This system is built outside in January, often during sub-zero weather and several feet of snow. Some years we get so much bad weather, it's difficult to get everything done in time, as the system includes two separate sound systems for music and announcing, video cable for closed circuit TV, and audio for wireless mics.

A satellite view of the portion of the Ice Park where the festival takes place is here., and the 7.5 quad Topo map is here, so you can see the area this needs to be done in. For the "action" pictures of this project in progress, go here. Just for grins, here's some early ice pictures taken in late Nov, 2009 as I was finishing up wiring. The ice is looking mightly nice this year.

Design Details

The original (if you feel like editing it) is here: Wiring Diagram (dia format), while the easier to view version I exported is here: Wiring Diagram (png format)

Each sub-panel has connectors appropriate for it's location. These vary from 20Amp AC power outlets, to speaker cables, to coax. Here I list each location and it's purpose. The Ice Park has two bridges about 400 feet apart, which is where most of the setup occurs.

As we'll be running conduit, I marked up some pictures to show roughly where we'll be running it all. I've also added pictures of the actual conduit runs I took when the projhect was done. Those photos are here.

Upper Bridge Sub-Panels

Right side

The right side of the bridge is where the sound board and one speaker goes. The panel is located under the bridge out of the weather, but easily accessible from the wide ledge that runs under the bridge. This panel has a 20A AC outlet, and a connector for the speaker on the other side so we can connect it to the sound board. A photo of where it should go is here. Here's a photo of how it actually turned out.

Left side

The left side of the bridge is where the other speaker goes, so this sub panel has a 20A AC outlet, and a connector for the speaker cable that runs across the bridge. This panel also functions as a junction box to run power to the upper bridge web-cam. Here's a photo of how it actually turned out.

Viewing Platform

The middle viewing platform has another sub-panel. This sub-panel has a 20A AC outlet for the TV cameras, and a coax connector that is used to run the TV signal to the TV monitors down in the vendor area. Here's a photo of how it turned out.

Lower Bridge Sub-Panels

Right side

The right side of the bridge is where the other sound board and one speaker goes. The panel is mounted to the telephone pole where the emergency phone is located. This panel has a 20A AC outlet, and a connector for the speaker on the other side so we can connect it to the sound board. Here's a photo of this sub-panel.

Lower Bridge

The lower bridge has a sub-panel. This sub-panel has an AC outlet for a powered speaker, and a speaker output on the bottom. It also contains a video line amp for the TV camera an monitor. Here's a photo of this sub-panel during wiring.

Viewing Platform

The viewing platform has another sub-panel. This sub-panel has a 20A AC outlet for the TV cameras, and a coax connector that is used to run the TV signal to the TV monitors in the vendor area. It also has a speaker connector, as the end of the bridge where I'd like to put this is usually buried in thick ice and snow, making it inaccessible. We'll just have to run power and a speaker cable each year the 50 feet uphill to the speaker. Currently this part of the project has been postponed till next summer. Instead a sub-panel was installed on the bridge.

Vendor Area Sub-Panels

Telephone Pole

We usually set up the sound board by the telephone pole on one end of the bridge. We'll mount this sub-panel on the pole. This panel will have a 20A AC outlet, and a speaker connector that runs to the other side of the bridge. A photo of the pole is here. Here's a photo of this sub-panel.

Powder Shed

The powder shed gets a 60A feeder, to run multiple power outlets for lights, power tools, and heaters. We'll have a junction box by the door outside to split off the wires going to the vendor area, from the pair of AWG-4 wires to power the powder shed. Here's a photo of this sub-panel during wiring.

No Parking Sign

There is a No Parking sign across from the Powder Shed where another sub-panel will go. This panel has a 20A AC outlet for the speakers, a speaker connector, and a coax connector for a TV. We'll mount the sub-panel on a pole behind the No Parking Sign, high enough that we can find it in the usual 5+ feet of snow. (seriously, it's deep...) Plus it'll also be out of the way of the snow plow. Here's a photo of this sub-panel during wiring.

Big Vendor Tree

About 3/4 of the way to the far end of the vendor area is a big tree. We'll mount a small sub-panel to the back of the tree where it'll stay out of the snow. This sub panel has a 20A AC outlet, and a coax connector for the TV monitor that usually goes here. A photo of the tree is here. It turns out the tree is Forest Service property, so we ran this to the other side of the vendor area. Here's a photo of how this actually worked out.

Wire Runs

Office to transformer

This is an easy one, and is only to run CaT5e from the office to the webcam on the upper bridge.

Upper transformer to upper bridge

This is AWG-10, and is the main feeder for the upper bridge and upper viewing platforms. This will also contain the Cat5e running from the office. A photo is here. Here's a photo of how it turned out.

Across upper bridge

Across the bridge will be run the cat5e from the office, the AWG-10 feeder line, and EA-4 speaker cable. This will be connected at both ends to the sub-panels under the bridge. A photo is here

Upper bridge to middle viewing stand

The AWG-10 feeder will be run from the sub-panel under the bridge to the middle viewing platform. A photo is here. Here's a few photos of how it turned out: 1, 2

Middle viewing stand to lower bridge

This is RG-6 coax for the CCTV cameras that is run to the lower bridge junction box. This is the main input for the TV monitors. A photo is here. Here's a few photos of how it turned out: 1, 2, 3

Across lower bridge to telephone pole

This is a big one. This run contains the RG-11 coax for the CCTV cameras, a AWG-10 feeder, and EA-4 speaker wire. This will run from the viewing platform to the sub-panel mounted on the telephone pole. is here Here's a few photos of how it turned out: 1, 2.

Telephone pole to lower transformer

On the bridge by the telephone pole is where the lower sound panel goes. The sub-panel mounted to the telephone pole will contain an AC outlet (AWG-10), and an audio BNC connector. Here's a few photos of how it turned out: 1, 2, 3.

Lower transformer to powder shed

The lower transformer will run a pair of AWG-4 wires for power service to the shed. In addition, it'll have audio cable, coax, and a set of AWG-10 for the TV at the big tree in the vendor area.

Powder shed to Sign Post

This will be buried in PVC conduit, and will contain the coax, audio cable, and AWG-10 for powering the TV, and maybe a few other things. This will run to the sub-panel mounted behind the No Parking Sign, where the audio cable will end, as we always put the speakers in a hole dug in the snow drift near there. There will be another pair that will run to the big tree on the vendor area. A photo is here Here's a photo of how it turned out.

Sign Post to vendor's tree

From the sub-panel behind the No Parking Sign, we'll run a set of AWG-10 for power, and coax for the TV to the big tree by the vendors area. That sub-panel will be mounted to the back of the tree somehow high enough that we can find it in the usual deep snow drifts. A photo is here Here's a photo of how it turned out.

Wiring The Ice Park

After taking measurements, I realized this was going to be a big project taking several weeks, so I freed up some time. Over all, it took about a month of solid work, spread out over three trips. The initial trip was primarily planning mixed with constructive goofing off. As I had never been to Ouray in the summer before, I wanted to check a few places out I'm not used to being able to get to when I'm here in the winter.

The next trip down was the main one. I had hoped to be able to finish in 2 weeks of actual work, but reality struck. Little things like a parts run is a 35mile drive each eay... Timing with other people, etc... Plus there was some adjustment to the original design based on actually having to do it. It turns out to be useful to be standing around in the park looking clueful, we gave lots of directions to Box Canyon, and general info on the Ice Park, Ouray, and what I little tourist info know of the area.

My friend Beth and her dog Toby came down to help pull wires through conduit (a two person operation), as I knew the regular Ice Park staff was was busy enough as it was. We stayed at the dog friendly (there's even a nice dog walk out back by the river) Timber Ridge Hotel, which is also resonably priced. In the summer all the Ouray restaurants are open, so getting food was no problem. We had several chilly, overcast, and rainy days, but no snow as of yet.

Over two weeks, we laid almost all the conduit, which often required bending it into strange shapes. Bending 1/2" EMT metal conduit isn't too bad, but bending 1" EMT metal is harder to avoid crimping the conduit. I spent much time tied off to something solid, standing on the edge of the canyon. Finally we were mostly finished all the actual pulling of wire through conduit phase, I mounted sub-panels, and that was it for that trip as I had some other work commitments for a few weeks. It was a good break, cause I was getting sick of driving to Montrose all the time anyway.

I then went back in mid Nov, to add all the connectors, and finish up anything we hadn't gotten to on the previous trip. This time I camped, as I really like camping in my truck. It was cold (below freezing), but clear and sunny every day. I quickly learned to get an early start to make the most of the sun, as the park would get dark around 1:30pm, and the temperature would drop.

It took another 10 days, (too many more trips to Montrose for parts) but worked just before the weather got really bad, although I guess compared to January, it was normal. Still, I had to do more intricate work this trip, connecting things together, soldering wires (hard in the cold), testing circuits. My biggest problem became my multimeter's LCD display didn't like the cold, and would stop working. I resorted to carrying it around in my pants pocket to keep it warm enough to read.

Eventually I powered it all up, and tested it. I found one wire had gotten loose in a sub-panel, but other than that all the power worked just fine. I then hooked up a speaker to one end of each speaker connection, and the microphone to the other, and got to test it out to the suprise of the few people standing around.

For more pictures of this project in progress, go here
The Ouray Ice Festival is in early January.