LOR Unit Locations

[captainron19]

So I was wondering... what does everyone do with your LOR Units? Do you keep them all next to eachother near the outlets you are using? Or do you space them out to make them as close as possible to the light on those specific channels?

I thought I would be taking the route of having them in different areas of my property to limit the amount of extension cords I woudl have to run back to the units but I am also worried about them not being right near my house and worried about vandals and thieves.

[Guest wbottomley]

captainron19 wrote:

So I was wondering... what does everyone do with your LOR Units? Do you keep them all next to eachother near the outlets you are using? Or do you space them out to make them as close as possible to the light on those specific channels?

I thought I would be taking the route of having them in different areas of my property to limit the amount of extension cords I woudl have to run back to the units but I am also worried about them not being right near my house and worried about vandals and thieves.

With 31, mine can't be in one place. So I put them next to the displays.

[vipzach]

I will only have 1 controller this year, so mine will be mounted in the garage, near the circuit I'm going to run just for the lights.

Someday, if I have several controllers, it might be easier to have some of them outside.

[Denny]

With an acre of land, mine are spread throughout the yard. I already use about two miles of extension cords and would hate to think how much more I would need if all the controllers were in one area. Most of mine are attached to the "U" channel fence posts with screws or bolts although a few just lie on concrete blocks. I built my own boxes from plywood and simply run a screw through the holes in the fence post and into the box.

Edit to add: If you build the 16PC yourself and fabricate your own box, it may be cheaper than buying hundreds of feet of extension cords (even if you make your own). Too be honest, I am more concerned that the heavy duty extension cords that provide power to the boxes will be stolen than the controllers. I use 12 gauge cords to power the boxes and those are 50 to 100 feet each.

[Greg]

my first year (48 channels) I had them all in one place but found that to be a mistake because it of the amount of extension cords I needed. since then I have placed them out near the display items, I also have them mounted on wooden posts which are staked into the ground, it would take quite a bit of work to get them loose if someone wanted to take them.

[-klb-]

At the house, I have my AC controllers (8 last year) bolted to the side of the house, behind the fence. They are fed from 85 foot 12/3 cords from a bank of GFCI outlets in the garage, near the main panel. The 2 DC controllers are mounted on stakes behind the shrubs in the flower bed.

For the city park, we have some bolted to the back of the firehouse, some bolted to the firehouse behind the shrubs, and more bolted to the firehouse, over the bay doors. Then in the park, they are mounted to stamped T posts, with U bolts, where the nuts are inside the cases. So they are pretty much all fairly close to the elements they are driving. We still use insane quantities of cord for that show.

[Brandon Kibler]

All of my controllers are out in the yard next to the elements they are controlling. Like has already been said, this cuts down on the use of extension cords. I have all of mine bolted to fence posts driven in the ground, and while the display is up the ground is usually frozen, so no worries about grad-and-go. Plus, I have a temporary fence that I put up to keep people out of the display.

[ShowProKevin]

As my number of controllers grew from only a couple to many, I found it to be impractical to keep all of the controllers together.

We all worry about theft and vandalism however if you drive your mounts far enough into the ground and bolt your controllers to said mounts, a combination of a very secured controller and the simple fact that a passerby probably doesn't know what a lor controller is, you generally take the risk.

Consider your neighborhoods track record for petty theft. My neighborhood was notorious for theft of holiday decorations. Particulary Christmas and Halloween decor.

As I have recommended in the past, install an electric fence, land mines, barbed wire, laser grids, etc..... jk

Good luck.