Ginger9909 0 Posted October 26, 2011 Report Share Posted October 26, 2011 Can someone tell me how many mini lights is each channel able to hold? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
VegasLee 10 Posted October 26, 2011 Report Share Posted October 26, 2011 According to Home Depots web site it can hold 1200 mini-lights per outlet for a total of 7,200 lights. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ginger9909 0 Posted October 26, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2011 thanks very much I couldnt find it anywhere Quote Link to post Share on other sites
howierd3866 0 Posted October 27, 2011 Report Share Posted October 27, 2011 if you replace the fuse you can go more...I'm not saying that safe but that what I do Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Justin Smith 0 Posted October 27, 2011 Report Share Posted October 27, 2011 if you replace the fuse you can go more...I'm not saying that safe but that what I do Do not do this. If you do you will burn off insulation from the wires, overheat terminations, and destroy triacs, connectors, everything. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
minesweepers 10 Posted October 28, 2011 Report Share Posted October 28, 2011 I blew the fuse on my mr christmas box two years ago from too many lights, thats when i came up the "gizomofatch" as my neighbors call it. basically the mr christmas box does nothing more than trigger relays, The relay box has 3 seperate power sources coming into it . 2 channels/relays per power source for a total of six channels. the relays I use are pretty cheap 15A plug in style mechanical relays. I never blow Up the box and can pump almost anything I want thru it cause no draw goes thru mr christmas other than what it takes to run the relays I also have the box miced and run into fm modulator, If you listen to the video you can hear the relays clicking to the music, the cabinet next to the penguin is where everything is http://youtu.be/sejApRD5AyA Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ryan_Johnson 10 Posted October 28, 2011 Report Share Posted October 28, 2011 According to Home Depots web site it can hold 1200 mini-lights per outlet for a total of 7,200 lights. thanks very much I couldnt find it anywhere Hmmm... Home Depot's calculators must not be working. According to the actual manufacturer's site (http://www.mrchristmas.com/pdf/67791.pdf): Each outlet can support 240 watts max- that's 6 sets of 100ct standard minis (40watts each). Your total watts for the whole unit is only 1440 (pg 9) so you can have 36 strings. If you follow the Home Depot's listing (and several others, which is sort of alarming) and plug 7200 onto it you are doubling the capacity of the unit. Unless it's a different unit (and it's the same item number so I don't think it is) you could have yourself some issues. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
VegasLee 10 Posted October 28, 2011 Report Share Posted October 28, 2011 Ryan, It appears you are correct. Home Depot is using the wrong information on that unit. I checked their light sets and they are 40 watt for 100ct standard minis also as you stated. Good catch on your part. Home depot should correct their information before someone has problems. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ryan_Johnson 10 Posted October 28, 2011 Report Share Posted October 28, 2011 Ryan, It appears you are correct. Home Depot is using the wrong information on that unit. I checked their light sets and they are 40 watt for 100ct standard minis also as you stated. Good catch on your part. Home depot should correct their information before someone has problems. You're not kidding! There are several places that have that same listing- up to 7200 lights. Now I'm sure you can "find a way" to get more than the recommended strings on it but since the question wasn't "how can I modify it" I figured I'd check it out. I had two neighbors in the last two years essentially melt these things which is why I went and checked. To the original poster- more isn't always better. You can do a great display with 3000 lights (in fact I've seen some that truly opitimize the "less is more" theory). Another option is to use more than 1 Mr Christmas unit, although I'm not sure if you can "synch" them to play the same tune at the same time. Good luck! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ginger9909 0 Posted October 28, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 28, 2011 thanks everyone for the information! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ryan_Johnson 10 Posted October 28, 2011 Report Share Posted October 28, 2011 thanks everyone for the information! We don't want you to set yourself on fire! Good luck- ask away about any other ??'s you may have. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
beebani 10 Posted October 28, 2011 Report Share Posted October 28, 2011 You can sync more than 1 using the others as drones basically, a member did a write up on here a couple years ago about it. I'm running 3) units this year synched. I know all too well about pushing these units too hard, my original unit which is a deluxe unit I blew 1 of the triacs on it 2 years ago by overloading it. I replaced the triac last spring, wasn't too hard. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
howierd3866 0 Posted October 29, 2011 Report Share Posted October 29, 2011 Do not do this. If you do you will burn off insulation from the wires, overheat terminations, and destroy triacs, connectors, everything. maybe but I use 8 Mr Christmas all with the bigger fuse for the last 3yrs never a problem.Just saying it may not be safe..its like using a inside cord outside Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Justin Smith 0 Posted October 30, 2011 Report Share Posted October 30, 2011 maybe but I use 8 Mr Christmas all with the bigger fuse for the last 3yrs never a problem.Just saying it may not be safe..its like using a inside cord outside More like plugging two space heaters into a plug strip. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
minesweepers 10 Posted November 9, 2011 Report Share Posted November 9, 2011 How did you guys sync the Mr Christmas boxes ?i can run about 100 amps thru my set up with no problem Quote Link to post Share on other sites
howierd3866 0 Posted November 9, 2011 Report Share Posted November 9, 2011 on my hay ride I use 1 Mr Christmas last year with over 10,000 lights on it. In my yard display I use 3 Mr Christmas for my roof and 2 arears in my yard. All I did was had them hook to a timer they arent sync but very close. And I turn the sound off the other 2 so unless you sit long enought you never know.The rest all use around my yard but only 1 other one with the sound on. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
minesweepers 10 Posted November 9, 2011 Report Share Posted November 9, 2011 I wish I knew how many lights I have, but to sit and count them... lol Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rameyg 10 Posted November 13, 2011 Report Share Posted November 13, 2011 I ran two Mr. C. last year and did the mod to have them syc. together. Used cat 5 cable to connect the two together. Also put the audio cut off switch and output plug to be able to broadcast audio. Do the mod to connect the two units together wasn't to difficult, just a little time consuming. I think I got photos of the mod somewhere on my computer if anyone is interested. Seemed to work out pretty good. Hope to use some LOR this year in I can find some sequences along with the Mr. C. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
marshmallowelf 0 Posted November 13, 2011 Report Share Posted November 13, 2011 Wow - I've been using one of these Mr. Christmas controllers for 5 years now - the manual that came with it back then mentioned the 1200 lights per channel. I always thought it was a little high, given how many lights you can safely put on a 15 amp circuit, but if you always use the animation setting, the lights are rarely all on at once, and then only briefly. And I've run it successfully all this time following the 1200 mini-lights per channel guideline. Of course, I also replaced most of the lights on channels 1 and 2 with LEDs, and I'm slowly replacing the other lights with LEDs, so that might have helped me stay under max load... In any case, I'm overdue to replace it with a LOR setup... although I'm also tempted to follow some of the other posters' suggestions on modding good old Mr. Christmas! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
minesweepers 10 Posted November 14, 2011 Report Share Posted November 14, 2011 one of these days I'm going to make a video of the relay cabinet for my mr christmas box, but right now my concern is mounting a penguin on my roof...lol Quote Link to post Share on other sites
muddytrck18 0 Posted November 15, 2011 Report Share Posted November 15, 2011 thinking about heading to home depot tonight. try and pick a mr christmas and a few hundred more light. or untill the wife tells me that enough for now lol. would like to see some mods done to the mr christmas thanks david Quote Link to post Share on other sites
minesweepers 10 Posted November 21, 2011 Report Share Posted November 21, 2011 heres the video of the mr christmas monster brain... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
qrh003 10 Posted December 1, 2011 Report Share Posted December 1, 2011 In the past someone had photos and instructions on adding relays for more lights. He used indoor power strips (one for each channel) enclosed in a box. I would like to read it again. Thanks, Ray Quote Link to post Share on other sites
qrh003 10 Posted December 1, 2011 Report Share Posted December 1, 2011 The Gizmofatch looks like it can handle a lot of lights. I noticed there are several orange extention cables that are not hooked up. What are they for? Regards, Ray Quote Link to post Share on other sites
minesweepers 10 Posted December 3, 2011 Report Share Posted December 3, 2011 The orange cords are the outgoing power to the lightsI have several sets of cords bundled together in sets of six all lettered a-f on each end.... It makes it neater and easy to set up the colors....i know all green lights are on A.... Blue is on B,etc.... Each relay is 15A with 120v coil so Mr Christmas can trigger the relays directly... Theres also three other orange cords coming in to supply power to the relays so I dont put it all on one circuit of the house Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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