cable runs

[ARC]

Hey there,

Very new newbie here. Getting geared up for next year. Was wondering if anyone is using multiconductor cable and connectors to consolidate runs for different color lights to the same location.

ARC

[Denis Chaput]

Some are using certain custom cables and connectors Myself am using 37 conductor/14awg to certain location in yard got the cable for nothing at work.

[Brad Stucky]

ARC wrote:

Hey there,

Very new newbie here. Getting geared up for next year. Was wondering if anyone is using multiconductor cable and connectors to consolidate runs for different color lights to the same location.

ARC

I'm using 6-conductor molex connectors with direct burial rated cat5 cable. Each one is carrying 4 channels for RGBW to the windows and doors of our house and to a bush. The two center conductors on the 6-conductor molex connector are shared neutrals for the other four conductors. The molex connectors are wired at the controller inside our garage. The would not tolerate water very well. I believe there are better, more water resistant, connectors than these but they are also probably more expensive, too. The other end of these cables are terminated with a shallow handybox with 4 snap-in receptacles, each fitted with a snubber resistor. (picture included below) I then fit a small piece of FRP (fiberglass reinforced plastic) and hot-glue it into the opening to cover up the connections. Depending on location and position of the box, I sometimes drill a small weep hole to let out any moisture that might collect in the box.

I'm also using 12-conductor molex connectors for 8 channel applications such as arches and poles. In this case, I have the snap-in receptacles mounted into the pipe on the bottom side of the arch with the wires and resistors on the inside. I bring a short pigtail of this wire out the end and wire it to the molex connector. For these circuits I'm using either two cat5 cables, or one 12-conductor power limited cable. I am only lighting LEDs with these circuits since the wire is pretty small. (24 guage and some 22 guage) I have the controllers fused at 5 amps per 8-channel bank and have the power bridged to both sides of the controller so that the main 5 amp fuse doesn't have to carry power for both banks. I've tested the fuses with a direct short and they blow without any wire smoking. I would be cautious with a long run (mine are 75ft or less) since a voltage drop on a long cable due to a short at the far end might not allow enough amperage to blow the fuse, resulting in heating of the wire. I'm sure I could use smaller fuses in most, if not all of my circuits, but just happened to settle on 5 amps since I already had them. ( I presently have 96 channels of LEDs running on one 115v circuit.) Some of this I've been doing for 2 years now without a problem. I do have some of these connections outside but I have a 6" piece of bicycle innertube tiewrapped around any connections and haven't yet had any trouble with snow or rain, though I'm careful they don't set in a puddle of water. There are some disadvantages to wiring with multiconductor cable. I had 2 triacs blow this year on new separate boards and never had any blow in the 3 previous years. It's not as easy to rewire to another circuit when using multiconductor cable. I just happened to have 2 spare boards so I got lucky.


Attached files

[schristi69]

What is the resistor for?

[Brad Stucky]

schristi69 wrote:

What is the resistor for?

In a few cases, I have had some trouble with LED strings dimming properly. The 1/2 watt 39k resistor is there to act as a snubber to eliminate this problem. I bought a quantity of them through Allied Electronics along with the female receptacle inserts. Most of my channels have only one string of 50 cnt. LEDs. I read someplace in the forums here that the dimming problem can be compounded as the amount of LEDs on the channel is increased. Some users will add a single C9 or C7 to a string of LEDs to smooth out the dimming. Others will add a male plug (at the end of the LED string) that has been fitted with this resistor inside. I opted to include the resistor at the receptacle to eliminate the need for this snubber plug at the end of the strings. The resistors were cheap in quantity but overall I probably did spend more than if I would have addressed each misbehaving string as it showed up, but the other reason I installed them at the receptacle is that they may just warm up the receptacle enough to drive out any moisture. (at least while the lights are on)

[schristi69]

Ahhhhhhhhh I see. Did you find out why the triacs blew with the multi conductor cable?

[Brad Stucky]

schristi69 wrote:

Ahhhhhhhhh I see. Did you find out why the triacs blew with the multi conductor cable?

No, I haven't found out why they blew. One the failures was on an 8 channel cable and the other was on a 4 channel cable. I'm guessing that it was "infant mortality" which means that sometimes an electronic component may pass the test at the factory but because of some hidden defect in the device itself, it will fail shortly after it is placed in a more extended service. This is somewhat common as far as electronic circuits go. If they survive 60-90 days, they will probably then go for years. Both of the cards that failed were new for this year. I made no changes to the cables or circuits and simply replaced the 2 new boards with 2 spare cards I had used last year with similar multiconductor cables. I've had no more failures for the rest of this years show, including no failures with any LED strings as well. ( I usually have 1 or 2 of those fail) I also had no fuses blow and not even a GFCI trip though we had some rain. I think it was just chance that I happen to have 2 triacs blow this year. I had contacted customer service about this and Dan said there is a certain failure rate among triacs. (about 1 in 500) He also said it's too soon to tell if there is any production problem with these particular triacs and also said they would fix my cards at no cost. (Thanks, Dan for great service.. again) I plan to use these same cables again next year.