brmorr Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 Added 4 singing trees and it was a big hit, but was already looking into stuff for next year and had a few questions. Where does everyone store the Mega Tree once it is done? I have no problem building it, etc., but want to see what everyone does with it after the season is over. Also, another question, can the CCR's be cut in half and build a tree half the size? Only thing is would the sequences display correctly?? I'm sure some of you have pole barns and such, but I am limited to about a 2 1/2 car garage and then a 8x10 shed. Let me know, looking forward to adding this thing next year!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LORisAwesome Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 I hang the center pole from the garage ceiling using hook that are screwed into the joists. The rest fits in storage tubs similar to these. http://www.homedepot.com/p/HDX-12-Gal-Flip-Top-Tote-Colors-Vary-by-Store-211512/202520515 Jerry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgrant Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 Both of mine come completely apart. The pole is actually two poles each and they are stored on hooks in the garage on a wall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffF Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 (edited) Tubs for our 3-color mega-strands go into a shed and our center pole stays outside under some pine trees. BTW, 9,600 lights take three 18 gallon tubs when the strands are balled up.This has worked good for the past 8 years for us. Edited January 12, 2016 by JeffF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbltrukr1 Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 Lights are in tubs in the shed, pole is stored outside. I did wrap the pipe threads with electrical tape before putting on the rack with my ladders to protect them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brmorr Posted January 12, 2016 Author Share Posted January 12, 2016 Ok, I should have been more specific. How does everyone store a CCR tree? I would assume those can be cut in half and build a smaller one?? Those huge ones with the metal frames that are like 17-20 feet tall is what I am looking at doing, but might cut it down to 8-10 feet if I can cut the CCR's and make it smaller. Let me know!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1983ss454 Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 Instead of a ccr tree you could consider a pixel tree, I built a 15 ft pixel tree using the "James" strips, what's nice is I just roll up the strips with the pixels in them and put them in a tub, it worked great Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis Laff Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 (edited) Brmorr. I have a 12 strip ccr tree. My frame is a little different than the bolted together frames. My main pole is about 17 ft tall The pole is hinged at the bottom and swings down than I attach the 6 six channel star to top and walk pole straight up put a bolt in bottom of hinge to lock pole in upright position ,on the star I have 12 hooks , each strip is on a 1/2 square steel tube with a ring welded on both ends on end slips over the hook on the star the other end is staked to the ground. To store I have 12 1/2 strips to store on wall in garage and one pole and a 3 ft star simple to store on wall of garage. Where do you live in Chicago I live by Midway airport ccr tree is still up if you would like to see my setup let me know. Dennis Edited January 12, 2016 by Dennis Laff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay Czerwinski Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 I first take two 10' long 1/2" diameter EMT conduit and connect them together with a coupler and also a 1' long 1/2" threaded rod inside to keep the 20' section straight. I then zip tie the CCR to it at almost every cut point and the CCR never moves ever again. Repeat this 12 times for a 12 CCR tree. Then I use unistrut to make an A frame. Each leg is two 1 5/8" square segments and one 1 5/8" x 7/8" segment at the top. 6 total. I then made a cross member using three overlapped larger unistrut members. On that cross member, I attach super strut beam clamps spaced out to your CCR spacing and in a way that you can clamp the end of the CCR conduit. Then the tricky part is that I have a 2x4 up near the star that has 1/2 holes drilled in it to feed the conduit through. Lastly, I have a stainless steel cable I pull over my house through a pulley to raise the A frame up in to place. So it goes like this 1. Run the cable over the house 2. Bolt together the sides of the A frame and attach cable to the top. 3. Install star and 2x4 with holes at the top. 4. Raise up in to place pulling the frame against the house. (You can add bumpers if you don't want metal to touch your house) 5. Attach the cross member 6. Insert the conduit with CCR in to top hole, set bottom in to clamp, and tighten set screw. (Repeat 12x) 7. Connect CCR wires to control boxes in storage bins below tree. It all breaks down quite easily. The only trick is the 20' long segments. I store them diagonally across my garage ceiling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oilmoney Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 Check out this thread, I think we've got it covered! http://forums.lightorama.com/index.php?/topic/23186-anyone-else-building-a-frame-for-a-12-ribbon-ccr-tree/page-5?hl=+i#entry315612 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Santas Helper Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 Well just in case someone seeing this uses strings and not strips since the topic heading is Mega Tree Storage. 192 33' strands in 13 storage tubs. 33' mega tree tower stays outside by the fence. (Morty playing around in this pic) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HowardShank Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 Ok, I should have been more specific. How does everyone store a CCR tree? I would assume those can be cut in half and build a smaller one?? Those huge ones with the metal frames that are like 17-20 feet tall is what I am looking at doing, but might cut it down to 8-10 feet if I can cut the CCR's and make it smaller. Let me know!!I placed all my strips in 2 44gal round rubbermaid trash cans. Coiled each strip and it held all of my stips nicely. Protected, easy to move and I even put them on the wheels for ease of rolling around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenie95125 Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 Added 4 singing trees and it was a big hit, but was already looking into stuff for next year and had a few questions. Where does everyone store the Mega Tree once it is done? I have no problem building it, etc., but want to see what everyone does with it after the season is over. Also, another question, can the CCR's be cut in half and build a tree half the size? Only thing is would the sequences display correctly?? I'm sure some of you have pole barns and such, but I am limited to about a 2 1/2 car garage and then a 8x10 shed. Let me know, looking forward to adding this thing next year!! My tree is built on 1/2 emt conduit. I secure the strips with 4" zip ties. I take the star down and store that by itself in the attic (no container), and cut the ties to release the strip as I lower each conduit. Each strip gets rolled back up on the spool it came from, and placed the the anti-static bags it came with. My two enclosures (with controllers and power supplies) along with the bagged strips fit snugly in a large tote. The whole (heavy) tote goes in my garage attic. It actually takes me more time to take the tree down than to put it up. You can cut the ccrs, but it is going to affect your sequences for sure. I'm sure the sequences can be adjusted to get everything to display correctly, but it it may tedious. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Sarge Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 (edited) Hey Santas Helper... I see your helper is a little thin... Maybe you should feed him for helping you before he gets to weak from your making him work to set things up and take them down... at least give him some BBQ DOG BONES to chew on once in a while.. my mega tree is just 12 ft tall but it cones into pieces so I can easily store it. Its made of PVC sections with a PVC connector ring in the center... I just keep the bottom and center connected togetherand the top with the hooks on it and the mount for my star. the rest I jusr twist apart from the rings and store them wrapped with a couple rounds of tape. All the lights when rolled into balls will fit into TWO 12 qt storage containers from Lowes/ Home Depot. But also... Mine are all mini lights, my tree is only 12 ft tall and 16 channels, 8 channels each of 2 colors. Edited January 15, 2016 by Old Sarge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brmorr Posted January 25, 2016 Author Share Posted January 25, 2016 Everyone, thanks for all the ideas on here. Had a little girl(7 years old) come by today and drop off a card about how much she loved my Christmas lights(I have the 4 singing trees). Never expected my stuff to be so well liked this past Christmas season. This started off with me doing it and thought it was cool. Now I need to add some more next year... I am thinking the CCR tree and even though its a little bit a work, I will just pull the CCR's off every year and store the PVC. Can someone show me what their bases of these CCR trees look like and the top by the star? How does that all hook into together? It will be a flat 12 CCR tree... Thanks again!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Santas Helper Posted January 27, 2016 Share Posted January 27, 2016 This started off with me doing it and thought it was cool. Now I need to add some more next year... I am thinking the CCR tree and even though its a little bit a work, I will just pull the CCR's off every year and store the PVC. Can someone show me what their bases of these CCR trees look like and the top by the star? How does that all hook into together? It will be a flat 12 CCR tree... Thanks again!!! I would suggest starting a new topic. You will have limited response on this thread since this is a mega tree storage topic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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