Controller Yard Stand Recommendations

M

milehighsanta

New member
As some of you noticed from my other post, I am taking my 100k static display and finally putting it to a light show. I was lucky enough to purchase 15 LOR controllers from a friend of mine for an amazing price. I'm currently looking for good ideas on how you guys mount your control boxes in your yard. I have just under 2 acres that I decorate, so mostly looking for mounts that would stand out in the yard and not mount to the house. Pictures and ideas welcome!

Thanks in advance for helping out the new guy. :)
 
I mount my megatree controller and power supplies in CG1500 boxes and secure them to the center pole with hose clamps. For stuff on the front lawn, I'll make a hole with a concrete stake and then sleeve it with PVC. Black iron pipe or galvanized pipe or EMT goes into the sleeve, and other boxes are mounted on that. In the off season, I put a cap on the PVC sleeves and they become invisible when the grass grows over them.
 
1/2" rebar, 2' length pounded into the ground about a foot (some are only 1' and in the ground about 6"). 1/2" PVC slipped over the rebar (length as needed) w/ a screw neat the top to hang the controller case on.

If you are using the CG cases they have standoffs on the back, usually 2 at the top, I drill an 1/8" (maybe smaller 3/32"?) through the standoffs (but not into the case) and take a length of coat hanger wire that will fit between the standoffs w/ some to spare, slide it through the holes and bend the ends so it can't pull out, and that is the hanger for the cases, run a Zip tie through a hole in a standoff on the bottom around the PVC to keep it all in place.
 
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There have been some years where the ground was frozen extremely hard and I used cinder blocks. This is already looking to be one of those kind of years too.
 
I really should take some pictures of my boxes...

Anywhooo, I have CG-1500 boxes and made simple stands out of 1/2"PVC pipe. I drilled small holes in the bottom of the CG-1500 and the PVC pipe, ran some #4 or #6 bolts through the bottom and the pipe, and used lock washers and nuts to hold everything tight. The "foot" of the stand is just a rectangle made of PVC.

For my mega tree I just did what Kensington did - used hose clamps and silicone to seal the back where I drilled for the hose clamps to slide through.
 
I also use either Harbor Freight ammo boxes or some form of CG box for my controllers. The ammo boxes sit on the ground and do not need a mount. I will add a yard spike or large galvanized nail to make sure it stays upright. As for my CG boxes. As stated before, they have stand-offs on the back. These stand-offs are placed to line up with holes of a standard fence post https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbil...4-Gauge-Steel-U-Fence-Post-901153EB/205960881 from your big box store. I will drill a hole through the box from the inside, add a 2.5 to 3" bolt with a rubber washer on the inside, and a nut to the back to keep the bolt in place. Then drive the fence post in the ground, slide on the box and wing nuts to hold it. If needed, I will cut the extra fence post off to mount the box closer to the ground. This makes for an easy and reusable mount for many years. It also means I can remove the box and leave the post if needed when they get frozen in.
 
Thanks everyone! Some great ideas shared. I guess I also forgot to mention that I’m in the mountains of Colorado and will need all my stands to be able to keep above the snow. I do like the fence post idea could work.
 
I use hose clamps on my cg cases onto 3/4 pvc. I drive rebar into the ground and slide the pvc over the rebar.
 
The back of the CG - 1500 has a pipe holder built in. We take a metal strap, through the holder's slots (you have to cut them to allow the straps to go through- but that is easy) and then we mount the controllers to the tree's center pole. For trees and other "pipe centric" props, this has worked now for 7 or 8 years. We do take the precaution of putting silicone along where we cut to seal the box. Even on those that we didn't do this, there has not been any problem.
 
If you don't like the look of boxes in the yard try this. Garbage cans with ribbons. A few inches from the bottom drill 2 holes to insert the ends of small bungee cords then use a tent stake on each side. Loop the bungee cord on the stake and you have a christmas present which will waterproof your box and connections. Here are pics of a BUD box and cover.
28ea947e7566f3ecc2d600cb58c91e71.jpg


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Ruppro said:
If you are using the CG cases they have standoffs on the back, usually 2 at the top, I drill an 1/8" (maybe smaller 3/32"?) through the standoffs (but not into the case) and take a length of coat hanger wire that will fit between the standoffs w/ some to spare, slide it through the holes and bend the ends so it can't pull out, and that is the hanger for the cases, run a Zip tie through a hole in a standoff on the bottom around the PVC to keep it all in place.
Click to expand...

Brilliant ... I was wondering how to mount a CG on my roof for a diff receiver and power distro. I can use a brick clip on the chimney and hang the CG-1500 on that using this technique. Sweet. Thanks for the tip.
 
pmiller said:
If you don't like the look of boxes in the yard try this. Garbage cans with ribbons. A few inches from the bottom drill 2 holes to insert the ends of small bungee cords then use a tent stake on each side. Loop the bungee cord on the stake and you have a christmas present which will waterproof your box and connections. Here are pics of a BUD box and cover.
28ea947e7566f3ecc2d600cb58c91e71.jpg


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Click to expand...

Nice idea. I was thinking about building small boxes with the back exposed out of plywood and painting them to look like presents but if it covers it completely doesn’t this defeat the purpose of venting the enclosure? Unless the back of the garbage can has large holes cut out to allow air in.


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curtinti said:
Nice idea. I was thinking about building small boxes with the back exposed out of plywood and painting them to look like presents but if it covers it completely doesn’t this defeat the purpose of venting the enclosure? Unless the back of the garbage can has large holes cut out to allow air in.


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Click to expand...
The bottom of the garbage can is about 2 inches above ground to allow airflow.

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I use 36" pieces of 1/2" rebar and drive them down in the ground about 12". I have 3/4" PVC mounted to the back of all my CG1500 and CG2000 boxes. This allows me to slip the CG box right onto the rebar. This also gives me room for snow depths that can at times be 18" in depth by the first of December.
 

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Hockeyhunter1956 said:
I use 36" pieces of 1/2" rebar and drive them down in the ground about 12". I have 3/4" PVC mounted to the back of all my CG1500 and CG2000 boxes. This allows me to slip the CG box right onto the rebar. This also gives me room for snow depths that can at times be 18" in depth by the first of December.
Click to expand...
I used 2 aluminum blocks on the back of my boxes. Drilled a 3/8" hole through the bottom one and halfway through the top one. Then I used a 3/8" aluminum bar for mounting. Really easy to get out of frozen ground. Just used pliers to spin bar breaking loose from frozen ground and it comes right out. Put a marking on rod to indicate how far to drive into ground. Had issue with bar flattening on top when driving into ground but solved that by using another block on top of bar to drive in. Worked like a charm.

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Hockeyhunter1956 said:
I use 36" pieces of 1/2" rebar and drive them down in the ground about 12". I have 3/4" PVC mounted to the back of all my CG1500 and CG2000 boxes. This allows me to slip the CG box right onto the rebar. This also gives me room for snow depths that can at times be 18" in depth by the first of December.
Click to expand...

This looks simple and easy.
 
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