• Planning
• Labeling
• Primary Power
• GFCI's
• Mounting the Hardware
• Fuses
• Actual Electrical Loads
• Extension Cords
• Communications between Monster Brain and/or Controllers
• Lights, Light Strings and Fixture Challenges
• Verbal Communications with the Factory

Planning

1. Never underestimate the amount of time required to plan and implement a really great light display.  You have to know where you're going or you'll never know when you get there.
2. Have a simple schematic of the overall display.  Include dimensions of the display and the type of lights you're using.  Share this information with everyone so there are no surprises.
3. Have a detailed electrical schematic.  Wiring on-the-fly might save time in the beginning but troubleshooting a problem becomes incredibly challenging.  Draw a detailed schematic well ahead of time and commit to sticking to it during the build.

Labeling

1. Buy colored electrical tape and a waterproof marker.
2. Create your own consistent scheme and label every wire (electrical, data, EVERYTHING) at both ends.  This can be a nuisance in the beginning but vital when troubleshooting a problem.

Primary Power

1. THE biggest challenge with any display is the primary electrical power that feeds the light controllers. 
2. Place the primary electrical distribution panel as close to the light display as possible.  This is the job of a licensed electrician. 
3. If you have three phase power, use colored labels to identify which circuit breakers are on each phase.  Typically, every third breaker is on the same phase.  The electrician can assist with this.
4. Have the electrician confirm beyond any shadow of a doubt three phase power is being provided in the correct sequence (A-B-C)
5. Confirm with a voltmeter every plug downstream from the circuit breaker has115-130 volts AC or 220-240 volts AC. 

GFCIs

1. Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters (GFCIs) are required in many cases with outdoor environments. 
2. Make sure only the best GFCI breakers are installed.  In very wet environments (lots of rain, etc.) the GFCI breakers will definitely do their job and trip often.  After many cycles, low cost breakers wear out and won't reset, requiring an expensive electrician to replace them.
3. In GFCI environments, make sure all electrical connectors are off the ground as high as possible and shielded from the rain.
4. Don't try to hermetically seal extension cord connections.  Water can often get trapped inside and constantly trip GFCI breakers.

Mounting the Hardware

1. Animated Lighting controllers are typically provided in weatherproof enclosures, not waterproof enclosures.
2. Make sure the wire access holes of the enclosures are pointing down.
3. Mount the enclosures at chest level if possible.  Makes for very easy maintenance and keeps dampness and critters out of the sensitive electronics.

Fuses

1. Animated Lighting controllers use standard 3AG 15 ampere fast acting fuses.  Do not use any other type of fuse.  These fuses are available at most hardware stores, electrical supply houses or home improvement stores.  Keep a few extra fuses in reserve. 
2. Fuses blow when there is too much current being consumed.  This can be caused from initially turning on a heavy load or the load being consistently greater than the fuse rating.  If this happens more than once, reduce the electrical load.

Actual Electrical Circuit Loads

1. Animated Lighting Controllers are typically rated at 15-30--60 amps of switching capacity.  15 amp controllers spread the load over all available channels (typically 4 or 16).  30 amp controllers spread 15 amps over eight control circuits and 60 amp controllers spread 15 amps over four control circuits. 
2. Individual light circuits are designed to handle up to 10 amps maximum of electrical load.  Overloading individual circuits will cause bizarre behavior.
3. Invest in an electrical ammeter available at any electrical supply house or home improvement store.  If you don't feel comfortable using an ammeter, purchase a simple-to-use Kill-A-Watt device (picture to the right).

Extension Cords

1. Use only 12-3 gauge or larger extension cords.  Smaller gauge cords can heat up and start fires under heavy loads.
2. Make sure the light controllers are as close to the electrical distribution panel as possible so you can use shorter electrical extension cords if needed..
3. No light controller should be more than 100 feet from the dedicated circuit breakers where it connects to primary power.
4. All primary power pigtails of a light controller should be on the same electrical phase.
5. In the USA, confirm primary voltage as it enters the controller is no less than 112 VAC.  If it is lower, use a larger gauge extension cord to prevent any voltage drop,
6. Don't use a 100 foot cord where a seven foot one will do.  Lots of wire under heavy loads produce significant voltage drops that create havoc with the sensitive electronics. 
7. Label each end of the extension cord.  This will simplify troubleshooting.
8. Keep the extension cords away from data cables connecting the controllers.  Fast switching times of the light circuits can cause EMI issues radiating from the extension cords.

Communications between Monster Brain and/or Controllers

1. If possible, use commercial grade CAT 5 communications cable with molded connectors at each end.  CAT 5E, CAT 6 or greater will work fine but is not a requirement.
2. If you build your own communication cables, use the standard LAN cable color coding scheme:
   
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3. Communication data cables typically are eight conductor made up of four twisted pair.  Animated Lighting uses only the center twisted pair (Blue - White/Blue) on pins 4 and 5 of the RJ-45 connector.  Make sure the connector is installed correctly, consistently and fully tested before deployment.  The twisted pair helps reduce electrical interference.
4. If you have more than 15 controllers daisy chained together with a communications cable and you are having intermittent communications problems, terminate the data cable connector on the last controller of the chain (see controller schematic or call the factory).
5. If a daisy chained controller cable exceeds 1000 feet and you experience intermittent communication errors with the controllers, install a data repeater (call the factory) either at the Monster Brain or mid span of the daisy chain.
6. The communications protocol used to communicate across the data cables between controllers is based on RS-485.  If you just can't talk to a controller over the network, chances are the commutation chip is bad (which happens when the data cables are shorted or meet the untimely death from a bolt of lightning.)  It's a small 8-pin DIP chip that's socketed (for easy replacement) just under the RJ-45 connectors on the light controller boards
7. There have been a couple of cases in the field where the RS-485 chips need replacing because the hot and neutral conductors were accidently swapped feeding the light controller board (this creates an offset between "neutral" and ground that shouldn't be there). Use an outlet tester to verify that your outlets are wired correctly and replace the RS-485 chip..
8. f you're running controllers on several different electrical circuits and have trouble communicating with certain controllers, try bringing power to a controller that won't locate using an extension cord plugged into the same power as the PC and/or Monster Brain. This will help eliminate ground offsets.  In these cases using the RS-485 data repeater available from Animated Lighting does an excellent job isolating these voltage offsets.
    

Lights, Light Strings and Fixture Challenges

1. Outdoor spotlights pointing up are notorious for water leaking into the socket.  Depending on the conditions, a short circuit might occur and blow out the electronics in the light controller.  If it is an LED based light that produces little or no heat, simply put a plastic bag over the entire fixture to solve the problem.  With incandescent lights, use some sort of physical shield to divert the rainwater away from the socket.
2. Low-cost LED light strings are not always designed to dim or can be very inconsistent when responding to ramps and fades.  In many cases adding an incandescent C7 bulb to the circuit will provide enough of an electrical load to smooth things out. 
3. C7/C9 replacement LED bulbs are not always designed to dim.  Either replace the bulbs with ones rated for dimming or remove all dimming characteristics from your light show program.

Verbal Communications when Troubleshooting with the Factory

1. Be very specific when talking to the factory about problems you might be having.  They will ask for  specifics about which circuit is not working, how much power does the circuit consume, etc.  Gathering this information early will help resolve the problem much faster.