mega tree

[Guest guest]

hi all

i know theres gonna be lots of diff answers on this just
wanting some input on how many lights people around here put
on each channel on there mega tree im planing on making a
10foot mega tree using a full 16channel board for the tree
...trying to do the math on the amps so
im ahead of the game

Thanks!

[Guest guest]

this is the same thing i'm planing on i have one 16 channel board just for a mega tree of 10 to 14 feet any advice would be great i have looked at the videos of people making trees but how many strings of lights do you put on one channel i hear people talking about winding 3 colors is that 3 separate channels or do you hook all 3 in to one channel guess i a little hard headed about this



Dale

[Guest guest]

For a 12 foot tree (7' foot diameter base) I think 36 strings look good, or about one string every 6" - 8" on the base. Of course the number of slices (channels) should also play a role, but that's covered in another thread.

I'll duck now.

Glenn

[Guest guest]

Ma amount of mini's on a channel is six strands. I use five just to be safe.

[Guest guest]

Thanks

[Guest guest]

Robin - I'm a little confused with your statement. I'm thinking that you said "Max amount of mini's on a channel is six strands". It is my understanding that LOR will handle up to 8 amps on a channel. Six strands of 100 minis amounts to only 2 amps. Do the math, and you can run 24 strands of 100 minis on a single LOR channel. Not that you'd want that many strands on a single channel of a mega tree, but for accuracy and clarity, the limit would be 24 strands.

D.T.

Robin wrote:

Ma amount of mini's on a channel is six strands. I use five just to be safe.

[Guest guest]

Hi All,

When planning for maxing out an LOR Box ... you first need to know the max AMPs the box will control.

The SHOWTIME Boxes are either 30 AMPs for 16 channels, or 15 AMPs for 16 Channels. If you have the 30 AMP model, then there are 15 AMPs on each side (1thru8, and 9thru16)

So, if you do the math ... You have about 2 AMPs per channel if you divide them equally on a 30 AMP box. or less than 1 AMP on a 15 AMP box.

The 2nd Thing you need to know:

On the little white tag that came with your minilights, it tells you in small print how many AMPs the set draws: Typically 1/3 of an AMP per 100 set of Minis. Soooo, 6 Strands will pull about 2 AMPs.

But, most suggest 9,000 mini lights per box (safety) ... So, as someone said earlier, probably best to not have more than 5 strands per channel.

The 3rd Thing you need to know:

Each channel can handle up to 8 AMPs (If I remember right) ... but then YOU have to remember to NEVER have more than max AMPerage per side on at any one time. My memory is NOT that good, so I chose to only load a box (I use the Showtime boxes, all 30AMP) with more than the maximum AMPerage for the box. So, less than 30 AMPs. And that no Channel would be more than 2 AMPs ... except in a couple instances where I knew that the other channels would not be maxed out.

The 4th Thing you need to know:

Most everyone here who are running large displays have spreadsheets to plan out this issue. Whether you have a lot of channels at the moment or not, it is a good idea. Because once you get all the lights out ... you will forget ... and you will be tempted to put out more lights.

So, my advice ... estimate all your AMPerage (everyone here will help you) ... put it down on paper or in a spreadsheet. Follow your plan to the "T" ... and you will not have to worry about blowing one of your LORs the first time you run your show.

Good luck,

T.

[Guest guest]

Agreed - having a spreadsheet is the only way to go. That way you can know exactly how much current you'll have running through the LOR controller with "all-on". I even have my spread sheet change the colors of the "total amps" cells that are approaching the limits of each side of the LOR box. Using this approach, you can confidently exceed the self imposed "5 string limit" on a channel or two per side of the controller.



D.T.

[Guest guest]

thanks for the info guys