redsea300 Posted October 29, 2008 Share Posted October 29, 2008 This is my first year. I know i am going to run my #1 controller 24/7 because i am playing music during off times. I am wondering if you let the other 11 controllers stay on all the time or do you use timers to shut them off.Thanks in advance Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Westport Lights Posted October 29, 2008 Share Posted October 29, 2008 Some leave them on, some turn them off. I recall that someone mentioned last year that they leave there on because of moisture. The minimal amount of heat generated by the transformer inside a control box helps prevent moisture. Not sure if that's true or not, but the explination made sense to me.I left mine on 24/7 during the season last year and I intend to do the same.NOTE: last year's 24/7 does not count the 1 week power outage after a bad storm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Fischer Posted October 29, 2008 Share Posted October 29, 2008 Some like to power them down, but I haven't heard a convincing reason (to me) for it. Leaving them on takes minimal power, might (as noted above) help with condensation, and lets the computer/show director drive everything without worrying about yet another detail...-Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffF Posted October 30, 2008 Share Posted October 30, 2008 Tim Fischer wrote: Leaving them on takes minimal power...I measured my controllers and they only use 1w when not doing anything. I decided to leave them on like Tim says for "one less thing to worry about". -Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Hamilton Posted October 30, 2008 Share Posted October 30, 2008 I'm in the same mindset with Tim and others. Mine stay on all the time. I've noticed little to no condensation build-up in the units when I leave them on. As someone said, just a tiny amount of internal heat will help more than you realize. As I recall the non-running state of a 1602 controller is rated at 5 watts max, but I see it is typically under 3 watts for mine.Someone mentioned they were using timers to turn off their controllers to reduce liklihood of AC spikes. That is not an issue for me. Our power is very clean and I have whole-house transcient snubber boxes on the service panel. Even without that, I would think that typical house line spikes from refrigerators and other heavy motor appliances are not a big deal to the controllers. If you use a timer, better make sure it can handle the load that is on the controller, otherwise you blow out that timer puppy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-klb- Posted October 30, 2008 Share Posted October 30, 2008 I agree with those who leave them powered up. I might unplug mine for the month between Halloween and Christmas. Actually for that time, I might think about moving all of them off of their individual circuits, and plugging all of them into one good surge suppressor power strip. Just to give them a little more protection while they wait, and to keep that 1W of heat going... - Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsea300 Posted October 31, 2008 Author Share Posted October 31, 2008 Thanks for all the advice. I am going to leave them running. I am starting to broadcast music this weekend with info also. I will run just one of them. Then when the show starts I will let all of them run. Thanks again Don. I put up a couple of the controllers and pictures of my command central if interested on my webpage.http://www.hearthelights.comThanks again everyone Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Hamilton Posted October 31, 2008 Share Posted October 31, 2008 redsea300 wrote: I put up a couple of the controllers and pictures of my command central if interested on my webpage. http://www.hearthelights.comHmmm, nothing seems to come up when I try that link. Is it working? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Fischer Posted October 31, 2008 Share Posted October 31, 2008 Link works for me... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Hamilton Posted October 31, 2008 Share Posted October 31, 2008 Tim Fischer wrote: Link works for me...Ah, but Tim you probably typed it in the browser or clicked on the bottom link. I noticed that the link ebmedded in middle of the message does not work because it has 2 "T" s in the middle of the link. If I type it in with 1 T, then it works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Fischer Posted October 31, 2008 Share Posted October 31, 2008 Weird. Not sure what I did, but I see what you mean... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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