Shawn M.

I have 13,000 lights on mine and use vampire plugs spt2, just keep plugs off ground and keep water from running down cord and into the plugs ( low point not the plugs). I don't use tape or dielectric grease on my plugs.

Little late also, I only do the front 180 degrees of my 25' pole, due to the layout of my display. I use four sets of strings for each of the eight segments.

I have color coded with different colored electrical tape, works for me and I have about 80 "super" cords that plug in to "super stings".

Adding some spinners using Dumb RGBs I have laying around, probably be about 4 feet in diameter.

Not sure what this means "For years I've disconnected the AC panels on the north side of my house (up and downstairs) and converted them into four 20 amp plugs in," how did you convert something to 20 amps? I went worst case and think you just changed out breaker/fuse size, did you change the wires feeding them? over loading a wire designed for 15 amps with 20 amps is a good way to start a fire. As to the other question, 12 gauge should be more than enough. https://www.calculator.net/voltage-drop-calculator.html, I guessed you would lose max, 2 volts off the top of my head, this calculator shows less than that. You won't lose power, the item plugged will use power it needs to get the job done. Power= Volts x amps, when the volts go down the amps go up and power should stay the same (ideally and doesn't account for power factor in AC stuff).

Thanks, I had already registered to take this class with my nephew when I saw the post and started thinking about it.

Didn't think that through enough, sure hope it's not S5. Not a big fan of it. S5 seemed geared mostly to pixel folks, when I tried it out.

I see the note about "Must be 16 or older to attend". My 15 year old nephew will be going to the expo with me, does this exclude him or is there exceptions?

You going to go with traditional or RGB?

Well I used the "old" circuit design to keep it simple, and you were talking about AC and DC and how it impacted how they worked. No clue on how that makes a difference (RGB that runs through a power supply can do funny things, rectified plug in LEDs, no clue why it would make a difference.) Still and probably never will buy the RF but hey, good luck. we can agree to disagree, I install thee GFCI circuits this year myself, breakers not outlets, since I didn't want to have to go outside and reset them if they tripped (and they did in a down pour one night).

I cant take it any more, please read this write up on how a GFCI works. As long as current flows normally nothing happens . The current flow through the primary and secondary windings of T the top of the diagram will either be 0, if there is no load, or equal but opposite when the load is on, thus cancelling each other out. A short to ground however on the black wire will produce a current thru the winding on the black wire, but none on the white wire. This difference will be detected by the coil attached to A the amplifier , and boosted to produce a current thru S, a spring loaded solenoid which pops the contacts of the switch built into the GFCI assembly past a mechanical stop, holding them open with the spring. If you clear the fault, and press the “reset” button, it pushes the switch at the top right closed past a mechanical stop, until another ground fault occurs. stole this from "https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-wiring-schematic-of-a-GFCI" it kept it simple, and if you wan't to know more, Goggle it. Qberg, I would not waste money on items that won't fix anything, you have a grounding issue not an RF issue. As to your link the the You Tube, video.....they are meant to be a joke, or at least I hope so. I hope the very simple diagram above that shows how a GFCI works helps out, and shows whey it doesn't matter if AC or DC.

I'm just saying "power Injection" its a conceptual error. When bringing another generator on line, it is paralleling them, and yes they can share the load, (depending on how you set them, but I'm not going go into generator theory). What people call power injection is parallel power, its a terrible term that stuck. Not saying there is a voltage drop in long series of RGB LEDs, and need to Boost the Voltage by adding a parallel voltage source.

Never did I "inject" power when I brought another Generator online as the Elector Operator on the USS Eisenhower, or the Submarine "proto-type" where I first qualified at. (It used DC power as well as AC) I would have failed out of Naval Nuclear Power School for ever putting that on a piece of paper.

This group = this forum in general. It's a term someone came up with who didn't know electrical theory very well and it stuck