Power over CAT5 and distance...

[DanHouston]

I'm going to be running some RGB items this year and most of them have the power running over CAT5 along with the DMX signal....How long a run can I make with power running on it?

One of the items I will be running this year will be a rainbow flood, so as a way of an example how far can I run between a rainbow brain and a rainbow flood?

[dmaccole]

Dan:

How are you wiring the power? Are you using three strands for positive and three for negative (and two for DMX)?

Twelve volts? Five?

Assuming that your are using three strands for 12 volts, you can figure *roughly* a one-percent drop in voltage per 100 feet per amp (so, after 100 feet, a 1 amp draw it would be about 11.9 volts; after 500 feet, it would be 11.5 volts).

YMMV.

\dmc

[bcstuff]

When using the Rainbow Brain there is no DMX signal on the wires providing power.

The Rainbow Brain receives DMX signal on a separate Cat5 and the Rainbow Brain outputs 12v DC across 3 pairs of the Cat5.
Each color of the rainbow flood draws 0.72 amps

The Rainbow floods just turn on when the circuit is completed by the Rainbow Brain.


As far as the distance you can go, you can probably go pretty far but as your length increase your voltage decreases. Lower voltage on the Rainbow floods will make them not quite as bright.
Check out dmaccole's response above and you probably wouldn't even notice.


Check out the Rainbow Flood User manual:
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and the Rainbow Brain User manual:
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[DanHouston]

Thanks both of you.

So in this case it is 12v across 3 pairs and DMX running on the 4th pair. A 1% drop over 100' seems pretty good and should more than meet my distance needs.