colour touch screen

hi there, would like to get some advice from you guys.
with a colour touch screen you need to have the power supply near buy as you have a max distance to bear in mind. any advice on this?
1.what do you guys do when there is a screen in an open plan area and there is no cupboards nearby and you have a concrete first floor with no ceiling void?

2.and a screen in an open plan area with no cupboards nearby and it is a double volume area with the ceiling two floors up?

thanx for the advice

etienne

 

snap vent

I have used a snap vent I was lucky the touch screen was on an external wall. In your case what is under can you place the PS near a down light in the ceiling below, remember ventilation.

 

I'm assuming you are installing installing the CTC in a "floating" wall in the middle of an open-plan area?

If so, why dont you simple have a GPO installed just below the CTC inside the wall, plug the power supply for the CTC into it, and simply have the power supply resting on something inside the wall, just below the CTC? that way, if you ever needed access, you could remove the CTC, and the power supply would be below the CTC mounting bracket.

Or possibly even mount the Power Supply to the underside of the CTC mounting bracket.

Then again, if its a solid brick or concrete wall, my idea just went down the toilet...

Just a thought...

Darpa

 

yip i just flushed it. all our houses are built with brick or conctrete walls!! so i guess im going to have fun!!!

 

It is NOT recommended to extend the CTC power supply cable.

It says that in page 15 of the Installation Manual

http://www3.clipsal.com/cis/downloads/HomeGateFamily/5000CT_Install.pdf

Unfortunately I cannot remember why it's so important not to extend the cables...

 

that is correct and that is why i haved asked for assistance!!

 

Hmmm - Ashleigh, are you saying that the ONLY REASON is the voltage drop ?

Because the CTC is only drawing a small amount of current, and anyway it is trivial to calculate the voltage drop of cables...

So, if it's only voltage drop - then the cable could be extended easily and safe;y, providing a suitably size new cable was used (ie: 1.5mm or 2.5mm cross sectional cables would be more than sufficient in most cases I am guessing)

 

Yes.

I guess everything is relative, but I wouldn't regard 5 amps as small.

If you use a cable too thin, the voltage will be too low and the C-Touch will not work or, worse still, may work intermittently.

If the cable is too thick, the voltage will be too high and it could permanently damage the unit.

Using a modified cable will void the warrantee, so don't do it.

 

Darren,

I fail to see how a larger cable could increase your voltage if you are lengthening the cable. It will have a low resistance on the extra length of cable, however the existing cable will still have it's resistance.

As we are adding the cable in series, the resistance can only get bigger.

On the other side, I wouldn't modify the cable, purely based on the warranty issue.

I wonder if CIS could custom make you a longer lead with a bigger gauge? For a price of course.......

 

If you cut all of the cable off and replaced it with a longer, but much thicker cable, the resistance could go down. If you added more cable to the end, then the resistance can only go up.

We are working on it.

 

Fair call, I didn't think of it that way.

 

Um Darpa,

I hate to rain on your parade BUT - the output cable of the transformer is NOT hard-wired.

 

I am thinking that the whole discussion is kind of ummm... odd

It's not rocket science, it's just a cable - if the ONLY issue is Voltage Drop then all CIS needs to do is stipulate that a certain voltage must be available at the device... If the device draws 5 Amps then it's trivial to calculate voltage drop - allowing us to extend the cable to whatever length is needed by using a thicker wire so that the voltage at the CTC remains the same as "standard".

I am saying this without knowing if it's AC or DC supply. If it's AC then there might be some EMC ramifications if the cable is extended, in which case I understand CIS's concerns. However, the Data Sheets state that the CTC runs off 5V DC - in which case the only consideration is voltage drop on the cable and that is easy to calculate.

Sorry to be a troublemaker - but what am I missing here ?

 

Lol, damn Peter, and I was enjoying my parade so much too...

I'll just shutup now and learn to do a little more research next time

Cheers for setting me straight mate

- Previous post deleted due to irrelevance -

 

You aren't missing anything. It isn't particularly complex, but the consequences of getting it wrong are serious. The position of CIS is that if you modify the cable you void the warrantee. This is why we say not to do it.

 

Fair enough and point taken, Darren... but it doesn't help the original poster much. I guess at the end of the day it would have been good to have done something for earthelectrical... unfortunately as it stands the only (viable, warrantable) alternative for etienne is to find an alternative product to the CIS Touchscreen - which is a bit of a pity.