DiyLightAnimation
Hardware => Lynx Smart String => Topic started by: RJ on March 24, 2011,
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After looking into everything having them made in china and doing a coop to all the different places to buy them I have found the best price and qualitity we can get is from:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10208
The shipping has been very reasonable and the quality is good. I am using them on my stuff. I can not even run a coop and get them cheaper on a quanitity that the normal user will need.
They are well made stranded cable and I can not make a stranded cable myself cheaper by the time I by the ends and cable. So not use solid cable like you get at home depot ect on the Smart Strings. They require stranded cable as we are carrying the power across the conductors. These are cheap and perfect for the job.
RJ
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I am a long term customer of Monoprice, and I can attest that they have high quality, well made products at reasonable prices with cheap shipping too.
I have ordered just about every type of product they sell and have never been disappointed.
Just my penny and a half input.
Brian
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I bought a 50 ft HDMI cable from them and a few other smaller things and can say I am impressed with the cable I got and it was cheaper than anywhere else I looked for it and works great.
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I just ordered 1000 ft bulk! Great price.
Thanks for the info RJ! ;D
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RJ,
Can you explain to a non-electrical type person like me ;D Why we can't use a solid wire cat5 cable? All of my cat5 cable is solid wire.
Freebird
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electricity flows on the surface area of a conductor of a cable. not in the "core" of the wire.
stranded cable has more surface area than solid, so it can carry more current.
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Perfect!! Thanks. I love learning new stuff!!.. Looks like I need to upgrade my cat 5 cable for my smart strings.
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The other BIG reason why you shouldn't use solid cat5 is that it will eventually break as you move it around!
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Thanks RJ. I didn't see any on monoprice, do you have any leads on the best deal for direct burial stranded CAT5?
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i dont think i ever saw burial stranded cable. but that doesn't mean it doesnt exist. i just never had a need to bury cat5
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I suspect that Direct Burial cat5 is probably solid since it is assumed that it won't be moving. You'll also be crimping your own RJ45 connectors on the ends. If you go that route you'll want to get the Gel-Filled cable. If you don't water will wick into the cable - not a good thing!
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I suspect that Direct Burial cat5 is probably solid since it is assumed that it won't be moving. You'll also be crimping your own RJ45 connectors on the ends. If you go that route you'll want to get the Gel-Filled cable. If you don't water will wick into the cable - not a good thing!
Run some conduit, it usually ends up being cheaper depending on what type of burial cable you go with.
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With these, I'm kind of changing my thinking to use the minimum cat5 length(S) possible to connect each SS Controller with the SS Hub, since we are running power across these and will have more loss for more distance. I'm also thinking about potentially placing the hub in the middle of my SS items and that should help with keeping the distances down. I'm also assuming the SS Controller should located at (or very near) the SS item I am controlling (near beginning or strip, nodes, or chain of interconnected RGB modules. So I'm assuming a distance from SS CNTLR to SS item of 2-3' or less.
[SS HUB] -----------Cat5---------> [SS CNTLR] ---3wire ribbon--> [SS 4m FLEX STRIP (1 max)]
[SS HUB] -----------Cat5---------> [SS CNTLR] ---3wire ribbon--> [SS 1m RIGID1] ---3wire ribbon--> [SS RIGID2] ---3wire ribbon--> [SS RIGID3] ---3wire ribbon--> [SS RIGID4 (4 max)]
[SS HUB] -----------Cat5---------> [SS CNTLR] ---3wire ribbon--> [SS NODE STRING (128 max)]
[SS HUB] -----------Cat5---------> [SS CNTLR] ---3wire ribbon--> [SS MODULE1] ---3wire ribbon--> [SS MODULE2] ... (up to 80 max rectangles / 120 max squares)
..............<-------LENGTH A------>..................<---------TOTAL SS ITEM/NODE LENGTH B WITH SPACING BETWEEN EACH OF C -------------------->
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Deep Surplus is another source for Cat 5 and they sometimes have very good sales including pre-made cables in various lengths. Check the online specials page. They also carry the direct burial Cat 5 someone was asking about.
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electricity flows on the surface area of a conductor of a cable. not in the "core" of the wire.
stranded cable has more surface area than solid, so it can carry more current.
While fundamentally true, it is not applicable for this case. The wires carrying current are not carrying any real frequency content. Therefore, in this case it is stranded more for flexibility and reliability than "surface area".
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While fundamentally true, it is not applicable for this case. The wires carrying current are not carrying any real frequency content. Therefore, in this case it is stranded more for flexibility and reliability than "surface area".
It's more pronounced on higher frequency use, but still applicable.
They are well made stranded cable and I can not make a stranded cable myself cheaper by the time I by the ends and cable. So not use solid cable like you get at home depot ect on the Smart Strings. They require stranded cable as we are carrying the power across the conductors. These are cheap and perfect for the job.
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I saw this on current flow
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Does_electricity_flow_on_the_surface_of_a_wire_or_through_the_inside
With direct current, the charge flow is distributed throughout the cross-sectional area of a conductor. With alternating current, the charge flow tends to flow towards the surface of a conductor due to what is called the 'skin effect'. The higher the frequency, the greater the skin effect. In fact, at ultra-high frequencies, tubes are used because practically no current would flow through the centre of the conductor -these tubes are known as 'wave guides'.
Since resistance is inversely proportional to area, the resistance a conductor offers to alternating current is somewhat higher than the resistance to direct current, because of the effective reduction in cross-sectional area due to the skin effect. This is termed 'AC resistance'.
Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Does_electricity_flow_on_the_surface_of_a_wire_or_through_the_inside#ixzz1syWw1Rn8
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This thread should be summarized and put in the wiki and unpinned so it quits taking up space at the top of this group.
Just my 2 cents worth based on discussions at the Academy.