it rains here 😀. We need it, so no complaining.

I never have had any GFCI issues, but I have zero AC strings in my show - all pixels...  Actually that is no longer true I have two traditional string based singing faces...

 

The singing faces always survive. If I don't change my mini trees to RGB next year I may make them out of pvc, they are aging any way. I don't want to change the minis to RGB and still have the 24' LED mega tree, wont match so that means I would be making a 24' 360 pixel MT. I added a 10' 360 pixel MT last minute this year.

Little by little I will be changing my faces to RGB. I purchased everything I need, just have to find the time.

JR