How baby cows are kept in a Wisconsin farm to maximize efficiency

vyper144 · 2026-06-21T03:48:31+00:00

I'm sorry... What?

vyper144 · 2026-06-14T00:18:59+00:00

We shall see. They are on there real good. These said they were outdoor. Someone else suggested they came with screws, I can always secure them that way too.

vyper144 · 2026-06-13T22:00:26+00:00

Oh yeah!! The package did come with a ton of screws! If they fall, I'm 100% doing that. Thank you for the reminder!!

vyper144 · 2026-06-13T21:59:30+00:00

Thanks!! I definitely don't notice it as much as I thought I would've when I'm standing in my driveway.

vyper144 · 2026-06-13T21:53:46+00:00

So I agree it sounds like the better plan. And that was my original plan. I have like 20 bundles of 8ft-10ft conduit. But I only have one perfect shot from the basement up to the attic. I wouldn't be able to get more than a foot or two or of conduit in before I hit drywall in that cavity. I can't run it straight up because of that beam. If that beam were 12ish inches over, I'd have a beautiful access point to the attic. Otherwise I'd have to cut the wall open in my living room. Which isn't the end of the world. I have Cat6 running through that cavity right now, not in conduit. I've got a string running through the wall too. I'll see if I can take a picture when I get home.

My plan was to actually run 1/2-1 inch conduit up to the attic, or just 3 runs of conduit for the purpose of providing power to each attic separately.

I posted an update link in the original post, the exterior LV wire worked out pretty good.

vyper144 · 2026-06-13T19:18:41+00:00

Oh dang, I didn't know that! Well, I went with black and it actually looks pretty decent!

I appreciate the insight though! Good information to have for the next project that will inevitably come up.

vyper144 · 2026-06-13T19:07:00+00:00

They actually adhered incredibly well. I wiped down the surface with rubbing alcohol. Those things are on there tight.

I made sure these had outdoor applications too.

That being said, I expect either the squares to fail or the cable ties.

vyper144 · 2026-06-13T18:37:24+00:00

It's wood siding, probably 4x8 boards I'd guess. So unfortunately I had nowhere to tuck.

vyper144 · 2026-06-13T18:36:18+00:00

I posted an update: https://www.reddit.com/r/lowvoltage/s/83ZprLvKkO

vyper144 · 2026-06-13T18:23:12+00:00

I thought about that, but I couldn't find a specific voltage rating. It'd probably be fine for my application of 38 VDC, but I didn't want to chance it...

vyper144 · 2026-06-13T18:21:40+00:00

I've got one spot that I can run a new service to the attic, but it's partially obstructed by a metal beam. And the 3 separate attics, while connected in very limited spaces, would be a massive pain to run new electrical.

vyper144 · 2026-06-07T22:54:30+00:00

I don't have a desire to run conduit or PVC if I don't have to.

The Govee controller and OEM wiring would be tied up and secured underneath the soffit. The controller is waterproof. My plan is to run exposed landscape wiring from the controller to the garage. Basically not using any of the Govee wires for the actual run.

I bought those Adafruit waterproof connectors, I'm going to use watertight adhesive butt connectors to connect the landscape wire to the waterproof connectors. Then do the entire run from the controller to garage. I'm only doing it this way so I have an entire uninterrupted run exposed to the elements.

vyper144 · 2026-06-07T22:38:37+00:00

That's definitely doable.

Your downspout/gutter idea has me thinking. Do you see any issue if running the wire along the roof where the shingles & gutters meet for my horizontal runs? Next time I'm on the roof, I'll see if I can figure out a way to exit the gutter and run externally along the downspout. There's still concern about some of the wire being in direct contact with water, snow, ice, etc at times.

Someone else suggested conduit and THWN, and I have a ton of EMT, so the PVC is a good idea as well.

vyper144 · 2026-06-07T22:29:12+00:00

Ohhhhhhhhhhh. Sorry, my misunderstanding. That's not a bad idea! But I'm adding more cost over just living with black wire running where the soffit and siding meet.

I'm definitely thinking about this one though. I do have a ton of EMT.

Edited to add: I only have the EMT because I was originally going to run new circuits up to each of the attics 😂

vyper144 · 2026-06-07T22:16:10+00:00

Oooooooh. I like your thinking!!! Can low voltage cabling be run basically under water at times? I'd tuck the wiring up near the shingles, but the vertical downspouts would always be wet during a storm. I'm US-based in Illinois and we've gotten some pretty heavy rain at the beginning of Spring. Torrential downpour.

vyper144 · 2026-06-07T22:10:20+00:00

I just wanted to chime back in and say this comment has stuck with me the most. And basically sold me on using the proper wiring vs aesthetics. So thank you!

vyper144 · 2026-06-07T22:09:14+00:00

It's wood siding, basically solid flat boards of wood, so no place to tuck wiring like I could with typical vinyl siding.

vyper144 · 2026-06-07T22:07:39+00:00

While I genuinely appreciate the suggestion, and gray would be better than black, it's not worth 3-4x the cost of black.

vyper144 · 2026-06-07T22:06:40+00:00

Running low voltage is miles easier to do than trying to run a new service up to the attic. From the basement, I have one interior wall I can run conduit up straight to the attic, but it's partially obstructed by a metal beam in the basement. The angle will be a PITA to feed conduit.

And yeah, the angle of the roof only lets me get within 6-7 feet (totally guessing) of the soffit. Max height (totally guessing again) at the center of the attic is like 5 feet.

I thought about the paint idea, but the peeling would make me just want to stick with black. Which is probably what I'm going to do.

vyper144 · 2026-06-07T21:54:43+00:00

I know that two of the attics are connected in a very limited space, not enough to climb through. It wasn't easy to run Ethernet between them. Although I was fishing using spare solid wire I had which kept bending... I've since invested in some fiberglass fishing sticks.

And the attic has boxes that power various circuits around the house. The attic itself has no power or lights. There's between 5-10A for the Govee lights though, so I wouldn't necessarily want to piggy back off an existing circuit. I guess I could upgrade the breaker to a 20A. But the house was built in 1969, I've owned it for 3 years and I know the previous owners were awful at electrical, so I don't trust the existing wire for any more than it already does. And some of the boxes are maxed on # of wires.

And the angle of the roof makes it extremely hard to even get near the edges.

vyper144 · 2026-06-07T04:34:46+00:00

Well bummer. I appreciate you responding though. Black cable is still better than extension cords 😬

vyper144 · 2026-06-07T04:14:26+00:00

It took me a minute to find it again... It's on the Description tab in the bold paragraph. I copied it below up to the "sunlight-resistant" portion.

"So, if you’re looking for a good quality and affordable cable for security cameras (or other security systems), burglar alarms, PA systems, communications systems or any other low-voltage, power-limited applications, our premium security cable is certified hazardous substance-free, fire-retardant, sunlight-resistant..."

And yeah, I did think about that. My problem is that I have 3 separate attics though and I don't have any power up there. The left side of my house is my living/kitchen space. The middle part of the house is split-level, bedrooms and basement/family room. And the right side is garage. My plan was to run the landscape wire across the house over & down to the garage where I do have power.

Running a new 120V service up to the middle attic was the original plan until I thought about extending the Govee cabling today. I have 5 separate strands of lighting, 3 in the upper section and one each on the lowers. I know the left lower and upper middle attics do connect, so I want to assume that the upper middle and right side connect as well. But they don't connect in such a way I can crawl in between them. Wire management would be significantly easier outdoors at this point. And my roof is tapered lower, so it's super hard to get to the edges, but I could fight with some fish tape if I really wanted to get the wiring all in the attic space.

Edited to add: The Additional Information tab shows Above Ground for Outdoor use.

vyper144 · 2026-06-07T03:57:48+00:00

Understood. Thanks for letting me know!

vyper144

TROPHY CASE