NOTW LIGHTS FORUM

Power injecting is simply running a new wire from a power supply and connecting it to your light string somewhere down the line from your first RGB pixel. 12v RGB lights can safely power at least 100 lights before starting to notice a drop in the brightness/color of the RGB lights. This is most noticeable if the last pixel in a series is close to the first pixel from the same series. For example, my snowflakes. The largest snowflake has 216 RGB lights in it and the last pixel is close to the first (starting) pixel. If I only powered the 1st pixel, the last pixel would be dim, completely off, or flashing random colors. I solved this voltage drop issue by adding additional power to the last pixel. This way 12V power is coming from both ends of the string of 216 lights. The sleight dimness that occurs in the middle of the string around pixel 108 is non-noticeable since the same dimness is at 109 and slowly builds back up by pixel 216 (where I power injected). This is basically the diagram I followed when power injecting my craziest light string. The IMPORTANT thing to remember is when adding a second or additional power supplies, DON'T CONNECT the positive 12V wires between the two power supplies. In the diagram below I highlighted the area when the 12V power from the 1st supply IS NOT continuing on... just the data wire and the ground wire. The ground wires are OK for connecting the additional power suppplies to. Also, I learned about adding in a fuse holder on the positive wire. Power injecting needs a fuse to protect the positive wire and in turn, your lights, should a power surge occur. They recommended these being close to the power supply. OR you can bypass them all together by using a power distribution board that HAS fuses installed in them to protect the wire. (I learned about the power distribution boards too late, and ended up using the fuse holders.) Here is my craziest string of lights on my house as of 2017. The red wire is the 12V positive line and the black wire is the ground wire. Since the first vertical string of lights is about 38 feet away from the controller, I had to add some null pixels to the line to duplicate and pass the data information on down the wire line. A null pixel is just a normal RGB light soldered on the main wire. I've read you can go about 15-20 feet before needing null pixels, but I ended up needing a null pixel every 10 feet on my 18 gauge wires. On the e682 webpage, I simply typed in how main null pixels are on the line before the 1st pixel in my long light string. In this example it was 3. The controller then ignores these null pixels and won't light them up. I soldered on a null pixel like this and shrink tubed it up after squeezing in plenty of hot glue to help waterproof it. The main controller and power supply #1 feed the first vertical light line on my house. Then the complex snowflakes are connected making sure to leave off the positive 12V wire leading into the 1st pixel of the left-most snowflake. Power supply #2 is located below the snowflakes and allows me to run shorter lengths of wire for power injecting. I use 2 lines and inject power in 2 separate locations. By injecting power at the start of the 1st snowflake, I needed to add power on the last pixel of the same 1st snowflake. Since electricity runs like water, it gives additional power at the end of the first snowflake AND the start of the next snowflake! The second power injecting line gives power to the last pixel of the large middle snowflake and again at the last pixel of the small right snowflake. Same as before, the power runs both ways and also powers the final vertical set of lights on the house. I chose to do this because in order to power inject the snowflakes from Power Supply #1, I'd have to run super long lengths of power injecting wire all the way to the snowflakes. By adding in Power Supply #2 here, I saved myself about 140 feet of power injecting wire! Also, the longer the power injecting wire runs are, larger gauge (and more expensive) wire is needed. This way, I could keep using the 18 gauge wire I've been using to power inject. Asking about this power injecting question on the doityourselfchristmas forums, I was directed to this AWESOME link for calculating power injection. It allows you to enter the gauge of wire you use, how long you plan it to be, voltage, watts, and where you plan to power inject in your system! Below is the graph that was outputted by my setup above. The tall middle spike is the middle of my largest snowflake where the voltage drop is estimated to be about a 10% drop, but still green for plenty of power. That's about it! So in hindsight, 12v pixels let you run over 100 lights before needing power injection... and if you use the cheaper 5v pixels, you need to power inject about every 50 lights. I did not want to do that, so 12v is ALL I USE. I use 5 amp mini fuses inside my fuse holders to protect the wires.

Once you have your controller built, power supply and lights, you need to waterproof your stuff! A cheaper option is to put them inside a sealed Tupperware container and drill holes on the side to pass the wires through. I went with a standard enclosure a lot of people seem to still enjoy... The Cable Guard CG-1500 enclosure ~$26 SUPPLIES: • Cable Guard CG-1500 ~$26 • 3/4" Strain-Relief Connectors ~$0.88 each • 3 pin pigtails (Connect light strands to controller) • 2 pin pigtails (Power Injecting) • 3.9"x3.9" BUD Industries Air Vent ~$6.28 (for air to vent out of CG-1500) • Screen Patches ~$2.77 (Allow air in, from pre-cut holes at bottom of CG-1500, and bugs out) • 12V DC fan ~$6.89 • Temperature Control Switch ~$10 • 12V 30a Power Supply ~$20 • San Device e682 Controller This is the completed CG-1500 Enclosure set up and ready to go. :) Inside I like to keep things neat and tidy. The power supply and e682 controller fit snug side by side. I took off the cover of the power supply to mount it to the CG-1500 and then put it back together. I extended the pigtails to the controllers with some 3 conductor 18awg wire. ...Actually, it was 2 conductor wire, but I threaded the 3rd through the short jacket to get 3. (Please ignore the wire color difference... I know which go to 12V, data, and GND.) 3/4" strain relief connectors keep the pull off the controller and power supply. The left-most strain relief connector is all for power injection from the power supply. The next 4 on the right are for e682 ports 1-1 through 1-4, 2-1 through 2-4, 3-1 through 3-4, and 4-1 through 4-4. Lastly, to keep things cool, I installed a 12V DC fan inside the box to vent hot air out. It is connected to a super cool, $10 temperature control switch that you manually set in degrees Celcius. I have it set that when the temp inside the box reaches 82.4˚F (28.0˚C) the fan switches on. When the temp drops to 78.8˚F (26.0˚C) it switches off. I made this setup assuming I'd use all 16 plug-in ports. Turns out, I saved myself literally hundreds of feet of extension wires by reconfiguring my house lights and connecting several of my strings end to end. For example, I used to have about 146 lights on the top roof as one of the plug-in ports and another port for the 99 lights that stretch across the front top of the house. Instead I connected the entire top row as one string of 245 lights. You get into voltage drop issues but it is solved by power injecting every 100 lights or so. (More on power injecting here...) All that to say, I am currently only using 9 of my 16 total plug-in ports which saves me TONS of wire and $. I was able to power and control my entire house with a 2 conductor + ground 500 ft spool (~$123) of LED wire and a 2 conductor 200 ft spool (~$38) for power injecting from 2 total 12V 30amp power supplies. (~$19 each)

Rather than simply hanging the RGB Pixels like ordinary lights, I predrilled half inch holes 2.9" apart In order to keep the pixels equidistant from each other and create a uniform look to the house. SUPPLIES USED • 340 feet of 1/2" PVC pipe SCH40 ~$2.45 per 10 foot length. • White Semi-Gloss Spray Paint ~$3.98 each (I used about 4 cans to spray a protective coating on the PVC pipe to help prevent UV damage. • Drill Press ~$60 • Step Drill Bit ~$6 (Widens the back holes for easy RGB pixel assembly) • 1/2" Twist Drill Bit ~$9 (Smoothly cuts clean PVC pipe holes on top, step bit for back cleanup) • Wood to make jig for hole spacing • Ratchet Extensions (not these exactly, but similar ones to put in the PVC holes. They keep the PVC pipe facing up while drilling to help prevent the PVC pipe from twisting.)a • White UV resistant zip ties (Adds strain-relief on the wires at each end of PVC pipe) • 12V RGB Pixel lights ^ 12V allows about 100 lights before needing power injection. 5V about every 50. • 3 core Waterproof Connectors or pigtails • 2 core connectors or pigtails for power injecting • Liquid Tape ~$7 to seal exposed wire ends. I built a wooden Jig from a 2x6 plank and a pair of 1.5"x1.5" wood screwed down on top creating a "channel" for the PVC pipe to sit on. The channel is just wide enough for ratchet extensions to slide down and short enough for 1/2" SCH40 PVC to fit on top. The ratchet extensions fit inside the drilled PVC holes and into the channel. They then slide down the length of the wood (inside the channel) as I go. (This prevents the PVC from twisting while drilling... a common issue, and keeps the holes facing up.) I left about a 2" gap for the PVC shavings and so I could see the drill bit cut all the way through the pipe underneath. Once lined up to the drill press, I measured 2.9 inches from the drill bit center to the right of the jig and screwed in a 3/8" ratchet bit inside the channel. As a drilled hole is passed on top of the screwed down ratchet bit, it acts as a tiny anchor and stops the PVC from moving more... thus making each drilled hole hopefully exactly 2.9" apart from each other. The individual RGB Pixel Lights are wire-spaced about 3" apart but you need to account for wire stuck to one side of the pixel bullet during manufacturing... making some pixels a less-than ideal, tighter fit. I drilled 5 foot sections of pipe to account for any slight twisting that may occur. Once done, I flipped the PVC over and used a step drill bit to widen the back hole (where the pixels will be inserted). ...It's best to drill through all your PVC first, and then attach the step bit. I broke off the loose shavings with gloves and sprayed white semi-gloss spray paint on the PVC (to aid against UV damage and brittle PVC pipe over time). ...LET THE WIRING BEGIN! It's VERY IMPORTANT to know which side of the RGB Pixel is IN and which is OUT. You must know which pixel to start with and therefore, which pixel is the end. For me, the side with the writing is IN and the back side (with no inscription) is OUT. It shows 12V, DI, and GND. "DI" stands for "Data In". The non-inscribed back side would be "Data Out" The color of the wires can vary from manufacturer so make sure you know which wire is which. For me, the red is on 12V, white is data, and blue is ground. Red, white, and blue wires are the cheapest I've typically seen online. You could also get them in all black, all white, all green, or clear. The wire colors don't bother me since nobody will really notice them at night. The first and last pixels may come with extra wires (12V and GND) attached for power injecting! Plan ahead to know where you are going to power inject. I'll write up more on power injecting later. If not injecting power, just clip them short and put on some liquid tape to seal the ends. Strip and tin the wire ends. I ended up using these waterproof wire connections (10 pairs for about $13) They're kind of a pain since you have to prepare the wire, crimp on connections and waterproof rings, then assemble the unit together. I much prefer these 3 core waterproof pigtails but they're a tad more expensive (5 pairs for about $10). I went with the cheaper option :) Also, I used some extra 18 gauge wire to extend the connector. Red always went to 12V, Black to ground, and the middle wire was either red or black since I cut all of it from the same 2 wires. The extra wire stiffness made inserting them into the connector much easier as opposed to the thin 20 gauge wire the lights use. Solder and heat shrink tubing to complete the connectors. I prepared several in this manner. For long runs of lights (that connected several light strings together) I chose to solder and heat shrink those connections directly together instead of using the connectors that come pre-attached to the beginning and end. (Makes for a better waterproof option) Then came the fun part of inserting the lights into the PVC. The strings had to be constantly "untwisted" to make straight wires between pixels. I found it easier to do 50 at a time, then solder the next 50 on at the end. (instead of untwisting long connected strings) Also, your fingers will get sore. I personally inserted almost 1900 lights by hand into the PVC over several weekends. To save your fingers, There is a pixel node set of pliers for $19, but I'm cheap, so I went without and fared just fine. :) Finally added some zip ties to the ends of the PVC sections to act as a strain relief on the wire to the pixel. I had many 5 foot lengths of PVC prepared so I could zig-zag "fold" the PVC pipe lights for later storage.) Here is a quick test on one of the completed garage outlines: (Every time I tested a newly competed section and everything worked, my heart was glad! There was a time it didn't work because I soldered the wrong wires together... whoopsie! Thankfully, it didn't break anything and I fixed the issue right up.) I connected the outlines to the house with reusable zip ties through zip tie anchors. The garage is now complete and the rest of the house is next. Everything is now complete and ready for the 2017 show!