construction | Christmas On Quiet Hills

I found some time to solder some more of the group buy purchases which came in a couple months ago. So far I soldered one Renard64XC and 8 SSRNeons. They are similar to the SSRez, but with two neon lamps so you are made aware when 120VAC is present.

Picture of the first completed Renard64XC5

I was able to complete the Renard64XC in one evening in a couple of hours. Two nights later I was able to complete 8 of the SSRNeons in a few hours. I was able to test them briefly by using the Simple Renard Tester 8 channels at a time. I moved one SSR through each group as I tested dimming across all channels. There appear to be no problems with the Renard64XC, although I have yet to try a full sequence that will stress the current drawn and could find issues.

I ordered 4 Mighty Mini’s from the recent group buy which came early, and went fast. The first time I participated in a group buy was definitely a positive one. I can say Seth Dunn “dunnsr” on DoItYourselfChristmas.com is quick! This buy recently closed and I already have my stuff! I am pleased with the turn-around time on this one. Good thing, because I feel like I’m behind with hardware, and it’s only March.

For those of you that don’t know what “Mighty Minis” are, they are RGB+W (Red/Green/Blue plus White) flood lights using 8mm LEDs. They are controllable on a per color basis and are driven by 24V DC at around 200ma per channel (color) when using 1/2 watt LEDs and 600ma per channel when using 1 watt LEDs. They create neat effects when shone upon a house, or tree in sequence with the rest of the show. Here’s a quick demo video that the creator uploaded a couple years ago:

The PCB was designed to go in a certain “Cooper” brand floodlight that can be had for about $15 at Lowe’s, but I couldn’t pass up a deal somebody mentioned about a month ago on DIYC. Home Depot had cheap “Workforce” 500 watt flood lights for five dollars and change on clearance. Tiffany went to our local Home Depot, which didn’t have any, but had somebody call a few. Just a few miles a way in Escondido, we were able to snag some.

I started disassembly of the flood last night and did some fitting today for a “holder”. Now, the part that shouldn’t be this easy: I wanted to use things I had in the garage already to make a holder/stand-off for the PCB. I hit the parts bin and found that with 2 small angle-brackets, 2 15/64 extruded plastic plugs, and 4 #6-1/2″ sheet metal screws I was able to get something working. I used the lamp holder bracket that came in the flood, and the parts I mentioned which will suspend the PCB inside the enclosure perfectly. It’s almost as if everything were designed for the pieces I have.

My only concern with the holder is the extruded plastic plugs. I have read that the “Mighty Mini” produces quite a bit of heat, so I will do some testing to make sure the extruded plastic plugs can deal with the heat. If need be, I will spend a little more time/money making something better that can withstand more heat.

Since pictures are worth a thousand words, here’s a few pictures I took in the garage of the floods, bracket/stand-off design, and Bare PCB.