DiyLightAnimation

Hardware => Lynx Smart String => Topic started by: tng5737 on March 26, 2011,

Title: What will you use to house your SS hubs and PS?
Post by: tng5737 on March 26, 2011,

I'm sure we have all been thinking about what kinds of housings we can use for our SS Hubs and their PS.  I'd like to hear some ideas.  
I am thinking about mounting both the hub and ps on a board inside a plastic storage container on a board using stand-offs and some home-made L-brackets.  The board would have spacers underneath to keep it off of the bottom in case moisture got inside.   On opposite ends of the container cut some holes which would be covered with a screen and cloth to keep bugs and rodents out yet provide airflow.  On the side there would be the weatherproof cable feedthrus.
I'm sure there are many more elegant solutions out there - let's hear them!

Title: Re: What will you use to house your SS hubs and PS?
Post by: TheBanker on March 26, 2011,

hmmm I haven't even thought about it yet.

Title: Re: What will you use to house your SS hubs and PS?
Post by: dmaccole on March 26, 2011,

TNG:

My window and bannister frames (see http://www.pacificalights.info/index.php/tech/21-Lynx-MR16.html) required that one of the MR-16/ATX combos needed to be outside. I put them into a box very similar to what you described, though without the fancy legs and holes ... it was just an upside-down plastic container sitting on the ground (the irregular space around the bottom was plenty of room for air to get in and out).

The one problem I had was one night the PS just died; of course, it was raining, so I had to turn the box over to reach the switch to reset the PS -- rainwater got on the PS and the MR-16, which freaked me out a bit. But once the switch was reset, the PS took off and the show went on.

For 2011, I'm thinking about relocating that MR-16/ATX combo indoors or maybe building something a little more sophisticated so that I don't have to worry about the rain when/if the PS needs attendance.

The SS hub and PS will be the garage.

HTH.

\dmc

Title: Re: What will you use to house your SS hubs and PS?
Post by: taybrynn on March 30, 2011,

I'm really not sure about how I'll do this either.

I'm thinking a cheap plastic enclosure of some sort.  Perhaps disguised as a present, with removable lid.

I've thought of having the PS fan connected to short flex tubing (dryer exhaust?) ... which then connects
to the case which has holes in it, and perhaps has some sheer material as a weather filter barrier.

I like the idea of maybe just having it mounted onto a board which gets placed into the container.

THen maybe the connections in and out get sealed with hot glue or silicone or something.

I was at office depot recently and they had a lot of nice containers in various sizes and colors.

Title: Re: What will you use to house your SS hubs and PS?
Post by: jnealand on March 31, 2011,

I'm thinking something like this.  I have 3 of them I picked up a couple of years ago.  I notice that Home Depot carries them in the electrical dept for around $30.  Mine are all used and I got 2 of them off ebay for $10 and one for free from a friend who noticed some electricians getting ready to throw it out.  The picture is not mine, but came from bazillionlights.com showing how he mounted a LOR controller inside it.  http://www.bazillionlights.com/Tech/LightsTechLOR.html (http://www.bazillionlights.com/Tech/LightsTechLOR.html).  One of mine I have started to set up to mount a controller in.

Title: Re: What will you use to house your SS hubs and PS?
Post by: rrowan on March 31, 2011,

I guess I am cheating here.

I have a over hang for my front door that I have used for the past few years for the Lynx splitter, a PC power supply for my Lynx MR-16. So I will put the power supply in there along with the hub. The cat5 cables can run from the hub to the windows. Of course things will get interesting when I put SS on my micro trees in a year or two.

Cheers

Rick R.