New Central Command.

[Roosta]

My 10 psus dont create much noise from the fans.. They just click on and off and create a small humm that you can only notice in the garage..


I cant immagine yours will be any different buddy..

 

[djgra79]

So does all this run off one 240v input plug??

 

[cdjazman]

My 10 psus dont create much noise from the fans.. They just click on and off and create a small humm that you can only notice in the garage..


I cant immagine yours will be any different buddy..

Good to know Nik.

So does all this run off one 240v input plug??

It will once my electrician comes and installs a power point for me. It will into the rcd units at the bottom with 4 power supplies of one rcd each and power board running of 1 rcd.

 

[Noel Richards]

I'm not a sparky but maybe look at a 15 amp lead into the the setup, when I made special powerboards having 15 to 20 outlets on each I used 15 amp wire my sparky said to play safe go 20 amp for wire going in. Could always try and keep checking the lead for any heat, if getting hot then current draw is to much increase wire size.


With me overkill on 240 Volts might cost but safer had my sparky install 2 separate circuits own RCD's & timers so have no hassles with house supply and we are safe. My full setup was drawing around 36 amps when he tested it.







Noel

 

[fasteddy]

Just be aware that running lots power supplies (especially the cheap Chinese ones) on one circuit with an RCD may create nuisance tripping as DC power supplies inherently leak a little current with the cheaper ones letting out a little bit more, this accumulated earth leakage may be high enough to trip the main circuit RCD.
Also consider the inrush current when this is powered on as all the power supplies will start at the same time which may trip the CB
In most cases this shouldn't be an issue but it can be especially when you have many DC power supplies connected to the same circuit so always good to be aware of the possibility of this happening.

 

[cdjazman]

@Noel - yeah i have a sparky mate coming to setup a dedicated line for me on that one.

Just be aware that running lots power supplies (especially the cheap Chinese ones) on one circuit with an RCD may create nuisance tripping as DC power supplies inherently leak a little current with the cheaper ones letting out a little bit more, this accumulated earth leakage may be high enough to trip the main circuit RCD.
Also consider the inrush current when this is powered on as all the power supplies will start at the same time which may trip the CB
In most cases this shouldn't be an issue but it can be especially when you have many DC power supplies connected to the same circuit so always good to be aware of the possibility of this happening.

Hey Roosta - Did you have any or many trips with your setup?

 

[Roosta]

Hey bud,

Nah no trips at all.. oh actually yes in initial setup i did, however it was due to using too long screws on one PSU which was shorting and tripping the one rcd... so did its job..

In rush and too many supplies were no problem..

Mine is fed by a 15amp outlet on its own feed, and max current draw hile running the show peaked at about 800w @240v, which is <4amps....


[font=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Cheers,[/font]

 

[cdjazman]

Hey bud,

Nah no trips at all.. oh actually yes in initial setup i did, however it was due to using too long screws on one PSU which was shorting and tripping the one rcd... so did its job..

In rush and too many supplies were no problem..

Mine is fed by a 15amp outlet on its own feed, and max current draw hile running the show peaked at about 800w @240v, which is <4amps....


Cheers,

Thanks mate - will discuss similar with sparky.

 

[Noel Richards]

Just be aware that running lots power supplies (especially the cheap Chinese ones) on one circuit with an RCD may create nuisance tripping as DC power supplies inherently leak a little current with the cheaper ones letting out a little bit more, this accumulated earth leakage may be high enough to trip the main circuit RCD.
Also consider the inrush current when this is powered on as all the power supplies will start at the same time which may trip the CB
In most cases this shouldn't be an issue but it can be especially when you have many DC power supplies connected to the same circuit so always good to be aware of the possibility of this happening.

Fasteddy what I understand you are better to have them through a switched powerboard so you turn either each or say 2 at a time on so it stops the the voltage drop that causes the RCD to cut out.

 

[Kimbo3000]

back to the colour schemes.. the way i remember it is:


Earth = green/yellow (always)
Active -> you touch it.. you poo yourself (ie brown)
Neutral = the only one left (blue)


Also, how do you's manage to use soo many psu's in one location? is it for house outlines etc? What size cables do you run to the pixels for power? (low voltage)

 

[Noel Richards]

Mine is[/size]Brown Earth = GraveBlue Sky = Looking at sky enjoying life.Green/Yellow = Leftover safe.Also something if using cable with same colours too denote dc low voltage use different colour heat shrink so you don't get mixed up.Noel

back to the colour schemes.. the way i remember it is:


Earth = green/yellow (always)
Active -> you touch it.. you poo yourself (ie brown)
Neutral = the only one left (blue)


Also, how do you's manage to use soo many psu's in one location? is it for house outlines etc? What size cables do you run to the pixels for power? (low voltage)

 

[fasteddy]

Just be aware that running lots power supplies (especially the cheap Chinese ones) on one circuit with an RCD may create nuisance tripping as DC power supplies inherently leak a little current with the cheaper ones letting out a little bit more, this accumulated earth leakage may be high enough to trip the main circuit RCD.
Also consider the inrush current when this is powered on as all the power supplies will start at the same time which may trip the CB
In most cases this shouldn't be an issue but it can be especially when you have many DC power supplies connected to the same circuit so always good to be aware of the possibility of this happening.

Fasteddy what I understand you are better to have them through a switched powerboard so you turn either each or say 2 at a time on so it stops the the voltage drop that causes the RCD to cut out.

I will clarify further. When you use lots of DC power supplies on the same circuit, the more you use the higher the chance of nuisance tripping of the RCD and the Circuit Breaker especially if these are used on a circuit you have other household good connected to.
There are 2 different reasons for this

RCD tripping - The current going through the neutral (blue or black wire) wire should match the current going through the active wire (red or brown wire), if this is not the case then at 30 milliamps the RCD will trip (for most domestic households) This is because if the current doesn't match between the active and neutral sides then current is being lost somewhere to earth (green/yellow wire or another path). So for example if you touch a live conductor then current will flow through your body to earth and the RCD will detect this imbalance of current and trip at 30millamps thus tripping the circuit and saving yourself from enough current where it will kill you. Now DC power supplies inherently loose a small amount of current which varies, so when you have lots of power supplies on the one circuit being connected to the same RCD then the small amount of earth leakage from each power supply/device will add up together until the RCD trips. The amount of power supplies needed to trip the RCD will vary based on individual power supply characteristics and size, environmental conditions, the RCD trip point and other contributing factors, so not all installations are the same.

Circuit Breaker Trip - This is when we have many power supplies connected to the same circuit and then we turn them on all at the same time. When a power supply is powered up it has to energise the internal components like inductor coils and electronics and in doing so we have what's called inrush current. This only lasts normally for a split second, but the accumulated currents of all the power supplies powering up at the same time may be high enough to trip the circuit breaker. A circuit breaker has what is called a trip curve and these trip characteristics are based on current versus time, so a circuit breaker could have much more current going through it for a split second then what it is rated for, but this trip point could be exceeded causing the CB to trip due to enough inrush current. In most cases if you reset the CB straight away then it will not trip because there is already residual current inside the power supply from the first attempt to power up thus reducing the amount of inrush current needed on power up.

So in summing up your question then for most applications you can get away with multiple power supplies in the same circuit being switched on at the same time but this will vary from install to install. Voltage drop is not the issue here its all about current, the RCD protects the person from electrocution by minimising the amount of current going through your body and the circuit breaker protects the wiring and equipment from over current which can cause fires and explosions.
A switched power board would only help with inrush current situations, but I wouldn't recommended to have that many power supplies connected to a power board. But a power board will not help with RCD tripping, only a separate RCD protected circuit will help with this.

 

[scamper]

Hey bud,

Nah no trips at all.. oh actually yes in initial setup i did, however it was due to using too long screws on one PSU which was shorting and tripping the one rcd... so did its job..

In rush and too many supplies were no problem..

Mine is fed by a 15amp outlet on its own feed, and max current draw hile running the show peaked at about 800w @240v, which is <4amps....


Cheers,

You are one of the lucky ones, having a dedicated feed for your display.
In reality most of us run our lights off power points close to where we need them.
I have done some testing this last few weeks, as last year I did trip my cct breakers a couple of times at switch on, It turns out the power point I ran 5 of my power supplies off was the same circuit that ran the kitchen, ie. fridge, freezer etc. so when they were running at start up it tripped. I have found that I can connect to another circuit that is hardly used, so will change to that.
The moral of the story is, spread the load and you should be fine.

 

[Roosta]

Also, how do you's manage to use soo many psu's in one location? is it for house outlines etc? What size cables do you run to the pixels for power? (low voltage)

Kimbo, my entire pixel display is powered from the one central location, pixel data is sent out on cat5e, and pixel power is feed by 4mm2 twin dc cable.. longest runs i have are about 28m from controller to first pixel, and display ran fine last year..


For me it was about simplicity.. No need to worry bout water proof enclosures and 240v in the yard..


In hindsight 10x 29A powersupplies was way overkill as i ran the display mostly at 40% brightness and the current draw was much much less than I had calculated, so this year i will be slightly re-jigging and just adding more Pixels..

 

[Roosta]

You are one of the lucky ones, having a dedicated feed for your display.
In reality most of us run our lights off power points close to where we need them.
I have done some testing this last few weeks, as last year I did trip my cct breakers a couple of times at switch on, It turns out the power point I ran 5 of my power supplies off was the same circuit that ran the kitchen, ie. fridge, freezer etc. so when they were running at start up it tripped. I have found that I can connect to another circuit that is hardly used, so will change to that.
The moral of the story is, spread the load and you should be fine.

Haha lucky or well planned? I like the idea of the lights not affecting the rest of the house especially when we are often away during display times.. I would hate to have a psu die and take a fridge or freezer offline while we are away..


Overall the additional circuit for us is a small investment compared to the inconvenience that can come from overloaded circuits..


Mine was originally installed in the garage for the welder however thats a very occasional use, so happy to be able to use it for other purposes.. If i remember correctly it was maybe $300 for the sparky to supply materials, run cable and fitoff the outlet.. He said he ran a bigger cable that could support upto 45A at 240v if we ever needed it, could just change circuit breaker and outlet..


Cheers..