Renard 64 times 2 Enclosure

[Mrplow123]

So I finnaly got my second Ren64 board completed, and needed an enclosure to house both boards. I decided to put both controlers outside again this year, this way I only need to run 1 cable into the house, apposed to 32. So I went to Home Depot and picked up one of the Orbit sprinkler timer enclosures. It has lots of space, it is water proof, has a lock to keep people out, and the price was good. I also installed a power supply in the bottom section of the enclosure so the control box is completely self contained. I used a power supply from an old external hard drive enclosure. It has more than enough power for this application and it is small. All I have to supply to it is AC power, and data from the PC.

I put the GFCI to use. The power supply and the H11AA1 inputs on the boards feed off the GFCI, so everything is protected. I attached a few pics of the assembly of the enclosure, and a completed pic. I have a video of it running I will upload later.

One more project down, a miilion more to go.....

[Mrplow123]

One more pic.

[wjohn]

David,

wonderful work!

YOu must have a bunch of channels available for this years display.


John.

[Mrplow123]

David,

wonderful work!

YOu must have a bunch of channels available for this years display.


John.

Thank you for the compliment on my work. While I was planning alot more channels this year, budget constraints knocked me down to 104 channels for this year. I only had 40 last year. I am more then happy with that number, as sequencing 104 channels is quite a task. I am doing 2 colors on most everything this year, and plan to do 3 colors on everything next year.

Here is a video of the boards in action.

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[JohnByrne]

SWEET!

[blake_l]

Just curious what the rest of you are doing for mounting - there are only 2 mounting holes at the input / ouput end of the Ren64 boards. Are you relying on those to support the board? Bolting directly to some support surface? I can't qutie tell from the pix above...

I use PCB standoffs - 1 in each of those holes, and I added 2 more holes between the RJ45 jacks at the other end of the board. Drill _very_carefully_ Oh - and don't drill through any traces. :-)

[Mrplow123]

I used a more simple, straight forward approach to mounting my boards. I used double sides foam tape. Been doing it for years with lots of different pcb's. I have never had a problem yet. They never fall off, and the tape does not conduct electricity. And it gives it a nice clean look with out screws.

[Matt]

Looks nice! I still need a a case for my 2 Ren64s. How much did that enclosure cost?

-Matt

[teberle]

I found that enclosure for 28.00 at my local lowes store.

[wjohn]

Just curious what the rest of you are doing for mounting - there are only 2 mounting holes at the input / ouput end of the Ren64 boards. Are you relying on those to support the board? Bolting directly to some support surface? I can't qutie tell from the pix above...

I use PCB standoffs - 1 in each of those holes, and I added 2 more holes between the RJ45 jacks at the other end of the board. Drill _very_carefully_ Oh - and don't drill through any traces. :-)

There is another option, PCB Slide mounts. They look like a groove and the PCB ist it the groove, much like you would have with a shelf in a bookcase.

John.

[xmus]

Dave,

Are you going to need to make another hole in the bottom to get all the CAT5 through? That hole is tight for just 16 pairs of SPT1... when it gets crowded, forcing a RJ45 connector through (or even worse, removing one!) is rough....

Sweet enclosure... I'm trying to find a way to put 2,3 or 4 xmus boards in a single enclosure for a mega tree.... I've though of the watermaster, but i'm trying to avoid it unless i have to... id rather find something about 3 times the size of a watermaster... but..... electrical boxes that big are expensive...

[Mrplow123]

Dave,

Are you going to need to make another hole in the bottom to get all the CAT5 through? That hole is tight for just 16 pairs of SPT1... when it gets crowded, forcing a RJ45 connector through (or even worse, removing one!) is rough....


I did make 2 additional openings in the bottom of the enclosure with the dremel. I wanted to make sure I had enough space to get all the cables in. I plan to seal the holes from the inside with duct tape as a temporary seal to keep bugs out.

[xmus]

Dave,

Are you going to need to make another hole in the bottom to get all the CAT5 through? That hole is tight for just 16 pairs of SPT1... when it gets crowded, forcing a RJ45 connector through (or even worse, removing one!) is rough....


I did make 2 additional openings in the bottom of the enclosure with the dremel. I wanted to make sure I had enough space to get all the cables in. I plan to seal the holes from the inside with duct tape as a temporary seal to keep bugs out.

I'm also trying to figure out how to temp seal, without making it a pain to repair wires later... my water master bottom hole is PACKED with 2 cat5's and 16 SPT1 pairs... I was thinking of expanding foam, after it dries it might just break out easy?

[klanger]

Are you worried about bugs or water getting in?

If it's water and the boxes are hanging with the cables at the bottom, if you fit a bit of conduit through the hole about 1" outside the box, the water will run down the conduit and not into the hole.



Kev

[xmus]

Are you worried about bugs or water getting in?

If it's water and the boxes are hanging with the cables at the bottom, if you fit a bit of conduit through the hole about 1" outside the box, the water will run down the conduit and not into the hole.



Kev

Hi Key,

The enclosures will be mounted on walls/trees/etc, so the hole will always face down, not worried about water coming in directly, just bugs and fingers/sticks (kids) I guess.