Question @ Lights on A Spiral Tree

[AB21]

I'm shopping for lights to make my first spiral tree.  Having not seen one in person before, I am curious how full will the tree look with bulbs spaced 4" apart?  Do most of people "double up" each string therefore making the spacing 2"?  I have figured out how to make the tree, just not the best way to light it!  lol  Any advice appreciated.

[75redman]

Depends on preference.  Some like a fuller looking tree.  If you look at this pic, there are only 8 strings of 50ct leds spaced 4 inches apart.  In the day it looks pretty sparse.https://www.facebook.com/HappyLights.Ramona/photos/pb.448590921818955.-2207520000.1435717205./896776610333715/?type=3&theater

 

But at night it looks good.  Check out the video of how they look.

[jrock_at_rons]

I'm building one off Jerry Bakers plans.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My9qvHaGi6E

 

All told I think it will be about 9.5" tall and I'm going to use doubled up 50ct. m6s (still coming form HLE).  Once I complete it I'll post videos. 

[75redman]

I'm building one off Jerry Bakers plans.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My9qvHaGi6E

 

All told I think it will be about 9.5" tall and I'm going to use doubled up 50ct. m6s (still coming form HLE).  Once I complete it I'll post videos. 

That's the video I used to build my spirals.  Only 8' tall and not as many lights.

[Mega Arch]

+1 on Jerry's video being the starting point.

Here's the link to my post with a topper for the tree.

Good luck.

http://forums.lightorama.com/index.php?/topic/36016-how-to-build-a-spiral-tree-with-hook-head-star-topper/

[Old Sarge]

 

last year was my first year... 

 

My tree is basically the same as your but it is just a little over 10 ft tall.... count the double star on it and that makes it just around 13 maybe a little over 13 ft. 

 

The lights I uses were the mini lights, From Walmart... 100 count Lighted length on the box says 21.5 ft. total length 23 ft.  lights are about 4 inch apart on average

 

16 total strings doubled in half and every other one is multi color then blue.

 

I did sprials with it and each string was approximately 1 wrap going down my tree... I just eyeballed the wraps... not into it so much as to measure and try to make it look perfect..

 

archs are same string of lights, doubled wrapped on 13 inch long 3/4 pvc and slid over 1/2 pvc. mini trees are same lights wrapped on Tomatoe Cages from Lowes on sale for 50 cents each.

 

oh almost forgot... the faces are being added for this year I just havent made them yet. and the song is Silent Night by the Temptations which I just did as a first effort at faces.

Edited July 3, 2015 by Old Sarge

[AB21]

Thanks all.  I am going to try the 50 ct LED M5 and see how it looks.  I plan to do 8 blues and also 8 strings of reds.  Was going to wrap each color in opposite directions, but also considered tying a string of each together and then wrap on the tree.  I think I could use programming to still get the "criss-crossed" effect of the red and blues even if they are wrapped the same direction by lighting the red/blue string on opposite sides of the tree at the same time.  I haven't drawn it up to be certain, but I am trying to make it as easy as possible.  It would be half as many strings to deal with when we go to put them up and take them down.  Am I right or is it not going to give me that look?

 

Thanks again!

[George Simmons]

In answer to your original question, I zip-tied two 50 ct same-color M5 strings together giving 2" between lights. That was the fullness I liked the most. My tree is 10' tall and base is 5' diameter. My strands go just over 1.5 times around the tree. (Doing the strings that way also gives you cover if something in either string bites it.)

I think the "look" it gives is mostly a matter of how you sequence it. My choice would be to do 16 channels of one color rather than 8 channels of two colors. Part of what gives spiral trees their elegant look is the smoothness of how they swirl. With 8 channels it's difficult to achieve that. Even with fades, it needs to be motoring pretty fast to look smooth. Not only are you limiting your speed options, but it also gives you fewer pattern options. Something to think about ...

Edited July 7, 2015 by George Simmons

[bhunt240]

Me personally i love the look of mine being 16ch all red all same direction... it gives you a lot of freedom as to slow or fast spirals... i used c6 light strands to give a bit fuller look without doubling the strands

and also i dont see the point in wrapping a separate set in the opposite direction i would do as George described and run the strands together even though your not doing that to achieve the same look like George being that yours will be 2 separate colors and separate channels it will mainly help with setup and teardown

just my 2cents

[dgrant]

In my case, I do 16 channels spiraled one direction and 16 channels spiraled the opposite direction. I couldn't decide on color so I went with multi's and it turned out nice. What most people say here in the forums though is that a "blue" spiraled tree looks best. Now I do two megatrees because it helps to balance my yard's display and both are wired identical. This year though, I'll be controlling them separately for the first time as the previous years, I ran them electrically to each other, but reversed of each other.

[AB21]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions.  I will get started building and testing the options and will try to come back and post the results.