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We just got our "Animated light box/ with music programmed. We have read the manual, but we are confused about how many amps can be used on each channel.
It states that a channel can hold 10 amps . The entire box can only hold 30 amps.
Basic math...is as follows. 10amps x 16 channels=160 amps
Like a lot of controllers, there are limits to what you can plug into one channel based on what the electronics for that channel can handle (a triac, for example, or whether a heat sink is being used).
Besides the limitations for each channel, there are also limitations on what is feeding the box (i.e. 20 amp circuit, 15 amp circuit, etc.).
I have Light o Rama controllers, but here is a common scenario....Let's say you have one string of minilights each plugged into channels 1-7, and then a 1 amp rope light figure plugged into channel 8. For the sake of example, let's say you have the same setup on channels 9-16 as well.
The loading would be as follows:
Channels 1-7 and 9-15 would each have 0.33 amps connected.
The total for channels 1-8 would be (0.33 amps x 7) + 1 amp = 3.3 amps, and the load for channels 9-16 would be the same for a total on all 16 channels of 6.6 amps. So a single 15 amp circuit would power all 16 channels....As you add more lights to each channel, then the closer you get to the capacity of that 15 amp circuit and you might need more capacity if you have more lights plugged into the controller.
It's a really good idea to build a spreadsheet that lists all the lights you'd like to power and then you can start to get an idea of what you'll need circuit-wise to power them all up...
mikeandken wrote: We just got our "Animated light box/ with music programmed. We have read the manual, but we are confused about how many amps can be used on each channel.
It states that a channel can hold 10 amps . The entire box can only hold 30 amps.
Basic math...is as follows. 10amps x 16 channels=160 amps
We are so confused with this ....HELP....
M&K
Guys, This is where you have to calculate total amperage to the controller. You have a max. 30 amp. controller that can control up to ten amps per channel....so....do not excede the channel max. and do not have over thirty amps. (Although I would keep it closer to 25 amps) on at any given time.
By the way, to start with a simple way to reduce amperage is by lowering the light level to 220 instead of the max. 255. The light intensity is almost identical and cant be perceived.
mikeandken wrote: We just got our "Animated light box/ with music programmed. We have read the manual, but we are confused about how many amps can be used on each channel.
It states that a channel can hold 10 amps . The entire box can only hold 30 amps.
Basic math...is as follows. 10amps x 16 channels=160 amps
We are so confused with this ....HELP....
You cannot use more then 15 amps total at one time in channels 1 thru 8 and similar 15 amp capacity for channels 9 thru 16.
Now if you plan to turn on every channel at one time, then you have serious limitation issues. To be honest you'll probably never exceed your perimeters. I have controllers that have 15 amps per 16 channel limitations, one way to deal with the situation is most of us have maybe 1/3 of our channels are very large heavy using amp loads and the rest maybe just have a string or two each. Divide up your heavy amp using loads and put channels 1 thru 4 using the heavy amp users, channels 5 thru 8 put light loads, then heavy loads again on 9 thru 12 and again light use channels on 13 thru 16 for your box and you will balance your loads out and be fine.
A typical 100 string of light from walmart uses about 1/3 amp... you can reduce this to about 1/4 amp per string with almost no noticable loss to the show by programming your shows with a maximum brightness level of about 215 where 255 is full voltage. 215 is slightly dim and provides 95 volts to the circuit instead of 115 volts. Most typical christmas lights and even some regular incandescent bulbs and flood lights show virtually no effect on the brightness when fed 95 volts instead of 115, but you get away with about a 15% increase in the overall loads you can leverage on your controllers. If you are using preprogrammed shows, well it may take some careful work on the grids to lower those voltages but be careful not to contaminate or ruin effects that may be programmed into the shows.
The reality is, if you used preprogrammed music and shows, you dont really have a choice as to how to leverage your loads although I think Animated Lighting had this generally in mind. You also dont have control over how they programmed the shows, how many channels open up at one time in maximum conditions, so to play it safe, I would not leverage up 10 amps on every channel, stick to thinking that no channel should have over about 4 or 5 amps each and I suspect all will be fine. Me and others have noticed that packages of lights, like the 100 strings from walmart "say" they use .34 amps per string but put a load on an amp meter and often real world is that they in fact use less, especially after voltage drop occurs (you loose 1 volt per 10 to 15 ft of extention cord for example and this also may count in wiring in your house from plug to breaker box which is why lights are designed to achieve full brightness at lower then 115 volts), and other factors. I have as many as 12 strings of 100 lights X 5 channels at a time on some of my boxes and do just fine with 15 amp LC controllers.
Last edited on Sunday August 26th, 2007 12:37 am by Joseph Ayo
Bill V wrote: mikeandken wrote: We just got our "Animated light box/ with music programmed. We have read the manual, but we are confused about how many amps can be used on each channel.
It states that a channel can hold 10 amps . The entire box can only hold 30 amps.
Basic math...is as follows. 10amps x 16 channels=160 amps
We are so confused with this ....HELP....
M&K
Guys, This is where you have to calculate total amperage to the controller. You have a max. 30 amp. controller that can control up to ten amps per channel....so....do not excede the channel max. and do not have over thirty amps. (Although I would keep it closer to 25 amps) on at any given time.
By the way, to start with a simple way to reduce amperage is by lowering the light level to 220 instead of the max. 255. The light intensity is almost identical and cant be perceived.
Since 30 amps at 110 is generally not accepted electrical practice, dont the 30 amp controllers come with 2 plugs designed to plug into 2 separate outlets on 2 separate breakers? If this is as I think it is, 1 of your 15 amps is for channels 0 thru 7 and the other for Channels 8 thru 15. If both are plugged into the same outlet/same breaker you are probably never going to use over 20 amps unless you are wired with #10 wire and breaking electrical code using a 30 amp breaker. 30 amps are for use with #10 wiring as a mininum and intended for use with 240 volt applications. No 110 volt edison outlets are designed to handle over 20 amps that I am aware of nor should they be handling that load branched to a second outlet.
Thanks Everyone...We knew ya'll would come to our rescue...
We kind of understand it now. As long as we divide up the total 30 amps amongst the 16 channels we will be okay......
Maybe next year we will invest in a program so that we can do our own programming. It's going to be difficult with our already done. Especially not knowing which channel will be pumping out what beats and rhythms to our songs. We are hoping for a good show. Animated lighting did a fantastic job on our programming. At least from what we can see when we hooked everything up on the landing upstairs. One light string per channel. It really does dance to the rhythm of the songs....
