Completely contained Aether II?

[DanHouston]

Has anyone tried to make a completely contained Aether II, well so it would just need a standard 110vAC feed rather than an external transformer to feed another line to it?

In my head I am picturing wireless to get the DMX signal and a 12VAC transformer big enough for the Aether II, but small enough to fit in the case(or a waterproof one under the case)?

This thing looks too big and not sure about the power rating on it:
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Have not gotten my hands on an Aether yet, but I'd like to make them just require a standard extension cord if possible and if someone has already been down that road would appreciate any ideas/roadblocks you ran into.

When's the next Aether II coop?   

[rrowan]

There is a reason why it was done that way.

First there is no room in the case
Second you will have heat problems and possible short lived light

Remember the case is part of the heat dissipation for the led

Rick R.

[DanHouston]

Thanks Rick.

Certainly heat would be a problem if the power supply was mounted inside....was not sure if there was a water proof alternative that could be mounted on the bottom.

Could always use a bigger case maybe?

What temperature is considered too hot for the light?

[chrisatpsu]

my transformer is going into a battery box like we use for the smart strings hubs. keeps it out of the weather, and has plenty of room to breathe, and for cords to enter

[thestig]

I though about doing this and even found some smaller (not very small) transformers that I put on each aether. The problem was the cheap transformers would cause the lights to randomly turn on at night. The lights would function properly when the show was going but would turn on in the middle of the night. I am thinking this was due to noise in the power supply. I have since changed over to a home depot transformer and havn't had an issue.

Grant

[Mike Hill]

I though about doing this and even found some smaller (not very small) transformers that I put on each aether. The problem was the cheap transformers would cause the lights to randomly turn on at night. The lights would function properly when the show was going but would turn on in the middle of the night. I am thinking this was due to noise in the power supply. I have since changed over to a home depot transformer and havn't had an issue.

Grant

Stig,

If you are able, you might want to post a picture of your complete setup to give him an idea of how you set it up.

I few Aether's that I haven't even touched yet.  I may need the pictures too.  Just got the power source for them yesterday so I may be working on this project after Halloween.

Mike

[DanHouston]

I though about doing this and even found some smaller (not very small) transformers that I put on each aether. The problem was the cheap transformers would cause the lights to randomly turn on at night. The lights would function properly when the show was going but would turn on in the middle of the night. I am thinking this was due to noise in the power supply. I have since changed over to a home depot transformer and havn't had an issue.

Grant

Any ideas you care to share or pictures....Had not even considered the power supply problem you mentioned. I guess that is a possibility with any power supply?

[thestig]

I still have the transformers so i will take a picture of them next to the aether. I can't show you how I had it hooked up as I never mounted the transformers. Once I realized that they were too cheap and had issues I scrapped the idea. I don't thinnk you will have problems with other transformers. These were just dirt cheap bricks that way a ton.

Grant

[meman]

Don't know why, but I think all of us have or will try to do this. I had 4 Aether IIs last year running off two Malibu style landscape light transformers. This year I had more time and wanted to see if I could do away with the long runs of low voltage wire and use a cheap onboard transformer. These are switched-mode power supplies and have notoriously sloppy output..but they seem to work.  Here are some pics of my experiment. In the end, I decided that it's not worth the hassle and plan on using the external landscape transformers. The cost of low voltage wire is so expensive that I will probably just use the cheapest low wattage transformer as a dedicated power supply for the really remote Aethers and run and 110v extension cord to them.

[DanHouston]

... I decided that it's not worth the hassle ...

What was the hassle? Where did you get the transformers?

Is that a nice glass of scotch in the corner of that picture?

[lortiz]

Hi,

Just to give another idea on this. I am using my Aether II with only a cat5 cable supplying DMX and 12vAC power.

I used the same principle as for the smart string controllers and used a 4 port smart string passive HUB to inject the 12vAC into the cat5 cable. I then wired the proper cat5 cables at the AetherII end to supply the power (white/green+white/blue+blue and green+white/brown+brown).

It works like a charm and I don't have to have an extra power cable with this setup.

Leo

[rm357]

I thought about the 24vac injection via the passive hub but decided against it. If you get confused, the 24vac will destroy a ssc or DSC. I was also a little concerned about potential interference between the AC and the DMX, but I guess that isn't a problem... And finally, I was a little concerned that the initial power up might pop the 5 amp fuse on the hub. The fuse in the aether is 7a, but you don't want to change the one on the hub because its there to protect the wire and the hub...

[meman]

What was the hassle? Where did you get the transformers?

Is that a nice glass of scotch in the corner of that picture?

The hassle is fitting everything in there and getting it all hooked up...tiny hands would be better suited for this. If the power supply is not in the case, you can just shove the wires through, solder it all up outside of the case, then pull the slack back out. 
I used the housings from Northern Tool for this batch of Aethers.  The transformer does fit between the molded screw posts, but has to be mounted upside down to provide enough clearance for the huge cap on the circuit board. Even then it's really close to the rectifiers heatsink which gets really hot and heats that whole area up. The power supply itself doesn't seem to generate much heat, but I'm sure that its poor quality would quickly degrade even further with all that heat.

In summary, it worked but I just don't trust it for some reason. I've got too much invested to risk a $3 power supply somehow frying my Aether.

The transformers are all over ebay; heres one link:
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And yes, I often (very often) enjoy Jameson Irish Whiskey while working on my lights....

[lortiz]

Hi,

I had the same exact concerns as you, regarding the fuses and the noise, but decided to give it a try because of the benefits.

I did all kind of tests with this setup and never had any issue with power, fuses or noise.

The cat5 cable injected with power through the 4 port ss passive hub didn't even get warm to the touch. It looks like the Aether draws little current.

I also ran a Vixen sequence with all 4 Aether channels to 100% for 2 hours with no issues.

Leo

I thought about the 24vac injection via the passive hub but decided against it. If you get confused, the 24vac will destroy a ssc or DSC. I was also a little concerned about potential interference between the AC and the DMX, but I guess that isn't a problem... And finally, I was a little concerned that the initial power up might pop the 5 amp fuse on the hub. The fuse in the aether is 7a, but you don't want to change the one on the hub because its there to protect the wire and the hub...

[zwiller]

Hi,

I had the same exact concerns as you, regarding the fuses and the noise, but decided to give it a try because of the benefits.

I did all kind of tests with this setup and never had any issue with power, fuses or noise.

The cat5 cable injected with power through the 4 port ss passive hub didn't even get warm to the touch. It looks like the Aether draws little current.

I also ran a Vixen sequence with all 4 Aether channels to 100% for 2 hours with no issues.

Leo

I have to admit that is kinda cool.  I am all about simplification.  I assume the cat5 can handle the current of the aether being 3A (35W/12V) since SSc are rated for 4A?  My main concern as noted by rm357 would be accidental hook up to active hub or vice versa.   

This has me thinking (scary).