But I do have a few questions:
1.) What kind of SSR's will I need, how much do they cost, where can I get them, and how many do I need?
Jesse - any of the SSR's available here, will work - the SSROz, SSREZ, or SSRNeon. The EZ's are currently the possible "favorites", and the Oz are time-tested. The SSRNeon has become somewhat of a "brew your own", as it lends itself well to home-etching. They all will fit in an TA-200 enclosure, but they will fit in lot's of other enclosures, also. I have used the TA-200 for individuals, and put 4 -6 in CG-1000 boxes.
2.) What type of enclosures can I get for a Firegod?
I ran two systems in 2009, for 256 channels. I have the controllers just mounted to a board, inside the house, with Cat5 running out to the Field Modules. I have two FM's in a CG-1000, by stacking them two-tall, with standoffs in between. So I have 4 CG-1000 boxes, which hold all eight of my FM's. I can take pics, if you need them, but they are self-explanatory, I think. There's plenty of room, for all 16 Cat5 cables running to the SSR's. I did make a backing plate for the FM's, so I could screw them into the CG-1000's.
3.) Can I run two of these (for future reference) thru a USB?
Can't answer this one - I have an old 1.3 GHz XP desktop server, that's dedicated to running the show, that has 4 serial ports. Worked flawlessly this last year. I got it for free on freecycle.com, but they are readily available for nothing, or next to nothing, as they are dinosaurs for anything except our uses.
And something I just thought of, Cat5 cable, does anyone know where I can get some of it really cheap?
I kept checking ebay. You can use Cat3 and up, from experience. I found boxes of 800 to 1000 feet, from $15 to $35. If you aren't particular, it can be found. I even paid $5.00 for a box with probably 600 feet, at a yard sale. Just keep your eyes open. Time is still on your side...
Hope this helps.
R