Dave Batzdorf Posted December 1, 2009 Posted December 1, 2009 Sorry folks, but I just cant remember this. Can a LOR control the simple motion deer motors? I realize one would have to be careful and ensure full power to the channel. The current draw is less than 100mA, average.
Jeff Sand Posted December 1, 2009 Posted December 1, 2009 I would be hesitant to hook up any kind of motor to an LOR channel output. They're not designed for inductive loads like a motor.
Salts Posted December 1, 2009 Posted December 1, 2009 If you really want to control the motor. I would suggest that you have LOR trigger a relay that passes power from a standard outlet through to the motor. I didn't want the motors running so I just unplugged the motors and only controlled the lights ont he deer.
Steven Posted December 1, 2009 Posted December 1, 2009 I have my two animated deer motors both plugged into one LOR channel. It has always worked perfectly.
Jerry Budelman Posted December 10, 2009 Posted December 10, 2009 I have used a channel to control an angel's wing's motor----big problems, but they went away when I put a small incandescent light on the circuit to manage the power factor. You could try this.Jerry Budelman
iresq Posted December 10, 2009 Posted December 10, 2009 I have used LOR to control such things. In addition, I use DMX dimmer packs (same basic technology) to control DJ lighting that also contains motors.I know use X10.If you are concerned, a simply relay could be made for under 10 bucks through Radio Shack.
Max-Paul Posted December 10, 2009 Posted December 10, 2009 How do you manage the "Power Factor" by adding a small lamp?
Jeff Sand Posted December 10, 2009 Posted December 10, 2009 Power factor is a measure of real power (resistive) vs. reactive power (inductive or "imaginary" power). By adding an incandescent lamp in parallel with a more reactive load, you are basically "watering down" the reactive power with real power and bringing the overall power factor closer to 1.
Jerry Budelman Posted December 11, 2009 Posted December 11, 2009 Jeff has it just right. An inductive load causes the triacs to not turn off or on properly and thus produce unwanted effects. And the effects can propagate beyond the channel that has the inductive load.Jerry
Garry Posted December 11, 2009 Posted December 11, 2009 We have been using a Deer with incandescent mini-lights and a motor to move his head with LOR with no problems for 2 years.Garry
lightzilla Posted December 11, 2009 Posted December 11, 2009 Interesting thread.What is the worst that can happen if you run a motor on a Lor controller? Well it burn out the whole net work or just that one controller?Just wondering since I have been running my Ferris Wheel with Lor since Nov.27,2009.
Jerry Budelman Posted December 11, 2009 Posted December 11, 2009 If you run the motor at "full-on" intensity, it should be OK if you don't have other issues as noted earlier. This is for small motors such as those used to animate deer or angels. Don't try this with larger motors e.g. pumps, fans etc. Also, don't try to "throttle" motors by setting a lower intensity. In general it won't work and you could damage the motor and/or the LOR controller.Jerry
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