Speakons for connecting 100v speaker runs |
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LunchieTey
Young Croc Joined: 06 February 2005 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 934 |
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Posted: 14 June 2016 at 12:42pm |
Any issues using Speakons in wet weather with a 100v line system?
Specifically if they are laid on grass and it rains heavily? Just wondering if I should just use my normal runs of speakon cables with joiners and/or make up longer 2 core male/female extensions OR find a more secure and waterproof option. These will be run long distances on grass and will be able to be touched by people if they really wanted. I THINK it will be ok, any oppinions or alternatives? Was just thinking of taping them together to be sure :) |
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Speaker addict
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DJ-Dulux
Registered User Joined: 24 August 2009 Location: Kenilworth, UK Status: Offline Points: 378 |
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Look fine from current and voltage point-of-view. Assuming they are built properly I think they are good for IP54, so probably OK for your environment if its not sitting in water.
Dupe...
Edited by DJ-Dulux - 14 June 2016 at 1:43pm |
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Dupe...
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MattStolton
Old Croc Joined: 04 September 2010 Location: Walthamstow Status: Offline Points: 4234 |
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Careful, only STX range speakon are IP54, all others are open at the back. All a bit Tetley (Let water flood in)
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Matt Stolton - Technical Director (!!!) - Wilding Sound Ltd
"Sparkius metiretur vestra" - "Meter Your Mains" |
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King George
Registered User Joined: 18 January 2011 Location: South Status: Offline Points: 334 |
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Rightly or wrongly, most people use xlr and have done for years without issues. Just make sure your connections are in the air.
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100 volt line
Registered User Joined: 21 March 2012 Location: Harrogate Status: Offline Points: 194 |
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We have been using speakons (standard NL4's and NL2's) for our large outdoor jobs for a number of years now, come rain, hail, or shine, with no ill effects. This is miles of cable and 40 odd horns per circuit sometimes, all on speakons. You will need to knock a good few splitter boxes up though, and buy lots of barrel connectors.
Moved on to speakons for a couple of reasons, but mainly because they are touchproof, and I wanted it to be idiot proof on dry hire equipment, so no one could possibly plug the wrong thing into the wrong socket. Have buried them a few times with no problem, but would advise against if it is proper pouring down. There are still a few firms doing it the old fashioned way of twisting the wires together and taping up, which is a bit gash in my opinion. Speakons are a lot more expensive, and I must have spent a small fortune on them, but it looks better and does a proper job.
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I never did understand Millman's Theorem !
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LunchieTey
Young Croc Joined: 06 February 2005 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 934 |
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Thanks for the info everyone.
It sounds as though for my purposes, speakons should be fine. Here in Western Australia, there's not a lot of rain and fairly good drainage everywhere(sandy soil) so any rain issues shouldn't be too bad anyway. I like the idiot proof-ness(if that's a word!) of speakon and cross compatibility of existing cable. Although having said that, I will be making up a bunch of long 2 core cables of lighter grade than the normal 2.5mm stuff I use. Was thinking of wiring a male and female speakon on every horn to make splitters less necessary or even just wiring a 3 way split cable as there will be 3 horns per stand or just singles for simplicity. Trying to keep it all nice and plug&play. Was even considering using the colour coded speakon parts you can buy etc to make identification in the road cases easy. Thanks again
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Speaker addict
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haymere
Young Croc Joined: 28 December 2007 Location: Liverpuddle Status: Offline Points: 585 |
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Funnily enough today i ran a system round the pitch at old trafford cricket ground in manchester for T20 blast and i had speakon runs running audio underwater with no problems
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MattStolton
Old Croc Joined: 04 September 2010 Location: Walthamstow Status: Offline Points: 4234 |
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Water and electricity is a funny thing.
I did the splitting of water by electrolysis with my daughter a few weeks back. Running off a PP3, it worked overnight to fill two test tubes with 2xH and 1xO. Water doesn't conduct that well.... It is quite high resistance, but does conduct to some extent. So wet across 1+ 1-, versus the impedance of the load, may not make much difference. What it does do, is aid corrosion like there is no tomorrow. Suddenly your shiny copper and nickel plated conductors are black and crusty, and nothing can get through the crud. Bit of silicon or hot melt glue gun in the back of the terminals? Re. boxes, I got a load of IP56 plastic boxes, in which I mounted 5 or 6 speakon chassis inlets. 1 in, (1 out), and 4 outs to horns on stand or pole. 2 on each side, leaves one side blank, which is the side that points up, towards the rain. Cable tied to upright near horn cluster, horns on speakons. Costs a bit, but saves so much time on site, even versus tape and connector block. Speed of get out is greatly improved. I try not to be waterproof, you will never win. I try and manage water, by making it run off harmlessly, gaffer tape gutters, and bag roofs and similar.
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Matt Stolton - Technical Director (!!!) - Wilding Sound Ltd
"Sparkius metiretur vestra" - "Meter Your Mains" |
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LunchieTey
Young Croc Joined: 06 February 2005 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 934 |
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That's a great idea of a bit of hot-melt inside the speakons. Not good for repair later BUT was considering actually soldering in the conductors(NL2) and then backfilling with something.
Hmm, Might have a think about that one ;) My latest ideas basically have no plugs on the ground so at worst water would spray onto and run down each cable.
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Speaker addict
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soundguymatt
Young Croc Joined: 25 August 2009 Status: Offline Points: 688 |
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maybe consider other plugs that are ip 44 rated? I've seen it done with many now.
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Matt |
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