1440 watt project - Cutter strips, Time to build!

Haha i think its a common theme universally

I went to Canadian Tire looking for pond liners today, after searching for 10 mins on computer. then back and forth to isle 96 ....2 or 3 times, finally more help comes, this guy knows everything, he asks if its stuff that comes in a can.

They had a picture of it on the computer in front of him , we were all looking at the picture when he asked...Me and the first guy gave eachother a wtf look.

I gave up and kept the search going myself, found it eventually lol.....yep you guessed it, isle 96 lol

Must be a big can. LOL

Just thought about wire ducts, was thinking about a simpler and cleaner way of wiring a large number of strips. It's a lot of wires! Rather bulky though.
Hmm, did you order drivers yet?...... Maybe a cc driver and series parallel could be simpler and less wire.... Damn, now I have to think.

Ya i have my drivers already.

hlg-480h-48a


I grabbed some of those bus block terminals that you guys shared with me in the other thread. Was planning to use those once i figured out how lol

Single core wire is also called single stranded or solid core wire. You just have to try different terms.

This one is awg18 and available in different colors...

https://www.amazon.com/Southwire-55667323-Primary-18-Gauge-100-Feet/dp/B003J699RW/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=solid+core+wire+awg+18&qid=1559913976&s=gateway&sr=8-3

1212ham said:

Just thought about wire ducts, was thinking about a simpler and cleaner way of wiring a large number of strips. It's a lot of wires! Rather bulky though.
Hmm, did you order drivers yet?...... Maybe a cc driver and series parallel could be simpler and less wire.... Damn, now I have to think.

Click to expand...

These little T-connectors are made for parallel connections and you can find them also for AWG18.
Am4zon has them too..

Randomblame said:

Single core wire is also called single stranded or solid core wire. You just have to try different terms.

This one is awg18 and available in different colors...

https://www.amazon.com/Southwire-55667323-Primary-18-Gauge-100-Feet/dp/B003J699RW/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=solid+core+wire+awg+18&qid=1559913976&s=gateway&sr=8-3

Click to expand...

Hey bud, thanks


Amazon .ca has that wire listed, but when you read the description it says 16 strand, nothing about solid?

Isn't it supposed to be solid?

Randomblame said:

These little T-connectors are made for parallel connections and you can find them also for AWG18.
Am4zon has them too..

View attachment 4346324

Click to expand...

Would this make my life easier trying to wire these things?

Plan right now is to use the 12 port buss blocks and hide them in some junction boxes.

I'm open to whatever is easiest for me tho lol

diggs99 said:

Would this make my life easier trying to wire these things?

Plan right now is to use the 12 port buss blocks and hide them in some junction boxes.

I'm open to whatever is easiest for me tho lol

Click to expand...

Okay, I've not read the description so maybe you have to search again. There were a few results for single core wire.
And these T connectors make thing a lot easier. You need only to connect the outer strips directly to the driver and all the other strips can be connected to that line in parallel using these connectors. You need 1 connector per strip and you could literally add as much strips as you want. For each set of 9 strips you would need 8 of them.

The diagonal set of wire comes from the driver and goes to the outer strip and the other strips are connected using such a connector like you see in that picture just more of them next to each other.

Found wire on amazon.ca
$25 per 100` roll

Those t connectors look interesting. Im only just getting my head around using the buss terminals/wagos, i wish i could see these things as you guys do, its all second nature to you, its like foreign language to me lol.

Id like to see how a fixture woud be wired with those, they look neat and tidy

diggs99 said:

Found wire on amazon.ca
$25 per 100` roll

Those t connectors look interesting. Im only just getting my head around using the buss terminals/wagos, i wish i could see these things as you guys do, its all second nature to you, its like foreign language to me lol.

Id like to see how a fixture woud be wired with those, they look neat and tidy

Click to expand...

Lets say you have 5 strips you want to connect in parallel to the driver. You need one set of wires long enough to contact them with the outer strip in the row. All the other strips need only short sets of wire and such a T-connector to connect them to the long set of wires.
You can upload as few pics when its done and I'll have a look at the wiring if you're still unsure. But it's really not that hard as you can see at the drawing.

Would look like this... Lol! I


* I know, I know... call me Pablo P., lol!

So those connectors would take the black and red from each strip? connecting to the main outside line running from strip #1 to the driver?

do i have that right?

cutters have both +/- connectors on the same end of the strip, i had planned to run wires up the center beam to buss blocks which i could hide in junction boxes on the frame .

Those T connectors seem very simple. Each fixture will have 18 strips, I wonder can i use those cleanly and mange to use the junction boxes to hide them away?

Randomblame said:

Single core wire is also called single stranded or solid core wire. You just have to try different terms.

This one is awg18 and available in different colors...

https://www.amazon.com/Southwire-55667323-Primary-18-Gauge-100-Feet/dp/B003J699RW/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=solid+core+wire+awg+18&qid=1559913976&s=gateway&sr=8-3

Click to expand...

Talk to your electrical distributors folks, they can source out all sorts of treasures for you for cabling. For #18 solid, you can get fire alarm cabling that has two (or more) solid conductors, rated at 300v with the added benefit of an outer jacket.... In Canada, that 2c mentioned above goes for under $1.00 a metre at the local Rona (not a distributor).

I checked 4 different electrical shops we have in town, all had standed , no solid at all. Door bell wire is what they call it here, very cheap brown color wire.

I found what i was looking for on Amazon eventually, its on the way.

Randomblame said:

Lets say you have 5 strips you want to connect in parallel to the driver. You need one set of wires long enough to contact them with the outer strip in the row. All the other strips need only short sets of wire and such a T-connector to connect them to the long set of wires.
You can upload as few pics when its done and I'll have a look at the wiring if you're still unsure. But it's really not that hard as you can see at the drawing.

Would look like this... Lol! I
View attachment 4346725

* I know, I know... call me Pablo P., lol!

Click to expand...

Love the sketch bro, helps a newb see and understand it a little better.

Ive searched for the t connectors, i found a bunch on amazon, but all the reviews are saying the same thing, they dont work very well with 18awg wire, are more suited for 20-22awg. So that part concerns me.

Otherwise i think they would be a very easy solution too.

I got the buss bars coming already, they are 12 ports, so according to the guys here, i can use 1 per side for +/-. i bought junction boxes big enough so hide them in.

I actually think i may figure this wiring out yet lol....Maybe

You need separate terminal strips for Pos and Neg, each screw connects to the one on the opposite side.

Ya 2 terminals per fixture

I bought 6" junction boxes to hide them in,I plan to just drill a hole and feed the wires through a sleeve up into the box and then connect to the terminals.

each Cutter strip has a positive and negative on the same end, Let me see if i got this even close to right,

Terminal slot 1 will be to driver. Slot 2 will be for +/- on left side strip and matching +/- on right side strip?

So both strips + or - on that heatsink will connect in the slot opposite eachother on the terminal?

diggs99 said:

2nd frame almost finished, broke the last drill bit i had for drilling the aluminum. Only 54 more holes to go lol

May finish the frames later if i can nab another bit out of my dads shop.

Click to expand...

Im late but im here!!!

whytewidow said:

Lookn good man. I am so sorry, I forgot to get you that wiring diagram. Love the way your frame is turning out. Stoked to see this beast up n running.

Click to expand...

Hear hear!!!