setting particular channels to certain max power level

[DavidPeterson]

What is the easiest way to set a particular channel to 85% max? I need to reduce power a bit, and that seems the best way. I know how to set the intensity and fade tools to 85%, but is there a better way than to overwrite each event? I've got some twinkle and shimmer as well, how can I make sure that doesn't go over 85%?

[cenote]

As far as "I" know, the firmware does not allow this yet. I have came up with a solution this year, because one of my channels would be drawing 10-11 amps, and thats no-no. I have decided to make up weather resiant in line lamp dimmers. May need to break up the circuit in two, and make two dimmers per channel, because the wattage on lamp dimmers are not the greatest. I think alot of them are about 3-5 amps. Will let you know design this weekend when I make mine.

[Guest wbottomley]

You can do this one of two or three ways...

1) go to the hardware utility, click configure, then set maximum intensity.

2) set the intensity per channel at 85% by using the intensity tool.

3) or like cenote quoted.

[iresq]

Note, an intensity of 85% does not correlate to a 15% reduction in power consumption. I ran some tests last year using a kill a watt. I have since switched computers and don't think I saved the spreadsheet. If I am not mistaken, I think there was about a 5-6% drop

[cenote]

Any chance you could rerun some test on 100 count mini's and post? Have not purchases one of those fancy kilo-watt meter yet....Santa's coming.

[DavidPeterson]

When I dropped some to 85% I ran it through the T2lights excel sheet, it looks ok. If I was still a bit over, whats the worst case scenario? I fry my box? Blow a fuse?

I should have gotten extra fuses when I got the boxes, the shipping is quite a bit more than the fuses and I don't know if I can just get replacements at Home Depot.

[iresq]

Here are the rough numbers. No calculations. Test setup: PC board measuring channel 1 to eliminate controller power consumption. Using Kill A Watt. Lights are Holiday Time 100 count mini's. Measurements in amps. Lights controlled via hardware utility. Sorry for the format.



Percent 1 string 2 strings
100 0.30 0.62
90 0.30 0.61
85 0.30 0.61
80 0.30 0.61
75 0.30 0.59
70 0.28 0.57
65 0.27 0.56
60 0.27 0.56
55 0.27 0.54
49 0.25 0.53
45 0.25 0.51
40 0.24 0.48
35 0.22 0.46
30 0.20 0.43
25 0.19 0.41
20 0.17 0.36
15 0.16 0.33
10 0.14 0.28 No visable light 4 0.11 0.25
0 0 0

[iresq]

Further test using 2 strings:

Shimmer .49
Twinkle between .25 and .56

[cenote]

iresq wrote:

Percent 1 string 2 strings
100 0.30 0.62
90 0.30 0.61
85 0.30 0.61
80 0.30 0.61
75 0.30 0.59
70 0.28 0.57
65 0.27 0.56
60 0.27 0.56
55 0.27 0.54
49 0.25 0.53
45 0.25 0.51
40 0.24 0.48
35 0.22 0.46
30 0.20 0.43
25 0.19 0.41
20 0.17 0.36
15 0.16 0.33
10 0.14 0.28 No visable light 4 0.11 0.25
0 0 0

Wow, is that interesting. I always take actual amp readings on each circuit after hanging, and could never figure out the reason why the more lights you add, the less amps it draws...meaning 10 strings never draw 10x .3 amps. Thanks

[cenote]

Mountainwxman wrote:

1) go to the hardware utility, click configure, then set maximum intensity.

Does this mean that this modifies the actual board for all shows until reflashed?

[iresq]

DavidPeterson wrote:

When I dropped some to 85% I ran it through the T2lights excel sheet, it looks ok. If I was still a bit over, whats the worst case scenario? I fry my box? Blow a fuse?

I should have gotten extra fuses when I got the boxes, the shipping is quite a bit more than the fuses and I don't know if I can just get replacements at Home Depot.

Worse case scenario - probably blown fuse. The power utility is a cool tool but is dependent upon accurate setup. I also don't know how the utility program handles dims and intensities. As you can see from my chart, a 85% intensity setting had no effect 1 one string and only a .01 amp drop on two strings.

[cenote]

OK, new question, how about adding a resister inline? Or is that what a "lamp dimmer" really is? Now you force me to go get a dimmer a try it on lmy ights tonight!!

[iresq]

Jeff Millard wrote:

You can't properly use it to test the current on a channel if it too is being dimmed.... So You plug the controller into the Kill A Watt and subtract the load of the controller... right?

I plugged my kill a watt on the left power supply and used channel 1 to try to eliminate any of the power requirements from the board. Our results are pretty much in line though your strings draw a tad more than mine. I ran this test last year using 500 watt work lights. The power savings increased as the load increased but it never got close to a direct correlation of the dim value.

I would consider the kill a watt to be a must have tool for this obsession. I always measure each element of my display then run the sequences through the power utility. Makes power balancing a breeze.

[cenote]

OK, wife officially think's I lost it.

Plugged in 6 strings threw a lamp dimmer. Turning dimmer down, with a "old stlye" needle amp gauge, here is what I get...

100% hair under 2 amps
80% 1.8 amps
60% 1.4 amps
40% 1 amp
20% .6 amps

These are only close being that the dimmer does not have % on it, and I am using a needle type meter.

[Denny]

DavidPeterson wrote:

I should have gotten extra fuses when I got the boxes, the shipping is quite a bit more than the fuses and I don't know if I can just get replacements at Home Depot.

You can get fuses at Home Depot or Lowes; get replacement ceramic microwave fuses. They have them in both 15 and 20 amps.

[Shubb]

I had similar test with an amp meter on a 2 amp load of lights. 50% of light did not reduce the amp draw as much as I thought.

My first year I had 200 globe lights, plus 450 icicle lights about 16 amp load assigned to 1 channel (I only had 16)
I used a relay with 115volt coil to power the total load. Then I found that the icicles were too bright, so I put an in line rotary dimmer to adjust the brightness.
Worked rather well, and was quick to wire.

Scott

[Kevin McQuarters]

Totally agree with "iresq".
Kill-A-Watt handles my obsessive urges and load balancing tendencies quite well.

Will the intensity setting thru the Hardware Utility apply to ALL channels? I would like
to lower the intensity of my incandescent channels against the LED's.

[iresq]

I have only used the utility to test. It appears that it applies to the whole controller. There are two radio buttons marked A and B. I thought these might control left and right side boards, but did not try it and have not read through the documentation. It should be noted that the max you can dim using this method is 86% which does not translate to a large reduction in perceived brightness.