Smart String Hub Inside or Outside?

[bcstuff]

Are people planning on mounting their SS hub and power supply inside or outside?

If you mount you SS hub outside what about ventilation, and how is a power supply going to do outside in the humidity?

My original thought was a cg1500 with the fan vented outside the box but now I was thinking that might not be a good idea.

I am definitely looking at 80+ certified power supplies to reduce heat and be more energy efficient but not sure if that will make enough difference for a small space.

Looking at RJ's video, it looks like he had a box that he covered with a garbage bag.
I guess if the box is large enough heat would not be an issue?
I am curious to hear how RJ faired for the season with his setup.

If the SS hub is inside then you have the run multiple cat5 cables outside somehow?

What are everyones plans?

[RJ]

I faired fine. I had about 7 nodes out of 960 got water inside after 6 weeks and a three dya none stop rain but dried out. I am going to weather proof as I showed in the video to prevent this next year. The bag was to make it black so it did not show up in the dark and when the lights come on. It was just a cheap plastic hamper from wal mart we had on hand. You want some area inside if it is sealed so the air can move around and transfer heat to the case.

RJ 

[IndianaChristmas]

I know people have been concerned about heat venting and such and I probably should be as well.  However, I figure where I live now the avg temp is about 20 deg outside through the blinky-blinky time and figured that the ambient temperature should take care of any heating issues inside a case.  The outside world is really big and cold compared to the area inside any box I can put around the equipment. 
Am I safe to assume this?

[RJ]

It was warm for a good many nights here but again even in cold you need a certain amount of room around it to cycle air to keep it from breathing the just exhasted warm air back in without time to transfer heat.

RJ

[riri7707]

As per my experience, standard PC power supply will not survive on outside conditions under lower temperatures as they are.
These PSU where not built for...

This is not a running problem, but more a switching components issue. Remember a PC PSU concept is totally different from a standard power regulation, where you have a simple transformer, rectifiers, capacitors, regulator and that's it.. PC PSU is a PSU balanced and very sensitive.

If during the night the temp goes under -15/20°C, when you will power on the PSU, you have 50% chances it will instantly die.
humidity and cold are the main issues here.

In fact what happends from switch OUT the evening to switch ON the morning for the next show, a lot of humidity and freeze will be on the PCB and the components too much cold to resist to a normal switch on...

There are several issues to prevent this :

1°) have a warmed enclosure with a regulation inside  to have a minimum temp inside.... easy to do it : ( a 20w resistor and a thermocouple switch).
2°) Never switch- off the power supply... and take care about the position of the unit to make the FAN working well.

In all cases the enclosure will not be 100% waterproof; you will need to have a hole under the enclosure  and in one side upper to let the air running.

Important question: what is the max cable lenght we can use from HUB to controllers attached to the strings ?

Henri

[RJ]

I agree we need to be concerned about condisation at those temps. I would think you could do what we do here for plants and put a 60 watt light bulb in there if you want it outside. Inside is nice but it is a lot of long cables to take out.

Then you could go 12v only from the power supply with a good heavy cable like SPT2 kept short so your ps is inside and the hub is outside. Just another option.  the system can handle some voltage drop since it is 12 volts so this is viable.

RJ

[riri7707]

Agree...

I used yet PC PSU for outdoor.
I placed inside the PSU a car bulb to charge the PSU and works fine as the 5v needs to be charged to allow the PSU to deliver the full capacity on 12v.

Henri

[mitch09]

I saw this posted elsewhere and thought I'd ask on this threAd. What about keeping the hub inside but having cat5 junction boxes or patch panels permanently placed in eaves? Long rns originally but short during set up

[wbuehler]

I will have the PSU and Hub outside on the Porch with Cat 5 cable from the Hub to the SSC's.

[TheBanker]

Then you could go 12v only from the power supply with a good heavy cable like SPT2 kept short so your ps is inside and the hub is outside. Just another option.  the system can handle some voltage drop since it is 12 volts so this is viable.

RJ

Do you know how long we can run the wire before we loose to much voltage?  And if you have a long run of wire prior to the lights will it effect a long run of lights?  Do you know what the difference is between the brightness of the first bulb and the brightness of the last bulb?

[Jeffl]

I have used a PC power supply outside for the past two years and have seen temps down to -10F without no problems.  The one I used I removed the fan and housing and had no problems.

Now as a disclaimer I power my cards up when I deploy them in November and I power them down when I take them in the house.  When I took out the last DC unit the inside of the case was warm when I opened it.  I say warm as in a nice temp, not hot.

My guess is a CG-1500 might be a nice case if both the power supply and card will fit.  Then leave one of the holes on the bottom open for some ventilation.

[tbone321]

I saw this posted elsewhere and thought I'd ask on this threAd. What about keeping the hub inside but having cat5 junction boxes or patch panels permanently placed in eaves? Long rns originally but short during set up

The problem is that these connections are not just carrying the control signal.  They are also carrying the the power for the strings.  While you could probably do it this way, you may have issues with these connectors not being designed to handle the current being passed thru them as well as corrosion issues as many of them were not designed to deal with outdoor use.

[wbuehler]

I have used a PC power supply in the CG-1500 case for the past 3yrs with no issues so far, but the supply eats up almost all the room inside the case.
It does not look like enough room would exist for the Hub PCB, unless the HUB PCB could be placed on the inside lid.

I have also seen temp down to -10F with no issues and I do power my supplies down at night, but we get a good amount of sun during the day that does a nice job of warming up the cases before showtime.

[LondoB5]

Do you know how long we can run the wire before we loose to much voltage?  And if you have a long run of wire prior to the lights will it effect a long run of lights?  Do you know what the difference is between the brightness of the first bulb and the brightness of the last bulb?

Voltage drop on SPT-2 wire is minimal. The voltage drop over 10 feet is something like .02v at 3A  and .1v at 15A. Not much at all.
However, wire impedance may not be the only issue.
RJ probably needs to chime in on this one, as he is the expert.

[Jeffl]

I have used these power supplies with the "silver" label on them for my DC boards (dell gx260,270,280).  They are small and fit nicely in the cases.  The only problem is they don't have a large power output.

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