WHERE Is your G R I N C H????

[dadams14]

I struggle with this all the time...
Last year I placed my pc and grinch in my garage and ran all of my cat5s out the window to the ssrs, most over 60 feet away... This ate up a lot of cable. I only had 32 channels..
Now I want to expand to 64 channels (small steps )...
Should I
1. Keep my grinch in the garage , out of the weather , and continue running massive amounts of cat5 to the yard?
or
2. Move the grinch to a weather proof box in the yard near the ssrs .?

I know you guys with many many channels have addressed this and I would love for you to give your opinions...
Thanks in advance
Dennis

[RichF]

I do not have a Grinch but I do have 4 595 boards and I place all of them out in the yard in various places. I only have 4 cat 5 wires leaving from my garage. 2 for 5vdc power to power the SSR's and the boards and 2 for data to each pair of 2 595 boards. This year I will have 5 wires leaving my garage as I am adding 10 ren-24's

[dnesci]

My two Grinches were in the garage and I ran 1100' of Cat5. Yes that was 32 cat5 cables. Several of the cables were over 50' long. The cat5 come out of the bottom of my garage doors (on both sides of the door). This year going to 2 Ren64 and 2 Ren24 in the yard and only using 1 Grinch in the garage.

[Aurbo99]

My two Grinches were in the garage and I ran 1100' of Cat5. Yes that was 32 cat5 cables. Several of the cables were over 50' long. The cat5 come out of the bottom of my garage doors (on both sides of the door). This year going to 2 Ren64 and 2 Ren24 in the yard and only using 1 Grinch in the garage.

I did exactly the same with my Grinch and 2 Ren64's, nearly 2000' feet of Cat5 and 9 power cords snaking their way out my garage and across the yard.

This year I'm looking at using a large weather proof electrical box with some water tight glands to allow the cat's to be shorter by moving the Grinch and Ren's into this box in the yard.

[Wayne J]

I have 6 Renard XC's and over 90 SSRs. The controllers are indoors and I have over 4000' of cat5 running around with 90+ cables. It takes 3 large tubs to store it all. I do bundle the runs to make it as one cable, so it is easier to roll up and put away. I don't think that cables are a real issue until the count goes up to 100 channels or so, then it starts to become cumbersome.

[NogginBoink]

Anecdotal evidence is that long cable runs between the PC and the Grinch can cause data corruption. I'd do some testing before making the decision to locate the Grinches away from the PC.

[dnesci]

I have 6 Renard XC's and over 90 SSRs. The controllers are indoors and I have over 4000' of cat5 running around with 90+ cables. It takes 3 large tubs to store it all. I do bundle the runs to make it as one cable, so it is easier to roll up and put away. I don't think that cables are a real issue until the count goes up to 100 channels or so, then it starts to become cumbersome.

Hey Wayne, is the dog guarding all those cables going out the window? I never thought to get the dog involved in the project.

Don

[Wayne J]

Hey Wayne, is the dog guarding all those cables going out the window? I never thought to get the dog involved in the project.

Don

LOL..Yep... she'll chew your ankles off before you can say "RJ45" :p

[deplanche]

If you can afford the cables and don't mind the looks of them in the yard, I think keeping the grinch inside, away from weather, vandals, and critters would be best. There are many ways you can make it work outside very easily, so that is an option if you want to take that route. I just don't keep the "brains" outside... just have the SSRs otuside because i have extras of those.

[scorpia]

yeah if you want the brains outside it might be better to look at the different renard (or similar) boards with the onboard ssr's.

i find them easier to deal with than multiple ssr's around the place. but i have alot of strings coming from one corner or the house, so it makes sense to me to have a controler there