New smart string soon to come out.

[sittinguphigh]

Interesting you said that. It seems the descriptions on the site are not always correct.

If you look carefully at the flat IP68 type TM1804. They have a shell over the node and chip  .
Then are injected with some thing.

The IP66 type are made just like the long IP68. Casted around the parts.

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The wires in the flat IP68 are barly hanging on.

I have some bad nodes take fell off because of that problem.

See the picture of the flat node IP66.  You can se the casing line. And see the node pieces by the wire not knocked off. This is just like the first long nodes.

Maybe we should ask for 5 nodes of each to kind to check out. Go threw some tests.

[sittinguphigh]

Message about the new flat nodes from Ray.

Dear Mr.Mort,
 
 
The first 12mm round type is real IP68 rated, with silicon filled inside.
 
the second flat type is IP66, not IP68, because it is made by the injuection machine.
 
but i think it can be used in the rain, i have tested them in the water, they work well all the time.
by the way, we have put the conformal coating on the inner PCB.
 
thanks and best regards
 
 
------------------
Ray

The two new flat node strings.

The first node the wires go out the sides. More secure. But there IP66. Ray said they tested fine in water.
Injection molding. I would like these nodes IP68. But these may be modified with silicone I think to seal them up to IP 68.

The second flat nodes the wires go out the bottom. The wires are not as secure. But the nodes are IP 68 molded 'dot' of silicone. I don't like the fact the nodes can't be laid flat against the wall. Have to be careful with the wires.

 

[UncleBuck]

So of the three pictures which are IP68? I see the first pic is of the old smart strings and I assume they are IP68. Are both the flat new strings IP66?

[rdebolt]

So of the three pictures which are IP68? I see the first pic is of the old smart strings and I assume they are IP68. Are both the flat new strings IP66?

The top and bottom picture from the post above yours are IP68. The one in the middle is IP66.

[sittinguphigh]

Yes your right. As in the return email from Ray said. The top one is IP68. The middle one is IP66.

The way they make the IP68 is you start with a mold and inject silicon into it with the chip and wiring in the rubber mold. As you can see in the third picture the mold on the out side of the flat mold.

I guess at one time the round long nodes were made injection mold IP66. Don't know if they were just a bad design or what.

I'm going to send Ray a email to see if I can get a sample of both and let him know our concerns.

[zwiller]

I am waiting on a shipment of the IP68 nodes in pic 3.  Order held up by the holiday of course.  Plan to test em in a bucket of water overnight but not expecting issues.  Will post results. 

Technically I think the IP66 "should" be good for our purposes since they shouldn't get submerged continuously, but perhaps the factory is lax about this.  Certainly snow and rain are not heavy seas.  I don't recall the previous nodes at IP66 getting a conformal coating.  I am not 100% convinced all the IP66 failures were water intrusion since we are now on our 3rd version of the SSC. 

[keitha43]

I had multiple failures due to rain on the original ip66 nodes. They ran fine until it rained every few days.

Sent from my Thunderbolt using Tapatalk 2.

[sittinguphigh]

Zwiller if can check the wires and see if they will hold up.
I know the round long IP68 have been delicate with the wire in puts to the nodes.
Like I said before I think they would be better with the wires coming out the side of the node.

I email Ray for sample of both or have him send out a video with him testing them.

As far as a selling point it would be good he had testing videos.

[zwiller]

Keith, what was your failure percentage?  Over 10%?

I shot a PM to a member who had no issues with all his IP66 side entry nodes.  There's some discussion about these over at DIYC.  I sense the new conformal coating is being a big help. 

I will advise about wire strength but all my stuff gets mounted permanently to reduce this.  I also saw a concern that the wires leaving the node are a problem with these.

[keitha43]

Keith, what was your failure percentage?  Over 10%?

I think I replaced around 72 or so out of 1008. After that first season Ray agreed for me to ship him back all the ip66 nodes in exchange for the newer ip68 version. Unfortunately due to parent illness I couldn't run a show last year but the reports I saw were they performed much better for others. It was worth the cost to exchange them I think.
Sent from my Thunderbolt using Tapatalk 2.

[sittinguphigh]

Good to hear the side entry flat nodes seem to have no water problems.
I hope Ray will do a video using the side entry flat nodes in water.
If these side entry flat nodes have much more strength that will help with hanging them.
So you don't need a strengthening line.

[zwiller]

Got my stuff from Ray today.  Burning in the new style nodes (IP68 rear entry style ) and after nearly 4 hours I have no issues.  That said, I only got a single strand of 100 to play with.  Seem well built to me.  Will report back after bucket test. 

[sittinguphigh]

Cool. Let us know how strong the wire connects seem.

I email mail Ray about the IP66 flat side entry node strings being water resistant enough.


Ray said he is going to test them with water and take a picture and send it to me.

[sittinguphigh]

Ray sent me a couple of pictures doing a bucket water test with the flat side entry RGB nodes.
Looks good.

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[keitha43]

I still wouldn't trust IP66 outside. The bucket test doesn't take into accout that unless your nodes are mounted onto a rigid non moving surface, that wind during rainstorms will cause the wires to move back and forth while being saturated with water. Plus I think on my original IP66 nodes that water would occasionally get in through the led side of the node casing one of the leds to quit working which would make the colors be wrong. I mean if they were that waterproof they would be listed as IP68 wouldn't they? Speaking as someone who had to battle a whole season of cutting and splicing nodes and then having to spend over 300 dollars to ship 1008 nodes back to Ray to get IP68 versions after the season was over was something I never want to go through again. Now that season I was using double paracord for mounting so the wind could have contributed to the problem.