Waterproof box for J1SYS P12S board and 2 power supplies

These $5 boxes have survived several downpours and 95F heat and I leave my stuff powered up the entire month.

RibbonTreeController2.jpg
 
I use the same boxes as Gil for all my enclosures. I waterproof them with the aid of a 20kg dog pellet bag over the top. In about 5 years of using this method I've had zero water ingress despite more than a metre of rain falling and winds to 100kmh. The total cost of my boxes is probably about $50 for the 10 or so enclosures in use. I also like the fact that you can see through the box which makes it easy when drilling the holes for mounting and you can see status leds through it. I have also taken to mounting the power supplies to the main box and the controller to the lid which makes it easier to connect up the connectors.
 
Gil and Allan,
How do you secure the power supplies and cards in those enclosures.
I am over the rediculous prices that they charge here for the ABS type enclosures and after using a couple of much small boxes (similar to the the one you show in the pic) last year for my small laser lights and had no water issues at all, I think I might use the same as yours in the future. (the laser lights just sat lose in the bottom though).
So I wondered how you secure the power supplies and cards in those clear boxes.Is there another flat clear base sitting in the bottom of the boxes that the bits and pieces are screwed into... just can't quite tell from the pic.
 
I second that Logan. Prices are ridiculous. My man in Takanini doesnt have the big ones anymore. I like the clear idea and being able to see them on, be dang easy taking the lids off too as that drives me nuts too screwing and unscrewing them day after day. I have about 30 odd enclosures, ugh.
 
1 of the links in my signature file shows how I bang them together. To make the lids fixed and hingeable I drill a hole through the corners and put a cable tie through it.

$3 boxes FTW :)

logandc99 said:
Gil and Allan,
How do you secure the power supplies and cards in those enclosures.
I am over the rediculous prices that they charge here for the ABS type enclosures and after using a couple of much small boxes (similar to the the one you show in the pic) last year for my small laser lights and had no water issues at all, I think I might use the same as yours in the future. (the laser lights just sat lose in the bottom though).
So I wondered how you secure the power supplies and cards in those clear boxes.Is there another flat clear base sitting in the bottom of the boxes that the bits and pieces are screwed into... just can't quite tell from the pic.
Click to expand...
 
Now I can understand the financial reasoning to put a controller and a PSU(s) into a single case when that case is cost $50 plus but some of the cram it all in then add all sorts of forced ventilation makes me cringe.

Even Gil's photo had some cringe factor with both power supply fans blowing directly across the controller and at each other.

Another thing that has struck me in this thread with so many people using power feeding from the controller is the rather minimal sizing of the wiring from the PSU to Controller.
Guys and Girls run at LEAST 3 pairs from the PSU, one from each output terminal back to the controller. Whilst the terminal strip may be joined by the PCB you at least spread the load across the terminals themselves.

In the large scheme of money we expend, a couple meters of 2.5mm, 4mm or 6mm power cable will not break the bank.

Personally I still use the $11 Masters boxes and separate PSU and controllers into different boxes.

Cheers
 
Thanks for the link Allan.


With regards to the controllers and power supplies all in the one box, I have a combination of some separate, some all together and from what I can tell, with the new fans installed in each box (80mm fan $7 from PB tech), everything seems to feel pretty cool when I open up the boxes immedaitely after running the lights so I'm feeling pretty happy with the ventilation I have now.
I do have one box with two openings for air but no fan installed. It contains a 350w power supply and a Pixlite 4. Currently in testing it runs four sets of three arches and I noticed that the Advatek assisant has the temp for the controller up at around 27 degrees C. I have one of those Chipolo disks (a bit like the Tile; it is a disk that connects with your phone via bluetooth and you can put the disk with things like keys, wallets etc and if you can't find them around the house, you touch the icon on the phone and the disk rings and tells you where the item is that you have misplaced. If you leave it somewhere out of bluetooth range, you see a map of where you last connected to the item and therfore can go back to the cafe or shop where you left your wallet or keys. Anyway, I digress - the Chipolo also measure temperature for some unknown which you can read on your phone. Anywho, I put the Chipolo in my enclosure that runs the Pixlite4 and after running the lights, the temp in the closed box measured around 20 degrees C (it is winter in my garage by the way). When I sat the Chipolo on the metal casing of the power supply, it reached 34 degrees C. It will be interesting to see what happens to the temp when I get around to installing the fan ventialltion.
So I plan to move my Chipolo disk in various boxes and see what the temps get like when the lights run.

edit: forgot to mention, if you have your keys with the Chipolo on it but you lost your phone in the house, shake the Chipolo and the phone rings. :D

https://www.chipolo.net/
 
I often get people to pop up photos of their enclosures in chat and I vet them for wire size and cooling. I tend to oversize my cabling myself as I have a few km of wire in my shed at any given time. My current pet hate is security cable. It's horrendous stuff to even associate with pixels if you're planning on passing any current through it.


AussiePhil said:
Now I can understand the financial reasoning to put a controller and a PSU(s) into a single case when that case is cost $50 plus but some of the cram it all in then add all sorts of forced ventilation makes me cringe.

Even Gil's photo had some cringe factor with both power supply fans blowing directly across the controller and at each other.

Another thing that has struck me in this thread with so many people using power feeding from the controller is the rather minimal sizing of the wiring from the PSU to Controller.
Guys and Girls run at LEAST 3 pairs from the PSU, one from each output terminal back to the controller. Whilst the terminal strip may be joined by the PCB you at least spread the load across the terminals themselves.

In the large scheme of money we expend, a couple meters of 2.5mm, 4mm or 6mm power cable will not break the bank.

Personally I still use the $11 Masters boxes and separate PSU and controllers into different boxes.

Cheers
Click to expand...
 
I drilled holes right through the box to mount the power supplies. I've only got one ribbon on each output. I usually run 2 conductors but that photo does look like only one. That was my first box so maybe I wasn't in that habit yet. Pretty sure that's 14awg wire going to the boards and those are 12V ribbons probably maxing at 19amps per side. But I don't run full white more than a few seconds and they've run fine for 3 years. Those fans don't run full time either.
 
I have picked up some waterproof boxes for my controllers and power supply, I managed to find a place in Adelaide that sells the DSE Hi Box brand boxes. They look pretty good and and are IP66 rated which is cool.


http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/DS-PT-2838-280x380x130-DSE-ENCLOSURE-BOX-HIBOX-IP66-POLYCARBONATE-TRANSPARENT-L-/321214700196?hash=item4ac9e35aa4 this is the item that I purchased from Cookson Controls, they are located on Port road in Queenstown just opposite Maughan Thiem Ford.


I certainly didn't pay the price listed on the ebay listing for mine, the lady was super helpful and friendly, let me and my son into the store room to have a look at them all so I could find the one I wanted and that would suite (I think she gave me a good deal cause my boy was dusting the shelves) I think they must have ordered like 5 or 10 of every single size and style so they are wanting to get rid of as many as they can as they are only going to carry a select few sizes.


You can get mounting plates for the boxes as well either plastic or metal, Personally I like plastic non conductive and don't require stand off's so I got mounting plates for the 2 boxes I purchased.


They come in clear lids or not clear lid, and hinged or not hinged, I grabbed the non hinged ones as I don't plan on getting into them often lol.


Attached are some pictures of the stuff I got, the larger mounting plate wasn't in stock however they are coming so placed it on back order.


If anyone wants some I can take another trip there and see if they can do me some more special deals on some and I can ship them out from here.
 

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