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What are you adding to your show this year?


Mr. P

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I'm trying to purchase a parcel of land across the road from my display to make a parking area for the light show viewers.

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- 12-16x RGB diy floods

- Vertical house lines using old RGB strips from 2014

Total amount spent this year:

under $180

 

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10 hours ago, Archer said:

I'm trying to purchase a parcel of land across the road from my display to make a parking area for the light show viewers.

If you had already been using LEDs the last few years, you would have already saved enough in energy for this purchase. 

??

(I know - but I can't just let it go...)

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Because I use mini's I was able to purchase 6 more controllers during the summer sale giving me over 50 of them. If I used LED's I'd have only been able to buy 1 controller because you basically pay for the electricity up front when buy LED's.....but you knew that already. . . . . . . . ?

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P10 matrix, 2 more arches, pixel window frames, floods in windows, another window, singing faces (Halloween), pixel circles, fire sticks.

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17 hours ago, Archer said:

Because I use mini's I was able to purchase 6 more controllers during the summer sale giving me over 50 of them. If I used LED's I'd have only been able to buy 1 controller because you basically pay for the electricity up front when buy LED's.....but you knew that already. . . . . . . . ?

I'm just not sure I understand your logic on buying L.E.D.'s you pay for the electricity up front.   I purchased my L.E.D. strands for just a few bucks here and there, usually not more than $1-$2 above what incandescents would cost.    And they've saved me a lot more money on my electric bill.

So could you tell me how buying L.E.D.'s you pay for electricity up front.    I just can't see it that way, but that's my personal perspective.

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Dang, duplicated post.

Edited by Orville
Don't know what's going on, but my post reproduced itself ~ so deleted this one
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Orville....I would love to use LED but they are TOO EXPENSIVE. Yes you probably bought them for $1-$2 dollars above mini's but closer examination would reveal that they were not strands of 100 like I purchase for $2. Most LED's are boxed in strands of as low as 50ct per box (but not 100ct), therefore you must pay for 2 boxes at $1-$2 per box more than mini's  to get the same number of lights. So if you buy LED's @ $5/box (which is a very good price) you must buy 2 of them for a total of $10 (on sale) to get the 100ct that I purchased for $2 (on sale). Therefore the savings you realize in your electric bill were wiped away buy the purchase price even on sale. You paid for the electricity up front.....

BTW....if you find LED's at $2 for 100ct please let's us all know.

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I've gotten some 100ct for that price at Big Lots, just have to catch them if you can.   When I see them and have the funds I buy all that I can get.   However, I don't worry about count, because I've bought most of my L.E.D.'s after Christmas Sales and got them dirt cheap most times.    There are only a couple that I still didn't pay full price for and those were 200 count spools at Lowes, and even then the cost too me was minimal for them.  Regular price was $19.99¢ at the time and I got them for $10.00, so I really couldn't complain.

A lot of my L.E.D. strands range from 35 to 70 count, a couple 140 count and a few in between.   But I don't need a lot of 100/100+ count strands, the smaller ones do me just fine.  Especially if I'm going to add them to a small tombstone or other prop I want to light up with them.

But that's my preference.

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Anyway you look at it LED's are too expensive even on sale. I've been to Big Lots after Christmas and tons of other places and nothing compares to getting mini lights on sale. If you have power issues there is no question. Brighr colors, no questions. But run the numbers on mini vs LED if you don't believe me.....I have, Mega knows I have, that's why he bust my butt every chance he gets, sad part is, I love it.....lol.

Tomorrow I find out if I have a chance to add a parking lot to my display!!!!!

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7 minutes ago, Archer said:

..... run the numbers on mini vs LED if you don't believe me.....I have, Mega knows I have, that's why he bust my butt every chance he gets, sad part is, I love it.....lol.

Tomorrow I find out if I have a chance to add a parking lot to my display!!!!!

When you finally cross over to the right way, you'll never look back. Dang - if nothing else - when my clumsy self bounces LEDs from roofline to sidewalk and nothing breaks - bamm! You gotta believe. 

Hope it goes well tomorrow. 

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6 minutes ago, Archer said:

Anyway you look at it LED's are too expensive even on sale. I've been to Big Lots after Christmas and tons of other places and nothing compares to getting mini lights on sale. If you have power issues there is no question. Brighr colors, no questions. But run the numbers on mini vs LED if you don't believe me.....I have, Mega knows I have, that's why he bust my butt every chance he gets, sad part is, I love it.....lol.

But... you neglected to mention the SAVINGS with using LEDS.

I have a mega tree with 20,000 LEDs. I can imagine how much power usage difference there is if those were icans. And no way could I use one circuit to run my entire show, including my mega tree. Would probably need several more controllers to run those icans. Icans are power eaters. No question about it.

LEDs last longer as well so now buying less lights/bulbs. I'm talkin about the ican bulbs that fade or burn out. LEDs don't

So save at the beginning with sales on icans? Or save at the end with less controllers, less light/bulb replacement and lower electricity bill? :)

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LED vs Mini


Facts using mini's 

Mini = 40 watts/100ct
Cost of lights = $2.00 
Cost/KWH = $0.11
Show time = 1hr/night of "on time" (high average)
Length of season = 45 days at 1 hr/day of on time = 45days × 40watts/day = 1800 watts ÷ 1,000watts/KWH = 1.8KWH × $0.11/KWH = $0.20/year to operate 1 strand

Facts about using LED's

LED's = 8 watts/100ct
Cost of lights = $5.00/100ct (very cheap)
Cost/KWH = $0.11
Show time = 1hr/night of "on time" (high average)
Length of season = 45 days at 1 hr/day of on time. 45 days x 1hr/day = 45hrs x 4watts/hr = 360 watts/yr ÷ 1,000watts/KWH = .36 KWH × $0.11/KWH = $.04/yr to operate 1 strand.

Make no bones about it, LED's are cheaper to operate than Mini's but read on.

To make things simple, 1,000 strands (my display) will cost approximately  $200/yr max to operate. Keep in mind that there are hundreds of strands in my display that are on for half that time as I am a firm believer that a light being off is just as important as it is being on. Plugging the LED numbers from above into the same senerio I have for the mini's it would mean the LED's would cost $40/yr to operate.... that's a savings of $160/year if you use LED's.

Hold your hats on, this is why I say you pay for the electricity upfront...if I purchased 1,000 strands of mini's for $2.00/strand (and I do at Lowes on black Thursday every year) it means I have $2,000.00 in the cost of lights. 

If I bought 1,000 strands of LED's for $5.00/100ct strand (using the numbers provided to me in an earlier post, Lowes 200ct spool for $10) it means I have $5,000.00 in the cost of lights.

The difference being $3,000.00 of course. That's enough savings that I can buy the mini's all over again and still have $1,000.00 in my pocket. Thats enough to pay for my electricity for 8 yrs.


Since LED'S cost $3.00/100ct MORE using those same numbers in our example, it takes 18 YEARS to break even in electricity savings using LED lights as compared to using mini's. 18 YEARS

Another comparison would be the life of the bulbs.....

At 45 hrs per year and a lifespan of 1,000hrs.... mini's in my show will last 22 years theoretically. (22yrs + 65yrs old = 87 OMG....87).
LED's lifespan of 25,000hrs  at 45 hrs/yr = 555 yrs theoretically ... Mathuselah and Noah (and a few others) are among the few to worry about lifespan of LED's, assuming they got started when they were 300-400 yrs old.

They made me post it Mega....I really didn't want too....Santa, in Pennsylvania we have a saying....a bird in hand is worth 2 in the bush. 

Spend your money, I'll save mine.

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You would all save a lot if you went pixels and rgb and ditched the led and incans.  :P Energy savings as well as a fraction of the lights.  No need for red,green,white,blue, etc lights on a prop.  Turn it whatever color you want.  I was pleasantly surprised last year how little it cost to go from a large LOR AC Incandescent display to 100% pixels and rgb.  Way less than I have spent just on LOR controllers.... 

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I have not looked into the RGB pixels. I'll take your word for it. I guess I'd have to ditch my controllers too right?

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16 minutes ago, Archer said:

LED vs Mini


Facts using mini's 

Mini = 40 watts/100ct
Cost of lights = $2.00 
Cost/KWH = $0.11
Show time = 1hr/night of "on time" (high average)
Length of season = 45 days at 1 hr/day of on time = 45days × 40watts/day = 1800 watts ÷ 1,000watts/KWH = 1.8KWH × $0.11/KWH = $0.20/year to operate 1 strand

Facts about using LED's

LED's = 8 watts/100ct
Cost of lights = $5.00/100ct (very cheap)
Cost/KWH = $0.11
Show time = 1hr/night of "on time" (high average)
Length of season = 45 days at 1 hr/day of on time. 45 days x 1hr/day = 45hrs x 4watts/hr = 360 watts/yr ÷ 1,000watts/KWH = .36 KWH × $0.11/KWH = $.04/yr to operate 1 strand.

Make no bones about it, LED's are cheaper to operate than Mini's but read on.

To make things simple, 1,000 strands (my display) will cost approximately  $200/yr max to operate. Keep in mind that there are hundreds of strands in my display that are on for half that time as I am a firm believer that a light being off is just as important as it is being on. Plugging the LED numbers from above into the same senerio I have for the mini's it would mean the LED's would cost $40/yr to operate.... that's a savings of $160/year if you use LED's.

Hold your hats on, this is why I say you pay for the electricity upfront...if I purchased 1,000 strands of mini's for $2.00/strand (and I do at Lowes on black Thursday every year) it means I have $2,000.00 in the cost of lights. 

If I bought 1,000 strands of LED's for $5.00/100ct strand (using the numbers provided to me in an earlier post, Lowes 200ct spool for $10) it means I have $5,000.00 in the cost of lights.

The difference being $3,000.00 of course. That's enough savings that I can buy the mini's all over again and still have $1,000.00 in my pocket. Thats enough to pay for my electricity for 8 yrs.


Since LED'S cost $3.00/100ct MORE using those same numbers in our example, it takes 18 YEARS to break even in electricity savings using LED lights as compared to using mini's. 18 YEARS

Another comparison would be the life of the bulbs.....

At 45 hrs per year and a lifespan of 1,000hrs.... mini's in my show will last 22 years theoretically. (22yrs + 65yrs old = 87 OMG....87).
LED's lifespan of 25,000hrs  at 45 hrs/yr = 555 yrs theoretically ... Mathuselah and Noah (and a few others) are among the few to worry about lifespan of LED's, assuming they got started when they were 300-400 yrs old.

They made me post it Mega....I really didn't want too....Santa, in Pennsylvania we have a saying....a bird in hand is worth 2 in the bush. 

Spend your money, I'll save mine.

Yeah - so.

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yep, good thing is LOR AC holds its value very well.  No problem selling them.  Sold 30 or so AC controllers which paid for a large portion of the pixel setup

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So Mr P forgets to add the cost of controllers and such to power the icans. It's understandable. Spend your money on controllers and power bill. We both know icans don't last that long when they fade as well. You talk about usage or life of the bulbs, but not the impact of the weather nor the normal failure rate with icans as we all well know. :) 

UncleDan, what do you think Pixels and RGB are made with? LEDs............. :)

And UncleDan, the controllers don't hold their value like they did several years ago. Unless you........ :o. No.......

So I'm done here since we can go on and on. No need arguing further.

There is a reason people are switching to or starting with LEDs. You surely don't hear them going back. :lol:

 

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