Dirkcheap SSR issues

ChristmasBuddy

ChristmasBuddy

New member
Unfortunately, my FM transmitter is flat out not working so I have scrapped the show totally and just running the lights on with no sequencing.

Everything looks good until day 2. Then two of my trees will not power off the lights. Even when my Ren32 is powered off and I know there is no data on the wire the lights stay on. I have to walk outside to the two trees and unplug the AC.

On day 3, the lights do not come on at all. I go check the Dirkcheap SSRs and both of them are fried. I mean FRIED.

While we have had rain my SSRs are protected inside of a sealed PVC pipe.

The other thing that is blowing my mind here is that I am using other SSRs on bushes and trees. Knock on wood they are doing fine.

Each of the light plugs on the two affected SSRs have only two strands of lights. I have 2-3 strands on the ones working fine.

So my question is:

Can Vixen be doing this? For these two affected trees I am using the "Set Level" under Basic Lighting. I have the Intensity set to 90%. These two trees are closet to the road so I only want them On.

On my working bushes and trees I am using Twinkle.

What really irritates me about this is that I did burn in tests for each of these SSRs for hours before I did my setup.

Luckily, I have extra SSRs so I will continue to replace them as I need to until the season is over.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

Buddy
 
I'm gonna go out on a limb and say your attempt to seal them is doing more harm than good. You may have a good condensation cloud going on in there.
I run mine in a PVC tube with a cap on one end and the other end completely open. The open end faces down of course. This allows moisture an easy way out.
Vixen can't fry a controller. All it does is send control signals to the Renard controller. Then the Renard controller transforms this into low voltage pulses to control the SSRs. Even it couldn't fry an SSR. It has to be related to the AC mains power inside your tube making contact in the wrong way.


--Jon Chuchla--

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Thanks Jon,

I mis-spoke. All of my SSRs are housed in a sealed PVC pipe but only on one end. It hangs from the sealed end. the other end is open for air circulation.

The other difference with these two problem SSRs is that they are hanging up in trees and are not low to the ground like my others.

This is just crazy. I'm thankful the others are not having issues. Knock on wood.

Buddy
 
Sounds like you may be running too much off each channel. The DirkCheap SSR's are only rated for 1amp/channel (Actually I heard it was more like .8amp/channel).
I would measure what you are running from each channel to verify draw and ensure you are not pulling too much.
 
One other possibility is that moisture getting into the strings is creating sneak-paths for the current that is increasing the current draw for long enough to overload the SSRs chips.
 
@DrNeutron
I hear you but why am I not experiencing this issue with my other many SSRs in my
yard? Its only for these two trees. I'll multi-meter the strands and get the results.

@P.Short
Possible I guess. I'll cover the female plug ends.

Bugs?
That's possible as these two trees do have their fair share of Stink Bugs. Under
normal conditions I would smell them if they died in this manner and see whats
left of their dead bodies.

Buddy
 
Hmmmmmm

After reading the comments here and researching more i am wondering if I am sucking up too many amps. I'll definitely do the multi-meter testing tonight.

In the meantime, is there a good source for "high current" SSRs? I would like to get something quickly if that is possible (just as a safety measure in that direction).

Thanks everyone!!!!!

Buddy
 
The lights are 110VAC. I am using 4 channels. Each channel has 2 strands and each strand is rated at .33 Amps but I do have some older strands I don't know their rating. If I had to guess I should not exceed 4 amps total per channel. If I am interpretting this correctly (probably not). I just came home to two SSR completely fried.

So I am thinking I am exceeding the amps for the SSRs.

Buddy
 
At the risk of being redundant, have you inspected the strings to make sure that the problem is not due to damage out there? Squirrels are known to like to chew on the wire because they like the taste of the lead used as a plasticiser, and there is the possibility of damage due to other critters or to weather.
 
Yup. I did that yesterday. The wires are still clean no signs of problems.

I'm almost 100 percent sure I am consuming too must amperage for these SSRs. I am tweaking my trees to use the power straight up and no SSRs. I'll just have to manually turn them on. That's okay. These trees are not a part of my simple show. I'll be more prepared for next year.

I just hope that Radiant Holidays restocks the SSRhc's. I'll definitely get some and test.

Buddy
 
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