Newbie in need of advice

[emusht]

Hello my name is Ed, Im a bit obsessive and I also am a crazy person who wants to get into Christmas light displays. Seems like Ive come to the right place. I will try to make it as short as I can:

I have been admiring these light displays for years and never wanted to join in because Im a little OCD and realize it will take over my life. Well, since I have the green light from the Mrs's to allow this to take over part of my life, I figure its time to jump in. My previous obsession was car modifications and I've since sold off that car, so time for a new obsession. LOL!

What I have gathered thus far from reading through some info on LOR website and Planet Xmas website is the following:

1. Plan everything ahead and purchase what you need based on that plan and start early.

2. Purchase lights, etc right after Xmas because that's when you get better deals.

3. Use the tips in the Planet Xmas magazine

4. Most people on this forum are very knowledgeable and willing to give advice

So, Im still very unsure as to where my starting point will be. I'm not wealthy, but I'm willing to spend a feasible amount to get a Xmas light display for 2016. Since I have studied some diagrams and information for setting up light, Im pretty confident with a two story house with lots of windows and some yard space. Problem is, my house is the opposite of that, LOL! I have attached an imagine with the house front for suggestions on what I can do with the tiny canvas. Also I have attached an imagine of my current static light attempt at something (at least my daughter likes it).

Questions:

1. Please suggest a setup that might work (I have zero creativity)

2. Do I purchase dumb RGB LED's or just different color LED strands and ziptie them together. (remember Im starting small)

3. Should I get the started package from LOR, or something better for future expansion (I know myself, I will want more and more)

I apologize ahead of time for my ignorance on the topic and this long message. I thank you ahead of time for your help, hope I don't have to use my flame suit on this forum.

Edited December 20, 2015 by emusht

[dgrant]

Hi and welcome to our madness....er...hobby. Rather than me telling you what to purchase, let me suggest that first you need a formal plan. Take a picture of your home and print out several copies. Draw strings of lights on the areas you wish to light up. Then figure out how you wish to control them. Just fades, twinkles, on/off, shimmers and so on. If you are considering RGB, there's both dumb and intelligent so again, its how you wish them to appear or what you are doing with them, with the music of your choice. This will dictate your hardware requirements. Now the extras not to be forgotten, speakers, FM transmitter and frequency sign(s), security of the controllers depending on where you live. Speaking of location, if you add yours to your profile, there might be someone near you who might be able to assist. There's a learning curve of the software but you can download it now and get to learning. The software has a license as well so depending on what you are going to do in the future will assist you in picking the license level you wish. This is NOT a plug and play hobby but it gives you total control of the show therefore you become the artist in lights.

[EmmienLightFan]

Pick between RGB or non-RGB.

 

This year was my first year. At the beginning of the year, I started with one of Light-O-Rama's CMB24D dumb RGB controller, then I got some DMX dumb RGB, then DMX smart pixels.

 

It was all really simple to use.

 

Several different colored strands look very different to a dumb RGB strand. Dumb RGB gives you the option to mix colours. You can get yellow, orange, light blue, pure/cool white, warm white, and most colors can be achieved by setting intensities of each channel.

 

Strands of lights look different and much dimmer.

Also, use the "follow this topic" button at the top of the page to receive email notifications when people reply to this thread, if you want.

[Ebuechner]

If you're as OCD as you say you are this hobby may go overboard for you. Good thing you have a small space to keep you in check. Looking at your picture my suggestion (if you want to go in head first) would to be use pixels on your roof line vertical column and other places to get the most from your small area. And a small pixel tree in the yard will get you a lot of WOW factor in a small space. The new pixel editor just introduced this year in the software can make this very doable. But this all depends on your comfort level and skill level

[lightlady]

Welcome to the hobby!  Looking at your house I see that you do have two windows but they are being blocked by a palm.  Me personally,  I would trim it back as much as possible to get a more even flow to the house.  Take advantage of your roof line, windows, garage, front door and your columns.  You can fit a mega tree in your yard but you can also opt not to do that and use arches, mini trees, spinners whatever you like.  

 

As far as RGB or LEDs go, go with what you are most comfortable with.  If you choose to go with the LEDs, zip tie them together to make your super strings.   There will be many pre sales coming up for both so watch out for those.  

[emusht]

You guys are awesome! Thank you for your replies. It helps me think about what to do next. The idea of printing a picture and drawing my plan on it is hard because I'm not creative and my house seems like it's not conducive to light shows (one window hiding behind a tree, roof tops slipping the wrong way, no trees in the yard, lol). None the less I will do my best and post up here and ask for criticism/suggestions.

As for the lights, thank you for letting me know that led strands will be dim compared to RGB. I'm thinking dumb RGB should suffice given my starting point. After reading about the amount of channels smart RGB lights need, I'm feeling like that beyond my pocket right now. How many channels would a pixel tree require? It's a fantastic idea!

I would like to use the current candy canes, white floor lights and snow man I have in the yard (those are incandescent lights). I would also like to use the Xmas tree (led lights). Assuming I will buy some dumb RGB lights. How will that affect the hardware I purchase?

Thank you again in advance!!!

Edited December 20, 2015 by emusht

[lightzilla]

1st off decide what you want. Do you want regular Lor Channels only to begin with for the 1st year, or  do you want, regular Lor channels & some rgb smart pixels too? That is something that you need to decide, & once you decided that then get the design that you want all laid on on paper & stick to it. (like where what go where & what colours go where). Then you can wait until the spring Lor reduction sale & the Lor summer sale & buy your stuff along with the software.You can download the Lor Demo software to start practicing sequencing, however if you want the software now (to start practicing sequencing with & to see how a Lor controller works personally) then buy say this lor package to begin with...... http://store.lightorama.com/rese16chstpa.html.

 

Then wait for those sales to get the rest of the stuff that you will need to make your yard a musical wonderland that you designed.

 

As far as rgb goes whether smart pixels or dumb well you better get that down packed which you want. If you are having say 9 mini trees....then dumb rgb would work just fine, They would work on the house, on a Mega Tree etc but all they can do is go from 1 colour to the next. Smart pixels is another ball game altogether. Now you can go from one colour to the next, do spiral effects, use them for arches, on the house, you can make on a 16 leg smart pixel tree & then you can get sequences with animated characters from Holiday Sequences, or off of eBay.  I have 8 Lor CCP controllers on the house & yard & 2 Lor ccrs on two mini trees (I am non-musical this year) & I am going any colour, but I am also mixing the colours up. So when folks drive by they see all green, but then they come back & now the house is in Green & Blue sections (5 green smart pixels, then 5 blue smart pixels, then 5 green, then 5 blue & so on & many other colours. This week coming I am doing different colours again & different patterns. For the fun of it I may even make a pattern where I only have one red smart pixel on, on each string. 8 lights total.

Edited December 20, 2015 by lightzilla

[Mr. P]

Also since you don't have a large front yard area you do have a large low sloping roof area, make good use of that as well.

[lightzilla]

Also since you don't have a large front yard area you do have a large low sloping roof area, make good use of that as well.

Can you imagine how big of a smart pixel Matrix he could put there & not even worry about a mega tree. You are right he can make really good use of that spot.

[Ebuechner]

Last week I put together a small pixel tree from a frame that I bought at Home Depot. The frame will allow me to collapse it down and put it into a flat box for storage. It stands five and a half feet tall I have 12 strings 20 pixels each for 720 channels. The frame has 20 horizontal hoops that are suspended by 6 chains. With 3 inches of spacing between the hoops it was almost like it was custom made for the pixels with 3 inch spacing. I was able to update my sequences to utilize this. I would update about two to three sequences a day. Something like this would have a huge impact in that small yard and considering the size of the house would be easy storage

[dgrant]

To clarify for the OP, the channel count is more about what kind of things you are controlling. Lets say you have 16 different roof lines or doors, windows, bushes and so on...and you are stringing up 16 different individual AC circuits such as LEDs or incans. Then you would need one 16 channel AC controller. So now for RGB: They come in two flavors as such. Dumb and Intelligent. Dumb are where the entire strip is all one color, any color but all one color. Its run by a CMB24D controller from LOR and a 12 VDC power supply, plus you'll need an enclosure for outside such as the CG1500. You change colors on the fly in the sequencing...ramps or fades, twinkles, shimmers and good ole on/off. They are very bright so it depends on your usage. Intelligent strips/nodes are where each individual LED is addressed. This allows for animation, chases, color changes and so on along with the usual fades, twinkles and so on. These are usually in either 5vdc or 12vdc types and are normally run via an E1.31 controller or you can get LOR's CCR's which have their own dedicated controller/power supply. Still, you would need an enclosure for either case and for the E1.31 controllers such as the E682, P12S, Pixcon16, AlphaPix16 and others, you would need the proper power supply for the load and voltage to run whatever you have connected. Some of these require a TCPIP comm buss to run as opposed to the RS485 serial network that LOR uses. Do not confuse the two as they are not compatible and they do use the same Cat5 cables. If you decide to go this was, we'll be more than happy to help you so you don't let out the magic smoke.

Edited December 20, 2015 by dgrant

[emusht]

Thanks so much guys! Wow! I'm getting schooled big time! I thought all that reading gave me some handle of what's going on. Come to find out I have a long way to go. Good I have a year to learn!

The weird roof top is something I planed on using to my advantage. Initially I figured some snowflakes, merry Xmas sign, etc. but after reading some of your suggestions maybe I need to invest in some real lights and get some serious effects going! Also I would like to make 4 mini trees myself with a larger pixel tree as the main focus. I'm also hoping I can still use my current stuff in the light show.

I've got some studying to do guys. Your replies are really helping me learn a lot. I can't thank you enough. Please feel free to continue suggesting different elements that might fit my house. I don't care about creative control, I'm happy to be a follower of those that know what's up.

Edited December 20, 2015 by emusht

[Ebuechner]

The fascia on that roof line is long and straight. To me its screaming out for a long thin pixel matrix. Or a long series of controllable pixel icicles. Then you would be able to do long washes of color vertical horizontal diagonal across that line. This would leave the roof open for many other items. The peak is a roof could be used for a set of 4 singing faces. (We're all here to encourage a bad habit and get you in trouble ) these are just a couple ideas off the top of my head you may want to make a master plan and work your way up. I've ended up switching stuff out and it was a waste of money by not being organized

[emusht]

I'm really fired up right now and I'm definitely encouraged. Unfortunately, I have to be honest, half the stuff you guys are saying are going right over my head. Lol. I'm gonna google the things you guys are saying to make sure I understand. If you have any pictures or can draw up something for me I would be ever so grateful. I know it's busy season so I don't want to be annoying. I'm a visual learner and any diagrams/drawing would be truly appreciated! Thanks so much guys!!!

[EmmienLightFan]

A little diagram of RGB color mixing.

[emusht]

Thanks for that. I should be more specific. I'm referring to design and placement of items in my yard and on the house.

I didn't completely follow the facia roofline pixel scrolling comment. The roofline facia is only about 10" deep. How would that work?

Also the pixel tree is something I have seen but I'm not sure the hardware it would require.

Like I said I need to study some more. I don't want to be that annoying guy that needs to be spoon fed. I need to put on my work too.

Edited December 20, 2015 by emusht

[EmmienLightFan]

This is a strip of RGB (Red Green Blue) LEDs:

 

 

 

This is a string of RGB (Red Green Blue) nodes:

 

 

 

 

Nodes and strips come in dumb and smart.

 

 

DUMB RGB

 

Dumb RGB nodes are not individually controllable. All the lights on an output light up the same colour.

 

Dumb RGB lights use three channels. One for red, one for green and one for blue.

 

There are several dumb RGB controllers available. Light-O-Rama sell one called the CMB24D (Pictured below).

 

 

 

This is controlled by Light-O-Rama's protocol or DMX.

 

 

Dumb RGB strips can be bought cheaply on Ebay, and some stores have them, but they are normally controllable.

 

 

SMART RGB

 

With smart RGB, every RGB LED can be controlled individually. Any node or LED in a strip can be any color.

 

 

 

Light-O-Rama sells both smart and dumb RGB devices.

 

Their smart RGB devices are called Cosmic Color Devices (CCDs). It is all in the RGB Devices page of their store.

 

They have Cosmic Color Ribbons

 

Cosmic Color Bulbs

 

 

and Cosmic Color Pixels

 

 

 

 

They are often called CCRs, CCBs and CCPs. 

 

Cosmic Color Pixels are a little misleading. All of the Cosmic Color Devices are pixels. A pixel is an individually controllable light.

 

 

There are other types of RGB lights available.

Look at Ray Wu's store on AliExpress.

Edited December 20, 2015 by EmmienLightFan

[Ebuechner]

https://youtu.be/lr7PUTCaGMg. Here's a short video of the pixel tree you were asking about. Not a very good video I just did a quick shot with my phone. Probably too close to tell but the first part of the video is an image of a reindeer going across the tree

[dgrant]

Emusht, here is a video of mine for this year that's running now. If you notice, the pixel trees, the left one is pixel nodes whereas the right/middle is pixel strips(both are intelligent). Part way through the song, you'll see the window frames come to life which are dumb strips. The rest of it are a mix of led strings, incans, firesticks are dual purpose as they have both led's and pixels. Four of the arches are incans and the alternating other four are pixels. Anyway, it'll give you an idea of what can be done. Mine is in no way near as good as many others in here but I'm limited by space so things are cramped. Of course, the two spiraled megatrees, 32 strings each, 16CW and 16CCW on both

Edited December 21, 2015 by dgrant

[1983ss454]

I have a small area to work with as well, but I try to layer my stuff to give it depth, here is an example of my display