My Christmas Light Display. Using Light-O-Rama controllers.

[451_Detonics]

I've seen your set-up...wanna move in next door?

 

[actaeon277]

I've seen your set-up...wanna move in next door?

 

[actaeon277]

Ok. The display is running. So if anyone wants to visit, come on by.
If you need my address, PM me.
If you are <50 posts and can not PM, just drop a message here, and I'll PM it to you.

The lights are up to where they were last year.
I still have an addition to make, I have to finish drilling and bolting.
Then I'll have to program the lights for the new addition.
So it looks like the new addition will be next week.

 

[actaeon277]

The 4th of July lights shown below messed me up.
I had the Christmas lights running, and no music was playing.
So I bought a new FM transmitter.
Still didn't work.
Checked power, checked cables, couldn't figure it out.
Then I kinda noticed the lights weren't blinking in the patterns I was used to.
Took the SD card into the house... duh! The 4th of July program was running, and it has no music. Duh!
So I copied my Christmas show onto it, and wa la. It works.

yeah.

I used 3 controllers to make a 4th of July display.
I don't think I have enough to start a new thread, so I'll just put it here.

[video=youtube;hfi9ck_S9Hg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfi9ck_S9Hg[/video]

 

[chef larry]

The 4th of July lights shown below messed me up.
I had the Christmas lights running, and no music was playing.
So I bought a new FM transmitter.
Still didn't work.
Checked power, checked cables, couldn't figure it out.
Then I kinda noticed the lights weren't blinking in the patterns I was used to.
Took the SD card into the house... duh! The 4th of July program was running, and it has no music. Duh!
So I copied my Christmas show onto it, and wa la. It works.

yeah.

A Christmas tradition with our family to see the light display.

 

[actaeon277]

A Christmas tradition with our family to see the light display.

 

[actaeon277]

Ok. I know you guys were waiting on the edge of your seats. Well, I finally video'd the lights last night. Froze my ______ off. And it was a bit windy, you can hear it in the videos.
But, I'm too lazy to redo them.
There were small additions since the 2013. And, a bigger one this year.
There are still 5 songs. I modified them for the new lights.
I couldn't get the 6th song to work. Will have to troubleshoot later.


[video=youtube;5-H-W5hhXNs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-H-W5hhXNs[/video]



[video=youtube;uAM-RgfSocY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAM-RgfSocY[/video]

 

[actaeon277]

[video=youtube;hqfqHEp3l10]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqfqHEp3l10[/video]



[video=youtube;E6aCeypaYuM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6aCeypaYuM[/video]

 

[actaeon277]

And the 5th


[video=youtube;IcA_7oHEzPg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcA_7oHEzPg[/video]


Some of the small additions were the candles in the front.
I have 6, and can individually control them. Well, they are T'd off the green lights on the blue/green "tree".
I plan on adding more, 6 at a time, and T'ing them off the same. So a line of 18 candles.
If I turn on an output, candles 1 and 7 and 13 will turn on.
Then 2, 8, 14.
Etc. Which would make the lights appear to go across the yard.



And the big addition, was the red/white "tree".
It contains 12 red and 12 white strings. So, was 24 new outputs. I bought 2 new controllers, each can control 16 outputs.
So I still have 9 outputs unused (one from another box that hasn't been used).

 

[actaeon277]

https://www.indianagunowners.com/fo...ing-light-o-rama-controllers.html#post6772668

New thread on my Halloween Singing Faces.

 

[actaeon277]

Two days of work, and I just have one more to finish the display. Should hopefully be running tomorrow night.
Once again, anyone wanting to see it, just ask, and I'll PM the address.
If you don't have 50 posts and can't PM, just put a message in this thread, or Visitor Message me.

 

[actaeon277]

Display is running.

6 songs up and running. Hopefully 2 more before Christmas.

 

[actaeon277]

Display is running.

6 songs up and running. Hopefully 2 more before Christmas.

Just a reminder, display is up and running.
Will be up another week or two.

 

[hoosierdoc]

Will we get a video after it's over?

 

[actaeon277]

Will we get a video after it's over?

So far, 5 of the songs are already here.
I have to video the new 6th song, Mary Did You Know.

And maybe I'll get off my butt and program a new song or two.

 

[hoosierdoc]

How long does it take to do a song now?

do you do the lights first then figure a song, or are some of the lights there specifically for a song component?

 

[actaeon277]

How long does it take to do a song now?

do you do the lights first then figure a song, or are some of the lights there specifically for a song component?

Timeframes.

Dad and I set up Wednesday after Thanksgiving.
It took Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. But, we probably could have gotten it done in 2 days.
Wednesday we didn't get started till noon, due to having to run errands, one of which was to Menards to replace the 2 stars for the tops of the "trees of lights". One was breaking up from the ice and wear/tear. The other, I stepped on while looking at the other star.
We stopped at dark, because otherwise you end up tripping over extension cords, and causing problems.
Good work on Thursday, but stopped a little early. Bad back and knees on both of us.
Friday, we finished noon.
So, it could have been two days.
Better labeling and organization helps.


Santa Claus is coming on a Boogie Woogie Choo Choo Train, I cheated on.
The sequence software (what you use to program "sequences", has 3 "wizards" to get stuff done fast.
I used the "beat wizard". There are about 54 outputs used, I grouped them into about 5 groups. Then I told the software, light on beat #3, then every 4th beat.
Next group, beat #2 then every 3rd beat.
Or something llike that. Varied start, and varied # of beats.
But... I don't like it. Too regular, nothing special.


The rest of the songs take approx. 3 days to program. We're talking 5 to 8 hours or so. Though I do have to take breaks, the way I do it is rather meticulous.
Start with 5 seconds of the song, I follow an instrument, such as a piano, telling the light when to light based on the piano. I do this llistening to the song at half speed.
Then, I pick another instrument, and listen to the same 5 seconds, telling what lights to light. I have to rewind and forward bunches of times for a 5 second timeframe, for each instrument.
After that 5 seconds are done, I continue. sometimes I can copy/paste. But you have to be careful of the timing being off.

Then every once in a while, listen to the whole song at normal speed.


After the song is done, see if there's any lights I haven't used and need to .

 

[actaeon277]

My newest song

[video=youtube;Hio8oIBqrMs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hio8oIBqrMs[/video]

 

[GunSlinger]

Beautiful Act. Perfect.

 

[actaeon277]

Light show is up.
4 PM to midnight.

Right now it is playing last year's show.

I have plans to add 6 more candles, and 3 nutcracker soldiers, hopefully tomorrow.
Then over the next month, maybe 2 more songs.


One of these days, I'll upload photos to a new host, so that I can redo my tutorial earlier in the thread.
But, something else always seems to come up.