Wire and Harness Tagging

[John]

Hmmm ... well. to get back on the tagging discussion.

Denny,

I'm sorry about your thread getting hi-jacked. I made a sincere reply to you in post #8, then that dang Al in the very next post, #9, decides to wreck it!

Every board I've ever seen Al post on, he does the same thing. Some people you just need to overlook, because that's just the way he is. I'm sorry we have to put up with Al here, just because he is from the Carolina's.

This had the potential to be a GREAT board until William messed up and let Al join.

[kidcole]

I'm lost .. What are CCRs ?

[John]

LOR's newest product, Cosmic Color Ribbons.

http://store.lightorama.com/cocori.html

Hopefully they will start shipping - soon.

I plan to use them first at Halloween (if they arrive in time) as a test for Christmas.

[Al in Raleigh]

Ok I can't top John's post or should I say posts. That's what happens when a guy holds his head too near the microwave oven while nuking his Hot Pockets. Ding, brain is done.

[mschell]

I tagged my cords the first year or so. After that, and since my display changed and grew, I stopped using tags.

what I have started doing is sorting my cords based on length. I purchased lots of 6', 9' and 15' extension cords (two wire version) and so sort those.

I also made quite a few longer cords with SPT and vampire plugs. These aren't measureed exactly, but I try to sort them by "short", "medium" and "long". When I run a connection from a fixture to a controller, I try to pick the right length cord.

I also did make some sets of cords to go from a controller to the base of my arches.

My roof display has gone thru a major change this year, so I'll need different cables, so we'll see if I make up any harnesses just for them...

[John]

Ok I can't top John's post or should I say posts. That's what happens when a guy holds his head too near the microwave oven while nuking his Hot Pockets. Ding, brain is done.

Al, you nailed it buddy. Guess that's why we are such good friends and can get away with this stuff without any feelings getting hurt, except for the orginal poster whose thread gets train wrecked. Poor ol' William knows all too well what we do to his posts!

[Al in Raleigh]

Yes, John is correct. We are friends. But that won't stop me from putting his CCRs into my truck and hauling them away.

John, I would trade you some Servo Dogs for your CCRs but I don't have any Servo Dogs because the have not shipped yet even though they were promised to ship by the end of September. Am I upset noooooooo.

[John]

Al,

At least for right now, I'll trade the CCR's that I haven't received for the servodogs that you don't have either, sound fair?

[Al in Raleigh]

John, that sounds like a deal. Does that mean you will steal my CCRs or do I have to steal my own CCRs?

Denny, you are new at this hobby. Have fun this year and make mistakes. Worry about the big stuff in January. The things you make permanent this year you might regret next year. I planned my first display to the point it was almost no fun and was a relief when it was complete.

Be sure to take videos so that we can all enjoy you display regardless of our locale. I would have videos of my display but William (who you haven't met yet) didn't frequent my display and take any--maybe next year.

Al

[John]

John, that sounds like a deal. Does that mean you will steal my CCRs or do I have to steal my own CCRs?

Be sure to take videos so that we can all enjoy you display regardless of our locale. I would have videos of my display but William (who you haven't met yet) didn't frequent my display and take any--maybe next year.

Al

AL,

Maybe you should just steal your own CCR's for this year.

Why are you using William as an excuse for lack of videos? He didn't frequent my display either, and I had some videos. What's wrong with your "Missile Launcher size 8-Track Camcorder" you are always crowing about? Lost you instruction manual?

[John]

Denny, you are new at this hobby. Have fun this year and make mistakes. Worry about the big stuff in January. The things you make permanent this year you might regret next year. I planned my first display to the point it was almost no fun and was a relief when it was complete.

Al

Denny,

I agree with Al (only this once though). Have fun this year, get your feet wet and make notes of changes for the next year. I always rearrange some things from year to year as I add new elements I've built.

[Al in Raleigh]

John, my super camcorder is out of service now. It takes 200 D-sized batteries to make it work. So, I don't use it anymore. As for William, he could drive his mast mounted camera truck to Raleigh and perform his black magic camera work on my display-- but not this year though since I won't have a display.

[Jack Stevens]

Great! I'm glad the mention of "Hi, Jack!" is gone.......can't help but look up and then realize they aren't talking to me.........

[kidcole]

Ha .. Actually I have been planning this for at least 4 years. I have been mounting all my lights on cedar strips, so they go back the same way each year. just more lights each year. They will be the same this year oot, except now I will be cutting up the wiring to create the sections. So I am not too worried. I have about 7 or 8 large inflatables and I won't worry about them unless everything else is running well.

The big new "thing" for this year is the megatree, fm broadcast and 96 channels. I have the megatree BIP base done and I dug all around it today and leveled the ground with a pick and rake. It came out nice. I hope to do all the lower PVC work next week, mount the winch, haul her upright, and secure the guy wires to my trees.


btw - I got the FM broadcast up tonight. And with the new quarter wave antenna just sitting on my porch I get at least a quarter mile. I also learned tonight that as I turned down the audio level from my PC, the transmit distance went up! At least to the point where I was no longer over-driving the input. There's no input sensitivity information on my unit. But I'm real happy with my Ramsey FM25B transmitter. That system is DONE.

Next !

[kidcole]

After all the discussion I decided to go with cable Tagging. I bought a nice Rhino labeler, new in package, for about half price on Craigslist today. And it came with the outdoor-type vinyl cartridge. But I did decide from all the discussion that instead of tagging controller-channel .. I am going to write the name of the location. I plan to keep an enlarged copy of my hardware map alongside where most of my controllers are located. That way I can quickly locate any bad wiring or light problems.