SSC placement

[Corey872]

Just planning ahead for some wiring.  I know every demo - and several comments - place the SSC in a PVC pipe hanging a few inches off the end of the string.  If all the power is going through the cat5 anyway, is there any issue with putting the SSC in a safe/dry/out of site location along with the hub, power supply, etc, then putting the long length of cat5 between the SSC and the string?

[rrowan]

The strings now come with almost 2' (23.62 inches) of lead wire. So that should help. RJ had the company add the extra wire to make it easier on us.

Cheers

Rick R.

[RJ]

There is not cat5 from the SSC to the lights. It is the three conductor wire. The SSC has to stay with in a few feet of the first node(led). 

RJ

[Corey872]

Ah - good enough then - thanks for the quick replies.

[Rainlover]

The SSC has to stay with in a few feet of the first node(led). 

RJ

How far can the first node be from the SSC? Is there a maximum distance between nodes?

John

[RJ]

Yes limit it to a few feet and you will be fine. I would not go more than 6 feet to be on the safe side.

RJ

[gophergrove]

RJ-
Is the distance from the SSC to the first node more 'important' to be a short distance (6' as you just said) than the distance between the other nodes?   A 128 node string is 40' long.  You tested that for number of nodes and distance for current travel along the whole string.  One would think if you had a 60 node string, you could then have 20' of cable from the ssc to the first node - correct?
I think keeping the leading pigtail short makes more sense but just wanted to ask in case I wanted to split a string up with a blank section of cable between groups of nodes.

-Mark

[chrisatpsu]

if a shorter distance from SSC to 1st node is reccomended, it sounds like it might have to do with keeping the signal strong to that first chip in the node?

I figure that i'm already running Cat5 to my SSC, so why not keep my SSC near the 1st node.

as far as adding a gap in the middle (like if i wanted to go from window to window) i'm not sure about adding extra wire to the 128 mode string, but i don't think there should be an issue with adding extra wire, say in the middle of the other strings.

[tbone321]

If the issue is in the signal and I believe that it is, then adding long lengths of wire anywhere in the string including the middle could be an issue.

[taybrynn]

Each node is receiving and retransmitting the signal, right?  I think you don't want any great distance between nodes.  I'm guessing a few feet or less might be ok, but I wouldn't be putting a 10-20' gap between nodes, at least without testing it out first.