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Total Noob help!


barradas77

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First off this is an awesome site and glad I became a member, but I have the knot in the stomach feeling in that i may have bitten off more than I can chew and need to get some experienced members insight into if i went the best route for my first year of true lighting of my home. I have never been at home for christmas consistently since I am in the USAF and always seem to deploy around OCT every other year....but now that the drawdon has happened and the addition of two little ones and a wife who loves christmas I made the plunge...but I dont know if I got the right amount of stuff. Lets break down what I have

Got the LOR 32 channel with advanced software upgrade....wife's philosophy buy what you need the first time

I got led red and white led icicles from holiday lights express....awesome lights by the way....11 strands per color

I also purchased 5 strands of red and 5 white c'6 for outline of roof

I have various lights for lawn (ie 8 led snowflakes, 3 present boxes)

3 rope lights for the windows and garage and a merry christmas sign kinda small

30 36inch candy canes to line pathway and a few netlights for the 6 hedges

500ft of spt1 and vamp plugs

My de lima is I dont know if I have enough lights to do a respectable roofline run with the c6's or enough icicles to look full. It looks a little thin and may need another 11 strand run and the budget is tapped out no more lights this year (wifespeak), I can affix a pic of the home I have no idea how to setup the lights...Help ......did I just buy this just as a static this year until I could get more lights for next year....the kids are counting on me HAHA. Any help greatly appreciated!

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Guest Don Gillespie

First off welcome aboard, secondly do not worry about the lights or what you have they will look just fine on the roof, the icecle lights alone will look fantastic, even though you have 500 feet of SPT wire you may or may not have enough, only time will tell once again welcome aboard and don't panic.

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I agree with Don, it will look great.....enjoy. I just hope that your wife's "buy what you need" attitude sticks around next year when you want.... No need.... another 4 controllers and thousands of lights! Be sure to post videos here. Thank you for your service to this great country.

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You've got plenty of lights. Remember--quality not quantity at first. You will need more extension cords or SPT wire. You know you will need 32 wire runs to objects (plus 4 input wires to the controllers). 500' will only get you 32 runs of 15' each. Unless you have a very small yard, you will need more than that. Other cords will suffice too, so maybe you have other options.

Are you doing a display to music? If so, do you have a transmitter or speakers? If transmitting, remember you will need a sign to advertise your radio frequency.

Remember, don't let this hobby eat up all your free time rather than being with your family. So either involve them too, or keep it in check. Glad you will get to have a "normal" Christmas season this year!

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Guest wbottomley

First off this is an awesome site and glad I became a member, but I have the knot in the stomach feeling in that i may have bitten off more than I can chew and need to get some experienced members insight into if i went the best route for my first year of true lighting of my home. I have never been at home for christmas consistently since I am in the USAF and always seem to deploy around OCT every other year....but now that the drawdon has happened and the addition of two little ones and a wife who loves christmas I made the plunge...but I dont know if I got the right amount of stuff. Lets break down what I have

Got the LOR 32 channel with advanced software upgrade....wife's philosophy buy what you need the first time

I got led red and white led icicles from holiday lights express....awesome lights by the way....11 strands per color

I also purchased 5 strands of red and 5 white c'6 for outline of roof

I have various lights for lawn (ie 8 led snowflakes, 3 present boxes)

3 rope lights for the windows and garage and a merry christmas sign kinda small

30 36inch candy canes to line pathway and a few netlights for the 6 hedges

500ft of spt1 and vamp plugs

My de lima is I dont know if I have enough lights to do a respectable roofline run with the c6's or enough icicles to look full. It looks a little thin and may need another 11 strand run and the budget is tapped out no more lights this year (wifespeak), I can affix a pic of the home I have no idea how to setup the lights...Help ......did I just buy this just as a static this year until I could get more lights for next year....the kids are counting on me HAHA. Any help greatly appreciated!

Everybody else has provided the answers. I want to say "Thank You" for your sacrifice in protecting our country.

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Everybody else has provided the answers. I want to say "Thank You" for your sacrifice in protecting our country.

ditto
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yaya, another fly boy. Well come to the hobby or as some say the obsession. I am sure that any light show is better than no show. Sorry if I missed it, where are you stationed? And if not comm or opsec what is your job. Been to long ago for me to even guess. I was a ground rat repair tech. 30474. But that was awhile ago.

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Thx alot guys for the great tips and I am excited and will try and do a clean install and do the best with what I have, the wife is excited to add green next year...and you are welcome it is an honor to serve this country and its people, I had always wanted to do something like this but never home and its really hard celebrating christmas on skype...and the USO visits help but its not the same...so when my daughter saw a show on youtube she was like daddy is our house going to look like that...I was at first like ummmm I dunno then my 19 month old sat down and just grinned ear to ear I was like yep...hahah my wife was like yes!!! So I am looking forward to getting to it but I dont think my wife should handle too much (accident prone).....and I just found 80 ft of incandescent icicles...HMMM...and Max I am stationed at Mcguire in NJ and was a mechanic now turned Air Traffic controller....and yes i am hooked...started collecting money folks owed me already to get more stp and plugs.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I'm a new eager newbie as well with 32 channels. I have a 32 channel version of Wizards of Winter if you want to check it out. I actually don't use 8 channels as I am looking at a talking tree.

PM if interested. Been getting so much help from others on here. Hope at some point I can start helping others too.

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I have about 20 songs sequenced for 32 channels. It was my display last year and I will no longer use them. Say the word. You can use or abuse and modify to your heart's content.

Thank you also, for your service to our country. It's folks like you, that sacrifice and spend time away from family and home, that gives us the right and freedom to enjoy this hobby. So, from the bottom of my southern heart, Thank you.

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Newbie here as well and definately have bitten off more than I can chew. I figure if I can just get the sequencing together everything else will fall in line. I have two sequences that someone graciously gave to me. I am attempting to get three more, figure five would be a good start for my first year. About how many squences make up a show? Can anyone offer input on recommended show length? Also, would anyone be willing to share any sequences for the 16 channel controller. I am hoping to find Wizards of Winter, the LInus / Lucy - Peanuts song, and end with something traditional like Silent Night. Thanks in advance for any one that is able to help!!

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Newbie here as well and definately have bitten off more than I can chew. I figure if I can just get the sequencing together everything else will fall in line. I have two sequences that someone graciously gave to me. I am attempting to get three more, figure five would be a good start for my first year. About how many squences make up a show? Can anyone offer input on recommended show length? Also, would anyone be willing to share any sequences for the 16 channel controller. I am hoping to find Wizards of Winter, the LInus / Lucy - Peanuts song, and end with something traditional like Silent Night. Thanks in advance for any one that is able to help!!

This is our second year with LOR, doing both Xmas and halloween. As for your show length, five , 3 to 4 min. songs would be good . Some folks will stop and watch only one or two, others will stay and watch the whole show. Try to do something different with each sequence to keep the show from getting boring. We run 10 songs then restart. My wife thinks the shows are too long, others have said "is it over already" . :unsure:

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Thx everyone for the help...I pm ed you Ron.

Your files are on their way. I hope you can use some of them. At least it will give you a couple of ideas. You take care of yourself and thank you again for protecting this great country.

Merry Christmas,

Ron

p.s. take a quick look at this thread http://forums.lighto...ting-sequences/ Post #2

There's a ton on here too.

Edited by Ron Boyd
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  • 2 weeks later...

Well after all the lights are up, synced to Ron's tracks.....I get the news I may deploying don't know where and don't know exactly when...but must be there before jan but guess what........the kids and the neighbours love the lights.......I hate having to defer on how much it costs but worth it.....haha....I will post vids only have 8 songs edited and can't wait to do more but time for some family time lord knows I need it

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Just got to say this. This is my 4th year. Every year I have added more to my display. Might double up the string count next year for my mega tree. But you know what? It is still going to be a great tree, even if it is kind of thin. So, just work with what you got this year. Evaluate and add more next year if needed. The people coming to see your display more than likely are just going to enjoy it as it is. And if not, well [Foul Language Used] on them.

BTW 500' of SPT wire is not enough to even think about setting up a display. A new display is going to need more like 2000', I kid you not. You be surprised how fast that stuff comes off of the spool.

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