Did I create a fire hazard?

[GR9]

That is all I want to know (Other improvement suggestions welcome of course).

I’ve had my power supply and controller (pi4) in a non-waterproof box for my initial testing and buying-more-stuff phase, but hoping to maybe have a small show this year, which means everything needs to be outside and waterproof. I bought an electrical box that I thought everything would fit in, but it looks a little cramped once everything is actually inside.

Please ignore the mess of electrical tape. If this setup works, I’ll be 3D printing some ‘shelves’ and brackets to hold everything together (The tape is just for visualization purposes).



12v PSU on the left, 12V to 5V transformers on the bottom, 8A/5A fuses on the top (8A fuse on the 5V/5A converter and 4A fuse on the 5V/3A converter). DC+ path is PSU -> converter -> fuse -> 12/14awg cable to lights. DC- path is PSU -> 12/14awg cable to lights.

Electrical tape on the box is location of PG13.5 cable glands (Leftmost one is for AC power in, cable pictured bottom left), the rest are DC 5V out (two are 5A, 3 are 3A, two of the 3A’s will have two cables each)

If that was confusing, each line is a cable gland:
AC in (AC power cord)
DC 5v5A out (12 awg)
DC 5v5A out (12 awg)
DC 5v3A out (12 awg)
Two DC 5v3A out (2x 14 awg)
Two DC 5v3A out (2x 14 awg)

Will waterproof cable glands with silicone tape (As the 12/14awg wire is flat not round, and two cables in one gland would leave a gap)



Black box is raspberry pi, connected to board that will have 2 outputs. Also have WT32-ETH01 board with 4 outputs (6 outputs total). Will connect the pigtales (Pictured, taped to outside of box) to the blue cable connectors (Cannot figure out what they are actually called lol). These will go out the side of the box in the cable gland, three pigtales per gland (2 glands total), waterproofed with silicone tape.

Some more pictures:






Some other questions:

- Since I have the cheap buck converters, are the fuses necessary? If they are, are they in the correct spot, and have the correct value? (I’m thinking it should be a 5A fuses on the 5V5A converter and 3A fuse on the 5V3A converter, but would like some confirmation if possible)
- Is it a problem routing the data cables out of the side? The box will be placed under a windowsill and will be protected from most rain if that makes a difference. I can also go overboard with the silicone tape
- Is the box too crowded? The lid does close and latch, but I believe there is very minimal clearance between the top of the power supply unit and the bottom of the box’s lid.

If you need more information/images/description, or if something I said was incorrect, confusing, or concerning, please let me know!

Thank you!

 

[burnt]

How many pixels will you run from this controller? I'm taking a guess, it looks like you only have 5V pixels. If so, I would replace the 12V PSU with a 5V PSU just to keep it simple.

 

[GR9]

How many pixels will you run from this controller? I'm taking a guess, it looks like you only have 5V pixels. If so, I would replace the 12V PSU with a 5V PSU just to keep it simple.

I have both 12v and 5V pixels, probably only going to run the 5V ones this year. For some reason, buying a 5V PSU never crossed my mind, I suppose I can spend another $30 on this project that I have already spent too much on lol.

Number of lights is about 366 for my current plan of a setup, but I own 500 (5v).

I think I’ll replace the 12v PSU here with a 5V one of the same size, which eliminates the 12v to 5V converters (So now I’ll have a nice big pile of those lying around lol). With that one (two?) modification(s), does everything else look OK?

 

[burnt]

Is this controller going to connect to a home network or be standalone?

 

[Indigogyre]

Think about stacking everything. The power supply on the bottom flat, and a second layer above that for all the electronics. This gives more space on each plane. It might help to look at some vendors and the ready2run controller pictures to check how others do a layout.

Also, look here for drilling templates and guides. I use these all the time to help with spacing.

Drilling Templates for Bud Industries Enclosures

Drilling templates for popular Bud enclosures

www.wiredwatts.com

 

[GR9]

Is this controller going to connect to a home network or be standalone?

Home network. I was going to try running both the Pi and WT32 over WiFi, and if that fails try and figure out how to connect them with a CAT5/6 cable. The location of the box has a good signal to a mesh hub in the house, so I’m hoping the antenna is decent and the lag is minimal.

The power supply on the bottom flat, and a second layer above that for all the electronics

Thought about it, but then the fan of the PSU would be restricted more, where when it’s sideways it has a good size space to vent in. Of course if I get rid of the bucks and use a 5v PSU instead that will limit the number of things on top so that could work.

Thanks for the website with the diagrams as well, I was probably just going to make something myself but now I don’t have to

 

[Iain]

Hey don’t worry, my first year I just had everything sitting in loose, not even with tape!

I have both 12V and 5V power supplies. I’ve wired my 12V lights with Ray Wu connectors and my 5v with Xconnect. I have both in one large box (and other boxes around the garden). Buy a PS with some extra-generally you shouldn’t load it up to 100% so factor in some growth and you’ll have it for a long time.

In terms of fire the most likely cause is electrical, unless you’re really stuffing a lot in the box with no vents. Electrical problems come from bare wires touching (beware of the 240V, it can kill you and your boxes) or from overloading the wires.

Do not skimp on fuses, they’re there to protect your wires from burning! Calculate the current capacity of the wire based on length and thickness (there’s online tools for that) and put a fuse on anything that carries load.

I did a white test (full load) fora free hours and went around checking temperature (by hand) to see if my guesses were correct. Turned out fine, so check it and be safe!