Pigtails

cdallen

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Dec 28, 2016
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pigtails... how long are your pigtails typically? after watching a few videos here and there i'm guessing those of you with sizable displays have psu's/controllers etc at various spots around the display but i want to keep all the power and controllers somewhat centralised but that would mean pigtails of potentially a couple of metres (picture top story balcony to roof outline) which, doesn't sound right. do you have custom length pigtails or am I missing something?
 
pigtail length whatever supplier sells, then make or buy extension cables for distance required.
 
I have a mix of I think 20cm (standard) and 40cm (custom) pigtails - sometimes the 20cm isn't long enough to reach outside of my enclosures. For cable runs any longer then that, then I just connect a Ray Wu premade 1.5m/3.0m extension lead with matching connectors to the pigtail.

PS: These two items (pigtails & matching extensions) will be detailed in page 45 of a forthcoming update to the AusChristmasLighting 101 manual (oops did I say that? Stay tuned. :) )
 
Sometimes I order the extension leads and cut them in half if I want a loooong pigtail
 
Big mixture here... my first year i bought 20cm ones.... only buy the 50cm ones now.... found the 20cm ones just a smidgen too short, and easier to use the 50cm ones..

I tend to not use 'extension leads' but instead hard wire the element with a long bit of flex with a pigtail on the end...

However keep in mind that a centralised setup does require some thinking on your power and data out to the field runs...

My experiments have netted results of about 10m max of sending data down a 1.5mm flexible cable, but over 30m using cat5....
Generally i can get 7m between elements with flex if the voltage is good.., otherwise have to whack in a null pixel..

All my power and data is central, and spreads over a reasonable display.. check out my thread for lots of details..
 
i want to keep all the power and controllers somewhat centralised

I did this, but coming out of controllers everything goes to a short pig tail first, then extension "lead" out to the prop. Main reasons being;

* What's planned out in the beginning of the season generally gets shuffled around, it's handy to be able to disconnect props and connect them to a different port because you want to move them to a different controller or you need to troubleshoot things

* I like to tinker around with the enclosures and what not during the year, having the short pig tails hanging out of the controller enclosure makes it easy to store and move it around if needed
 
cool.. extension leads are a thing. Have found them on the Ray Wu...

perfect. thanks for the guidance
 
I did this, but coming out of controllers everything goes to a short pig tail first, then extension "lead" out to the prop. Main reasons being;

* What's planned out in the beginning of the season generally gets shuffled around, it's handy to be able to disconnect props and connect them to a different port because you want to move them to a different controller or you need to troubleshoot things

* I like to tinker around with the enclosures and what not during the year, having the short pig tails hanging out of the controller enclosure makes it easy to store and move it around if needed
I am the same especially the yard items. I tend to change it up year on year. so I made all of my props with pigtails and all are the same wiring, then just change the extension lead to whatever length I need.
 
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