Need More Power For My Controller ASAP

[jsyd]

This is my first year using LOR stuff. I have one 16 channel controller. I have about 35 amps of lights to run on it and didn't realize i had that much.

Has anyone switched the two 15 amp fuses to 20 amp fuses to accommodate more power? Or, is this safe to do without burning up the circuits?

My other option is to buy another controller, which I was planning on doing next year anyway.

Thanks

[chartrand]

Do you ever have all the lights on at once where your using the full 35 amps? That said I've heard of several folks that have done that very thing, but it's not supported by LOR to do so.

-Pat

[jsyd]

Thanks. There are very few times in the sequences where the entire thing is on all at once. I have a friend who said he has done this as well but I wanted to see if others had done it.

-jason

[Steve Lelinski]

It's not officially supported, but it will work. You need to mount it in a metal housing though. Running at 40 Amp generates too much heat for the plastic cases.

[iresq]

Change the fuses and heavy up your power supply lines. There has been discussions about the metal enclosure but I don't think there has been a consensus about it. You may be able to get away with using your plastic case. It will depend on how often you are running at high amps.

Sent from my Droid X

[jcazz]

If you're careful with your sequencing, you can get by with the stock fuses. You would be surprised that people watching your show won't notice that some of the channels aren't on when you hit a "bright" spot in a song. I had to do this my first year, and after tweaking my sequences a bit had no problems.

[Wayner]

you also need to change the wire form the breaker to the receptacle you are changing to 20A #14 wire is only rated for 15A toy will need to upgrade it to a #12 wire if you want to go 20A

a 15A breaker will only give you a sustained load of 12A before it trips. a 20A breaker will give you a sustained load of 18A. That being said a 15A breaker will do 18-20A for a short time 1-2 seconds before triping

But like everyone else says if you never turn on all your lights for more than a couple seconds you should not have a problem.

[Apache Lights]

It may be costly but some quick switching to LED's can make more difference than you may think.

[tfischer]

I'm pretty sure the PC series controllers are NOT recommended for this modification. The Showtime controllers (or a CTB-16D board in a metal housing) can support it, but they're built with larger board traces.

[buddhawood]

I asked almost the same question and this was the reply.

Hello,

We need to update the FAQ becasue they were written prior to the release of the

CTB16PC series of controllers and the 20 amps referes to the CTB16D or CTB16K

series of controllers. Honestly you should be okay with the 20 amp fuses BUT

because we put the CTB16PC in a plastic box we do not recommend that people

upgrade to the 20 amps because of heat buildup. If you are going to only

momentarly hit 20 amps and are not going to be at 20 amps constantly OR if you

have installed the card in a metal box or where it gets good airflow you should

not have a problem.

Best regards,

Dan

Light O Rama Support Team