Enclosure for REN16

[Michael]

Has anyone found a good enclosure for a REN16 that can handle all of the power cords in/out? I plan on using 6' extension cords mounted to the board.
I am looking for something I can scatter around the yard and blends in, but is still waterproof.
Photos and links would be great.

- Michael

[xmus]

Has anyone found a good enclosure for a REN16 that can handle all of the power cords in/out? I plan on using 6' extension cords mounted to the board.
I am looking for something I can scatter around the yard and blends in, but is still waterproof.
Photos and links would be great.

- Michael

I'm using the Orbit Water-master enclosure. It includes a GFI, perfect size, and is about $30 each (From Home Depot or Lowes).

I love it.

[xmus]

Orbit water-master

[Michael]

I like that neutral wire buss with screw terminals. I am going to place an order with Mouser soon. Is that something they have cheap? Or is there some place else to get those?

- Michael

[xmus]

I like that neutral wire buss with screw terminals. I am going to place an order with Mouser soon. Is that something they have cheap? Or is there some place else to get those?

- Michael

Just a $1.99 at home depot.

tips:
1) solder the wire you screw down, otherwise it wont bite good
2) put your wires in as follows (from bottom up, or left to right in picture)

Assume first Pic in serial chain (left pic, or up in the picture) is pic A, and the other one is B.

1) shorten wire block to have exactly 20 holes

Far left
-------
screw into enclosure to hold wire block down
1A
2A
3A
4A
5A
6A
7A
8A
hook neutral wire up from GFI here
1B
2B
3B
4B
5B
6B
7B
8B
Hook white neutral to controller here
screw into enclosure to hold wire block down
----

If you do this, you can easily hook up the wires to controllers... just start with the bottom wire, which you know is 1A etc..... As you swap controllers out, or remove them to upgrade/repair, you will greatly appreciate your care in organization at this level :)

Dave


-

[xmus]

More pictures.

[xmus]

even more pictures

[blake_l]

Looks like a great enclosure! Would you happen to have an SKU or something? I did a quick search on Home Depot and Lowe's - couldn't find anything by that exact name...

Thanks!

[tconley]

very very cool... I may use one of those for mine

[xmus]

Looks like a great enclosure! Would you happen to have an SKU or something? I did a quick search on Home Depot and Lowe's - couldn't find anything by that exact name...

Thanks!

They are on the shelf in the sprinkler controller section. I don't have a skew, it was in a cardboard wrapper that i have thrown away months ago, sorry about that.

[Macrosill]

Looks like a great enclosure! Would you happen to have an SKU or something? I did a quick search on Home Depot and Lowe's - couldn't find anything by that exact name...

Thanks!
My local stores do not have them either.

Check ebay for the Ritetime boxes. LOR users use them for the kit boards. They pop up on there every once in a while.

[JohnByrne]

How do you guys feel about a metal box vs plastic?

My thought is if I ground the metal box then the ground fault would protect me in the event that the box becomes energized. I can get these for free which is why I'm thinking about it.

Thoughts?

[Macrosill]

John,
An electrical ground has nothing to do with GFCI protection. With that said you would be wise to properly ground the housing, regalrdless of how it is protected. This is simple a NEC requirement and a good idea. Nothing wrong with using a metal enclosure if that is what you have available.

[xmus]

How do you guys feel about a metal box vs plastic?

My thought is if I ground the metal box then the ground fault would protect me in the event that the box becomes energized. I can get these for free which is why I'm thinking about it.

Thoughts?

If is free, go for it, the cool part would be if you could figure out how to use the metal housing as a heat sink :)

[JohnByrne]

Thanks for the responses. Guess I need more lessons. I thought a ground fault would trip if there were leakage to ground. If this is the case then if a hot wire come into contact with the grounded box wouldn't the GFCI trip? Maybe I don't understand how these work. I am a Mechanical Engineer so by nature electricity isn't my strong point :oops:

You figured it out Dave. My plant builds industrial HID lights including smaller flood lights. We tear down fixtures due to various reasons. I realized today that I could use the casting and door which would have a glass front which could be cool. The box is basically water tight when shut except for the wire hole. Yep, free free free ;)

[Mudsculpter]

Maybe we could work something out,... {wink,..wink,...nudge,...nudge...}

[JohnByrne]

Actually that thought had crossed my mind. I have not had a chance to go look at some of them in the scrap metal bin. Most have kind of strange bosses and such inside so it could be hard to mount a board. They are die cast aluminum so I guess a dremel and cut off wheel would fix that.

Let me see what I can do and maybe we can talk. Probably no nudges needed how ever. The supply may be very limited and I'd only let them go for a very high price...the cost of shipping lol.

Now no one get excited. I have no idea if this will work or really how many I can get. I'll let you know.

[Mudsculpter]

I gleefully await your PM,...if it works out

[JohnByrne]

:)

I'll take a walk tomorrow to the scrap metal bin as well as the tear down areas.

[xmus]

Thanks for the responses. Guess I need more lessons. I thought a ground fault would trip if there were leakage to ground. If this is the case then if a hot wire come into contact with the grounded box wouldn't the GFCI trip? Maybe I don't understand how these work. I am a Mechanical Engineer so by nature electricity isn't my strong point :oops:

You figured it out Dave. My plant builds industrial HID lights including smaller flood lights. We tear down fixtures due to various reasons. I realized today that I could use the casting and door which would have a glass front which could be cool. The box is basically water tight when shut except for the wire hole. Yep, free free free ;)

What is HID (high intensity D????)

sweet, with the front clear door, nice....

yes if any power going out through the black wire doesn't go back through the white wire the GFI will trip.

Can you post a picture of this pretty amazing sounding enclosure?

[JohnByrne]

Yep, High Intensity Discharge...Metal Halide, Sodium, etc.

Let me see if this is even possible and I'll get some pics made. Stay tuned.

[Macrosill]

Thanks for the responses. Guess I need more lessons. I thought a ground fault would trip if there were leakage to ground. If this is the case then if a hot wire come into contact with the grounded box wouldn't the GFCI trip? Maybe I don't understand how these work. I am a Mechanical Engineer so by nature electricity isn't my strong point :oops:

John,
If the hot wire hits a grounded peice of conductive material it would trip the circuit breaker as it would be a dead short. In this instance occasionally the gfci would trip but this instance is the job of the circuit breaker. Now if the hot wire was touching a peice of non-grounded conductive material, like a metal enclosure that is not properly grounded, then the metal box would be electrified or "live". Nothing would trip at this point. Now you come along bare foot on a wet lawn and touch the box. The breaker would not trip because the current would not be high enough, say 16 amps minimum. But in this case the GFCI would trip as it would sense the difference in current flowing through the hot wire and not returning through the neutral. Thus a ground fault has occurred. You would be protected and there is no circuit ground in this scenario.

I hope that helps you understand the basic concept of how a GFCI works, whether it be a receptacle, deadface or circuit breaker Ground Fault Circuit Interupter.

[JohnByrne]

Ahhh I see.

Thanks for the education. The lesson learned here is to ground the box and then use a GFCI as extra protection.

Thanks
John

[JohnByrne]

Well today was one totally CRAZY day at work and I never got a single chance to scout out the metal cabinets. It will be next week. Stay tuned.

[blake_l]

Just thought I'd share. Went to the Home Depot this morning and they had 3 of these on the shelf - I took 2. :-)

Orbit model number 57095 and it was with the sprinkler stuff.
I thought the Home Depot part number would be on the receipt, but it's not - just the UPC code. If anyone tries that and it doesn't work, let me know and I'll see if I can stop back and get their part number. Anyways - code on the receipt is: 046878570955 - Timer Box - 28.87 ea.

Hope this helps!

Edit: Home Depot SKU: 206-848 - I went back and got the last one. Teach my wife to go out of town... ;-)

[JohnByrne]

If I can get the pics attached here is one I found today in tear down heading for the scrap metal bin. It is really too big or not big enough depending on how you look at it. Only 1 board will fit and be visible through the glass. I think it is still good for the front of my house. This is a wall mount fixture with the hole facing towards the wall but I'm thinking put the from facing up (curved surface). It will be very water tight this way. I can route the wire out the bottom and perhaps use RTV to seal the hole to keep bugs out.

If I use this I'll have to make a mounting plate to screw into the bosses. Suggestions welcome.

[JohnByrne]

Couple more with board inside. I could mount one on the door and one in the bottom I guess but then the wires would flex when I close the door.

[Wayne J]

You could also use some spacers and stack the two boards.

[JohnByrne]

I thought about that. The thing is that I want my boards in differenet places except for the mega tree. I'm going to find something better so I can put 3 or 4 boards in a single box for that. I'm OK with one per box actually.

[xmus]

John these are great, clean and professional looking. The little glass window is awesome. My friend who purchased all LOR stuff several years ago, uses pelican cases which are about $100 each! But one advantage, is that they do have see-through plastic lids.

I also an daydreaming about how I'm going to solve the problem of plugging the hole where the wires run in/out of my water master enclosure....
I've been thinking about silicon (don't like it, hard to do quick repairs, or replace wires), about some type of foam, or maybe a rubber o-ring from home-depot if i could find something...

Also, if anyone finds a really good enclosure for a mega tree... you know, like 2,3 or 4 XMUS boards in one enclosure, be sure to let us all know, i am shopping for something like that currently.

[Mudsculpter]

I also an daydreaming about how I'm going to solve the problem of plugging the hole where the wires run in/out of my water master enclosure.....
I don't know the dimension of the hole but maybe a rubber stopper with an opening drilled through.

[JohnByrne]

John these are great, clean and professional looking. The little glass window is awesome. My friend who purchased all LOR stuff several years ago, uses pelican cases which are about $100 each! But one advantage, is that they do have see-through plastic lids.

I also an daydreaming about how I'm going to solve the problem of plugging the hole where the wires run in/out of my water master enclosure....
I've been thinking about silicon (don't like it, hard to do quick repairs, or replace wires), about some type of foam, or maybe a rubber o-ring from home-depot if i could find something...

Also, if anyone finds a really good enclosure for a mega tree... you know, like 2,3 or 4 XMUS boards in one enclosure, be sure to let us all know, i am shopping for something like that currently.

Thanks Dave,

They are built very strong being die cast aluminum. Like I said our fixtures are no junk for sure. This particular fixture is from a high end line so everything is top quality. Check out that seal ;).

I have an idea for 2-4 boards. I'll see if I can get one tomorrow and will let you know.

John

[xmus]

I also an daydreaming about how I'm going to solve the problem of plugging the hole where the wires run in/out of my water master enclosure.....
I don't know the dimension of the hole but maybe a rubber stopper with an opening drilled through.

In my case i have one hole that is about 1" dia that has only one 1/2" dia wire running through it, so your idea is good for the AC wire....

But the second hole is about 1.5" dia, and has 16 SPT1's and 2 CAT5's, it is jam packed full... the last cat5 cable is hard to force through... so... this one is going to be challenging. Expanding foam is pretty easy to break out, unlike silicon... i was thinking o-ring/gasket on the AC wire, and some kind of expanding foam on the other perhaps.

In fact it is so hard to get the cat5 in and out, I'm considering making another hole just for the cat5.... (again, an o-ring would work well on this hole if it was much larger than the wires.)

[Mudsculpter]

xmus,

If the out side of the box has a lip around the hole you could ziptie a 1.5" diameter rubber tube (like a section of bicycle inner tube) over the lip. If no lip is present, cut slices around the perimeter of the tube about an inch long and lay it open for glueing around the hole. Use flexible epoxy (Devcon H2Hold) or something that will stick to rubber and pvc to bond them. After the assembly or the epoxy has cured, zip tie the tube closed around the wires.

Auto parts supply places like AutoZone or Advance will have the flexible epoxy.

[xmus]

Well I finally (after many trips to the hardware store) got two Ren16's in a single orbit watermaster. I wouldn't necessarily recommend this method to others because you cant replace your fuses on the bottom, there are only 3 screws holding in the top level, so you could get down there pretty fast, but it makes me nervous to have such bad access to the bottom board. I'm also curious how hot this enclosure will get with that many SSR's in there....

the trick is to use really short standoffs for the bottom Ren16. 1/4" is about right, which means you have to use through hole bolts/nuts (4-40, 3/4") to hold everything together. The trick is to put all the bolts through, tape the backs, put all the spacers on, put the REN16 on, put all the nuts on one at a time (hardest part) and peal the tape on one nut at a time and turn the screws to make the nuts thread and settle down and tighten up.


The top REN16 is mounted far left, the bottom is mounted far right. Add hole to access the "OUT" RJ45 port, and then install a custom CAT5 to go from OUT->IN from top to bottom.

I added 2 new holes on the bottom of the enclosure for wires as well.