Best design for Arches?

[barbotte]

Thankyou



If you read back through the thread I shared all my thoughts but to recap.
I used 25mm clear conduit from an electrical wholesaler then put 25mm food grade pvc spiraled translucent tubing over the top of that to diffuse the light. The leds are 5050 rgb smd strip purchased off ebay which I ran down the inside of the conduit.


Total of 18 . I split the 5050 strip into 6 pieces then 3 channels per piece to achieve the RGB


I got the conduit extremely cheap so my costing wont be a good guide but
conduit $3.00
Outer Tubing $12.00
SMD 5050 RGB strip $39.00
2pair wire approx 15mtrs @ $0.23/m = $3.45
Total $57.45 (if my math is correct )

I plan on making 3 of these running off 1 dedicated REN64XC board and maybe some mini versions to fill the 9 of the last 10 channels on that board . They will be chase or full on onlys though due to the way i plan to share channels across the multiple minis

i saw few seller on ebay for the 5050- rgb and i was wondering how you manage to by pass their controler that come with it and to used it with the ren 64 as they come with dc current
thanks

[griffixdc]

Quote Originally Posted by Henedce View Post
Thankyou



If you read back through the thread I shared all my thoughts but to recap.
I used 25mm clear conduit from an electrical wholesaler then put 25mm food grade pvc spiraled translucent tubing over the top of that to diffuse the light. The leds are 5050 rgb smd strip purchased off ebay which I ran down the inside of the conduit.


Total of 18 . I split the 5050 strip into 6 pieces then 3 channels per piece to achieve the RGB


I got the conduit extremely cheap so my costing wont be a good guide but
conduit $3.00
Outer Tubing $12.00
SMD 5050 RGB strip $39.00
2pair wire approx 15mtrs @ $0.23/m = $3.45
Total $57.45 (if my math is correct )

I plan on making 3 of these running off 1 dedicated REN64XC board and maybe some mini versions to fill the 9 of the last 10 channels on that board . They will be chase or full on onlys though due to the way i plan to share channels across the multiple minis

that design seems kinda interesting...wish there were pics and when you say clear conduit at a electrical supply store....i have never used or seen electrical conduit thats clear, do you have a link or website. Is it rigid or is it soft and flexible?

[Henedce]

Ok picture story on how I did it. Its lots of big pictures with few words
(One thing I forgot to add to this . If you are planning on controlling any LEDs with DCSSR's make sure you buy common anode type . )
This is how my SMD strip showed up from China it came with the little remote etc. I played with them for about 3 minutes just to amuse myself and to test that the whole 5 mtr strip worked.



My Ren64XC test board + my 240/110Vac to 12VDC 30Amp switch mode power supply Therotically this can rum 30mtrs of SMD strip. But I only plan on running my arches on this one. Should be pulling a max of 14 - 15 amps with my mini arches + a DCSSR to run off the Ren64XC



The clear conduit sitting in the sun trying to get the kink I accidently put in it out. Its a Clipsal product http://www.clipsal.com.au/trade/down...g_and_fittings its in the Non Metallic Cable Enclosures & Fittings Technical Data, 892-941 catalogue



The translucent tubing I covered my conduit with, I ran a test tonight with and without , with looks heaps better in my opinion.



On to the business end. I worked out with ground clearance I need 3.6 mtrs of light with 6 channels per arch. So time to cut that nice new strip up into 600mm lengths. I was going to tap into the strip but figured if I have an outage its easier to replace a section then rewire a whole strip.



Once I had all my strips I turned them over and used my dremel with a sanding drum to clean off all the sticky bits off and get a nice clean solder point on each strip.



My choice of wire good old 2 paired telephone cable. At $23.00 / 100 mtr roll its cheap and it just happens to match closely to RGB colors . I substitute Black for Green Channel and White I use as the common.



Disgusting solder joints here . But Im still getting used to my new soldering iron. Shows wires solder to SMD strip though and it did test ok suprisingly. I use a 3.6mtr piece of wood to work out how long the wire needs to be . I place the SMD in its position then allow the length of the tube from its position plus however many mtrs of wire I need protruding to reach what will be my SSR box.



Once all my wires are soldered on I attach the smd to good old fashioned packing strap to give it a backbone. Again to retain replacability I just use lots of insulation tape to tape the smd, cable and strapping together.



One 6 channel strip ready to be inserted unto the conduit.

[Henedce]

Part 2 Sorry its gonna read backwards now .

Using a holesaw I drilled a hole 200mm from the end of my conduit on the backside of the arch . My first one I did it on the inside of the arc and the conduit cracked and wouldnt hold its shape.



I then inserted the conduit into my tubing and cut out the hole for my wiring. On future arches Im just going to make the tubing reach the holes as I ended up cutting everything below the hole off anyway once I made my mounting stakes (Pic later)



Time to insert the smd strip I taped on a 4mtr length of wire with a weight on the end to make it slide through easier . Just hold the conduit up and shake .



Once all the way through , I retrieved my cables through my hole in the back. I tried to keep the smd strip facing up as much as possible . With the tubing on it I found it doesnt really make much difference to the overall effect though.



I originally slid the conduit over a piece of pipe. But ended up making these from 32mm conduit. I just cut a point on one end and belted into the ground. The 25mm clear conduit fits snuggly inside these.




Finished product prior to change in mounting style.



My test relay board . Power in is from the switch mode power supply . All SSR's are DCSSR's from wjohn




Took a new video of this again tonight with a video camera not much better but I slowed down the sequencing a bit to get a better idea of what it looks like.
Oh and no its not your eyes there is a second arch beside it but I had a bad connection on channel 5 and its not covered with tubing yet.I was just testing it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gu3kJfccniU

Hope this answers all your questions

[Mactayl]

I must say they are very nice and well constructed.
The how to and pictures are well done, great job..;)

[budude]

+1 on that - nice job!

[griffixdc]

+1 on that - nice job!

+2 thanks for the details. neat design!