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Newbie Family Controller Fund


ItsMeBobO

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Ok. Here goes. I guess pre newbie because all I have ever had we're some lights and a Mr. Christmas. It seems that every year around the new I have huge aspirations to buy all my equipment to have a proper show but something always gets in the way. In 2000, my wife and I were in charge of taking care of an entire household. That included us, her mother, and her grandmother. My father in law passed away in 1999 due to asbestosis he acquired while il the Navy years ago. His passing left the family with nothing. So we took over. We were financially strapped so Xmas light show had to wait. After several years we started to get our feet stable. Unfortunately, her grandmother fell ill and our medical expenses increased. Medicare doesn't cover everything. In 2007 she entered a nursing home where she receives proper care and that financial burden was lifted. The following year were overjoyed with the announcement of a new baby boy. We all know how that feels. My son is one of the best things that happened to us. Timing couldn't be better. As everything was rosey, at jut 5 weeks of age, in September of 2008, an abnormality was found in his stomach and my little boy had to have surgeryt o repair his esophagus. He is a healthy 4&1/2 year old now. My wife was out of work for almost 7 months and it was extremely difficult to make ends meet living in Long Island, NY. Fast forward to 2013 and I thought this would be it, but congratulations to me. Another boy coming in May 2013. Which means that 64 channels of LOR will wait again. I swore to myself I will make it happen one day. I this forum helps then God was listening. Thanks for reading.

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okay.. guess i will post our entry for the newbie contest.

 

my name is garhett and i joined the forum in december.  our family consists of my wife, our 5 year old son and myself.  we also have 4 cats and 3 dogs. i dont really want to go into the details of the family story but will give some cliff notes.. married in nov 2006, found out we were expecting dec 2006, find wifes stepfather dead in his apartment mar 2007, bought our first house in june of 2007, son born aug 2007, wife gets sick feb 2008 and spends a lot of time in doctors offices and the hospital trying to rule out addisons disease,  get that ruled out and 2009/2010 she ends up with a seizure type disorder , 2010 shes with her biological father as he passes away from an extremely rare "disease", in 2011 her grandmother passes away and in 2012 my grandfather passes.  pretty busy for 6years of marriage

 

wife has had to go through tons of painful testing to try to diagnose her problems.  these are very similar to tonic/clonic seizures but because they dont see the activity of such in the brain they cant diagnose this.  to this day they have no idea why she has these nasty movements.

 

now that all of the nasties are out of the way:

we were originally interested in automated christmas light shows many years ago but when we first looked into it, the cost was very cost prohibitive for us.  we slowly started building our display in christmas of 2007.  in 2011 we bought a "holiday light show" controller which is a fixed box with 6 channels and 10 or so songs i believe.  in 2011 our neighborhood had all of 10 houses with families living in them and christmas was pretty dark.  in 2012 the neighborhood is more than 3/4 full and we of course had added more elements to our "show".  all of our neighbors loved it and many mentioned trying to do more and possibly working to do something together for a show in 2013(we live in a culdesac). 

 

as good as we feel the show went in 2012 we felt that it would be really nice/cool to have more control over the music and interaction of the lights with the music. in dec 2012 i signed up on the LOR site and started checking out what everyone else was doing.  i found a member here that lived fairly close to us so we went to check out his show.  we were amazed with what he had done and i was even happier that we had a small front yard lol :)  we went back to this persons house a few days later, on a friday, and he and his wife were outside so the family and I went out to talk to them.  they were great and took us on a tour and gave us a lot of info on how they made everything work.  our interest in doing our own shows with LOR products was at an all time high.

 

right before christmas i ordered a starter package with advance license so that it would be here when we got back from our christmas visits.  since january i have been working with the LOR sequence editor and visualizer trying to get some experience with creating sequences and try to get a feel on how all of this works.  pretty soon i will be taking pictures of a few of our neighbors houses, since they expressed interest, and put some stuff together to give them an idea of how it will all look if they decide to join us this year.  the goal of is to get all 7 houses in our culdesac to join us but we will see what happens.

 

below is a picture our display with all lights on.  the only videos we have are from a phone camera and are on my wifes phone.  i may try to get an account on some video site or another, upload it and see what happens.  our plan for our first year is 48 channels or more at our own home with approximately 20,000 lights plus whatever we can talk our neighbors into doing.  we hope that you consider us for one of the 2013 newbie family controllers

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Everyone

I am a newbie to LOR , I bought a used 16 channel system last year and only half of it worked the second week into my display. I Have been reading up on here alot and everything that i read says that the LOR system is ran off of two 110 cords the one i have here is only one 110 cord to run all 16 channels...so i guess i got one that someone made up...It does say LOR on the control panel.

 

Well about my Family , I am a 42 year old father of three kids they are Brandon 8 , Jessica 7 and Hannah 6 they are my pride and joy.. They are the reason why i put all my faith and heart into last year beating Lung Cancer , I had two of the bottom Lobs removed and right now i am doing good 5 months after having them removed....

 

  I started out my christmas display about 4 years ago after my Father passed away , It was my father as far back as i can remember always set up lights , he may have only had  maybe 3000 lights on the front of the house but that was his favorite time of the year, So after his passing i took it up and started out the first year with arounf 4000 lights that just stayed on all the time...The second year i added a Mr Christmas 6 channel system to them along with around 2000 led lights, which i got alot of looks and that made me feel so good and thats where it took a turn i wanted to do more...3rd year i added another Mr Christmas machine and about 3000 more led lights after christmas sale you cant beat the prices if you have the funds to do so.....The 3rd year i collected over 300.00 and about 130 lbs in food for the homeless shelter...4th year this past year i was running arounf 11000 thousand lights mostly led lights , A few of my neighbors gave me alot of lights after the 3rd year display that they bought after christmas to make the display better for this year.. Which i have been told i had tomuch going on for each channel and but i am learning and then 4 days before christmas the LOR system stopped working on 8 channels and i hooked up one of the mrchristmas machines to those 8 channels and it was OK but needs alot of inprovements...The best thing about this past year is that my two oldest children helped me put up lights and hook up and all and my son even trys different setups on the Visualizer and he is doing good always trying different things and turns and tells daddy lets do it like this daddy and that warms my heart up seeing him get into it as much as feel i want to...This past year was Hard on me after the operation just 2 months before and my kids scene that and wanted to help somuch on it , It took alot longer to set up than it took the past years because i was out of breath after maybe an hour or two but i got out there with the kids every day for around a week to do it after thanksgiving....We also collected close to 550 this year in cash and over 300 pounds of food for the Homeless center....I also want to Thank everyone that has helped me this past year on how to sequence andeverything that alot has helped me with.....

   I have the Basic program for LOR already and i really wanted to upgrade to 32 channels this year but now i may only beable to a 16 channel system if everything goes right providing that there is only 8 channels working on this system that i have , i changed the fuse thing in it but still does not work on the upper 8 channels...

How can i take picture of the family from my picture folder and put it on here?

Thankyou in advance if i am picked for anything thatyou and God Bless everyone...

The Abel Family

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Hi Everyone

I am a newbie to LOR , I bought a used 16 channel system last year and only half of it worked the second week into my display. I Have been reading up on here alot and everything that i read says that the LOR system is ran off of two 110 cords the one i have here is only one 110 cord to run all 16 channels...so i guess i got one that someone made up...It does say LOR on the control panel.

 

Well about my Family , I am a 42 year old father of three kids they are Brandon 8 , Jessica 7 and Hannah 6 they are my pride and joy.. They are the reason why i put all my faith and heart into last year beating Lung Cancer , I had two of the bottom Lobs removed and right now i am doing good 5 months after having them removed....

 

  I started out my christmas display about 4 years ago after my Father passed away , It was my father as far back as i can remember always set up lights , he may have only had  maybe 3000 lights on the front of the house but that was his favorite time of the year, So after his passing i took it up and started out the first year with arounf 4000 lights that just stayed on all the time...The second year i added a Mr Christmas 6 channel system to them along with around 2000 led lights, which i got alot of looks and that made me feel so good and thats where it took a turn i wanted to do more...3rd year i added another Mr Christmas machine and about 3000 more led lights after christmas sale you cant beat the prices if you have the funds to do so.....The 3rd year i collected over 300.00 and about 130 lbs in food for the homeless shelter...4th year this past year i was running arounf 11000 thousand lights mostly led lights , A few of my neighbors gave me alot of lights after the 3rd year display that they bought after christmas to make the display better for this year.. Which i have been told i had tomuch going on for each channel and but i am learning and then 4 days before christmas the LOR system stopped working on 8 channels and i hooked up one of the mrchristmas machines to those 8 channels and it was OK but needs alot of inprovements...The best thing about this past year is that my two oldest children helped me put up lights and hook up and all and my son even trys different setups on the Visualizer and he is doing good always trying different things and turns and tells daddy lets do it like this daddy and that warms my heart up seeing him get into it as much as feel i want to...This past year was Hard on me after the operation just 2 months before and my kids scene that and wanted to help somuch on it , It took alot longer to set up than it took the past years because i was out of breath after maybe an hour or two but i got out there with the kids every day for around a week to do it after thanksgiving....We also collected close to 550 this year in cash and over 300 pounds of food for the Homeless center....I also want to Thank everyone that has helped me this past year on how to sequence andeverything that alot has helped me with.....

   I have the Basic program for LOR already and i really wanted to upgrade to 32 channels this year but now i may only beable to a 16 channel system if everything goes right providing that there is only 8 channels working on this system that i have , i changed the fuse thing in it but still does not work on the upper 8 channels...

How can i take picture of the family from my picture folder and put it on here?

Thankyou in advance if i am picked for anything thatyou and God Bless everyone...

The Abel Family

I suggest you start a thread with a picture of your controler someone here will be able to fix it or tell you what to do.

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Hi Everyone

I am a newbie to LOR , I bought a used 16 channel system last year and only half of it worked the second week into my display. I Have been reading up on here alot and everything that i read says that the LOR system is ran off of two 110 cords the one i have here is only one 110 cord to run all 16 channels...so i guess i got one that someone made up...It does say LOR on the control panel.

   I have the Basic program for LOR already and i really wanted to upgrade to 32 channels this year but now i may only beable to a 16 channel system if everything goes right providing that there is only 8 channels working on this system that i have , i changed the fuse thing in it but still does not work on the upper 8 channels...

 

 

Maybe someone used the second power cord for something else and abandoned the upper eight channels.

 

If you look closely and the bottom edge of the circuit board, there is a jumper tab for connecting the upper eight channels to run off the same power for the lower eight channels. There will probably be a Neutral jumper there as well. If you aren't sure about them, post a picture for others to see; the wrong jumper will let the Secret Smoke out of the controller and there's no way to put it back in. (you might fry the right side of the controller).

 

Also, your question should be posted elsewhere because it doesn't pertain to the Original Poster's subject.

 

And welcome to the exciting world of Light-o-Rama.

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You are welcome to post soon or when you are ready ebrown1972. 

This years fund got started a little early due to some very generous interested parties.    THANK YOU ALL!

The goal is to allow the scholarship recipients to purchase controllers during the Summer sale.   So the dates are not set yet.  

When the summer sale is announced, I will post the end dates for entries and donations. 

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looks like a record fro entries this year. what is the official count? I am glad to see this continue.

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Hello all,

My name is Robert obeginski. I live in Birch run michigan. My family and I ( wife and one son) have been putting up a display for about 3 years both at Halloween and Christmas. We have been using Mr. Christmas until last year when it died. For last years Christmas show we use the gemmy box that I used to controlled some relays due to the unit only handling 8 amps. We are using older mini lights and c7s so needless to say the power company loves me. For this year we were able to save enough to get one unit. I'm using the lor software and found it to be exciting as your only limits are your imagination. The picture attached is my son 16mo. Old help assemble one unit. He enjoys watching our show, to the point of falling asleep to it in the car in the driveway. He has an upper gi condition and did not sleep well, so it was appricated by the wife and I. We are trying to plan a spiral Mega tree for this year, but we will see how the money goes. Wish I was a rich man's son. Thanks for your time and help on the boards so far.

Robert Obeginski

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Hello all, My name is Mike and I am a newbie. I am married with 2 daughters ages 9 and 7. I started looking into and researching LOR about 3 years ago. Before I could save up enough to buy the starter package the economy took a dive. I use to do construction here in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Then as if that wasen't enough to set me back the B.P. oil spill happened. That caused my employer who was already struggling to stay afloat to go belly up landing me unemployed. Yet another huge set back towards getting into the hobby of LOR. So for the past 2 years I just settled for the demo version of LOR. Figured that when the time came and I could afford a LOR package I would already have a working knowledge and a few sequances. I currently have made 5-16ch sequances. My daughters ask me all the time if we can "get the blinky lights to music and have a cool house for Christmas this year". I told them I would do everything in my power to make this happen for the 2013 Christmas season and maybe Halloween.

 

 Well by Gods grace, he opened a door for me 1 1/2 years ago after almost loosing everything. I started a new career as a aviation mechanic. I am just getting my head back above the water so to speak. My plan is to buy the starter package from LOR in the next few months. I ran accross this thread and have been reading what all this community is about..Simply put Amazing!  I would love to be able to do a 32ch show but just cant afford to purchase the second controller. Buying the starter package will be tough enough. Many thanks for considering me and my family for the scholarship.

 

Regards,

Mike McDuffie

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Hello every body my name is David i have recently bought lor controler. About my family well my wife Teresa (42) and i (49) have 7 children 14 grandchildren. We have 1 child living at home 5 year old we recently adopted. He came into our lives 2008 2 days old he was to go home with parents once they got out of drugs and got lives together. 5 years later and we adopt to give this fine young man a home. We have loved decorating are home during the holidays mostly just lights and a few blow ups love seeing the awe on the faces of the little ones.A couple years ago we bought a home in a small farming community of about 200 we been busy fixing it up with a little decorating through holidays. Our home is one of the few decorated in our small town which we recieve compliments on.This year as we were going around nerby communites looking at lights we came to a home that had a animated christmas tree made of ccr's we love. So after searching the web we bought our first controler and are excited to give to are community a gift of a light show in holidays coming. We are a very blessed family and would greatly appreciate any help and advise we could get on setting up are show. ? can ccr's be cut, were to get connecters and do each have to have own controlers,can you run more than one ribbon off controler.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Thank you

                                                                                                                                                                                                                         for your consideration

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thanks for  letting me know it's on  again , :D

 

so  here is  my entry for the  contest again  :P

 

we've  bounced back from last year though we  haven't  got  where we wanted to be (yet) we're getting there

so here is  what we entered for last years contest

 

 

my family are bouncing back from a forced move (august 2011) ; we was at a home under the impression my mom was purchasing but in july of 2011 we was forced to take action and found out the house wasn't even owned by the landlord and he had no right to even rent nor sell said property we was given 30 days to move thanks to the grace of the court ; the latter only wanted to give us 24 hrs to move
but we don't let situations like that deter us from our love for family and the holidays we been doing statics for decades ; we are now 3rd generation to be doing displays at our homes any reason to decorate up the yard and house i took my family to a Christmas light show in 2011 after we moved and this is when i started to see and found out about LOR it was being used to run the show at that location and i was hooked .
i was surfing through facebook and found a group with the same love of making children smile and the love of lights this is how i found out about LOR and it's equipment
I've already picked a transmitter i can afford at this time a recommendation from a few friends at FB
i'm just starting out with this pc light animation and so i'm as green as any Christmas tree
i have the software and i am trying to get used to it now my wife is excited to get started on our 1st animated light show for this season
 
our present locale wont allow for large displays so we will have to cut back on the size of it due to power requirements and the size of the yards given to these apartments (HUD)
 
 
we still get excited  about decorating up the house and  yard we can't help it lol
so please reconcider us  for this years contest
thanks again bobO for letting us  know 
the lacey family

 

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Hi All,
 

My name is Lee. I have a wife and 4 children, 3 girls and 1 boy ages 14, 12, 8 and 5.

 

I am currently serving in the U.S. Army and have been for the past 6 years and am stationed at FT Bragg, NC. I have deployed a number of times to Iraq and Afghanistan and took part in the Haiti earthquake humanitarian effort in 2010.

 

When my 8 year old daughter was 3 she was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome which is a form of Autism. As holidays came and went I passed on the tradition of driving around during Christmas to look at the lights people had placed on their houses and in their yards. My daughter became infatuated with the lights and the spirit of Christmas. This prompted me to light up our house every Christmas. My daughter would help with the whole process, from choosing what lights where going to go where, what colors, buying the lights, setting up and tearing down.

 

Over the years I added to the lights and have always wanted to create a display that is "professional". Towards the end of last year I decided to research different lighting techniques and options. This is when I came across LOR. I read and researched and read some more before finally asking some questions.

 

The help and support I got from the members on the LOR forum was nothing less than amazing, answering basic "silly" questions without the slightest hint of sarcasm ,superiority or sounding like they were looking down at me because I didn’t know as much as them. I was treated with respect and given all the help and advice I could ask for … plus more.

 

It was because of this I decided to go ahead and purchase the starter package. Since I have received the package my daughter and I have been doing nothing but listening to songs and working out what should blink when J … we even hook up some lights and string them around the living room so we can see the magic.
 

Now she wants to use the lights for everything to include her birthday … guess I'm gonna be busy.

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Hi All,

 

My name is Lee. I have a wife and 4 children, 3 girls and 1 boy ages 14, 12, 8 and 5.

 

I am currently serving in the U.S. Army and have been for the past 6 years and am stationed at FT Bragg, NC. I have deployed a number of times to Iraq and Afghanistan and took part in the Haiti earthquake humanitarian effort in 2010.

 

 

 

 

 

Thank You!!!!!

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