Bullet pixels in candy canes

[Wayne K 21]

Has anyone taken the icans of of the walmart candy canes and put bullet pixels in them? I hate to use valuable lor channels for a spinner and was thinking about doing the canes with the pixels. If anyone has done this, did they look ok? Or is it a waste of time to do it that way? Thanks for any info.

Wayne

Edited February 15, 2018 by Wayne K

[gsmith37064 139]

Hi Wayne,

I just did this to 8 Walmart candy canes to make a spinner. I yanked out the normal lights and installed bullet nodes.

My next step is to insert pixel strips to see how it looks. I imagine it will look better as the strips have more of a glow to them.

But yes they looked good. Just remember to turn the intensity down. 100% and you could see them.

Greg

Edited February 15, 2018 by gsmith37064

[gsmith37064 139]

21 minutes ago, Wayne K said:

Has anyone taken the icans of of the walmart candy canes and put bullet pixels in them? I hate to use valuable lor channels for a spinner and was thinking about doing the canes with the pixels. If anyone has done this, did they look ok? Or is it a waste of time to do it that way? Thanks for any info.

Wayne

I will do a video and post it this weekend of both pixel nodes and pixel strips.

[TheDucks 141]

I did 60 count WW Strips,  very bright compared to the original 12V @ mini bulbs. 

 

[steve synek 23]

I put ribbons in my candy canes and was happy with the outcome. They slid inside very easily.  Folded them in half so that it took 18 ribbon sections with 30 LEDs per meter strips.  Nice even lighting.  I just wish I could find more of the white candy canes with the red stripping. I can only find the green and red candy canes at my Walmarts. 

[gsmith37064 139]

Dang... I cut my strips down to 9 pixels. I wish I would have thought about folding them and doing 18. I think they would have wedged in there a lot better.

[gsmith37064 139]

Very nice videos Steve as you do have a ton of candy canes.

[George Simmons 1,210]

19 hours ago, Wayne K said:

Has anyone taken the icans of of the walmart candy canes and put bullet pixels in them? I hate to use valuable lor channels for a spinner and was thinking about doing the canes with the pixels. If anyone has done this, did they look ok? Or is it a waste of time to do it that way? Thanks for any info.

Wayne

I didn't use pixels - I used dumb RGB bullet nodes.  (Where I used them it would have been a waste to do it with pixels.)  They were a bear to pull through but the results were worth it.  I think they look great.

 

17 hours ago, steve synek said:

I put ribbons in my candy canes and was happy with the outcome. They slid inside very easily.  Folded them in half so that it took 18 ribbon sections with 30 LEDs per meter strips.  Nice even lighting.  I just wish I could find more of the white candy canes with the red stripping. I can only find the green and red candy canes at my Walmarts. 

I tried strips but didn't like the dark side look.  I never thought of folding them.  Now I've got another project...

I haven't seen a white candy cane at Walmart for the past three years.  Not even online.  I'm glad I stocked up, but my spare inventory is almost depleted.  The good news is that putting RGB inside the discolored old canes will prolong their useful lifespan.  The RGB color blasts right through the discoloration.

[Wayne K 21]

Thanks for the info everyone.

 

On 2/15/2018 at 7:13 PM, steve synek said:

I put ribbons in my candy canes and was happy with the outcome. They slid inside very easily.  Folded them in half so that it took 18 ribbon sections with 30 LEDs per meter strips.  Nice even lighting.  I just wish I could find more of the white candy canes with the red stripping. I can only find the green and red candy canes at my Walmarts. 

I went up to the attic and dug out my candy canes and they are the white with red striping also.

 

18 hours ago, George Simmons said:

I didn't use pixels - I used dumb RGB bullet nodes.  (Where I used them it would have been a waste to do it with pixels.)  They were a bear to pull through but the results were worth it.  I think they look great.

George, I should have said bullet nodes.  Did you loop the wire from the other end back thru the tube or on the outside of the tube?

Thanks Wayne

[George Simmons 1,210]

11 hours ago, Wayne K said:

George, I should have said bullet nodes.  Did you loop the wire from the other end back thru the tube or on the outside of the tube?

Actually I didn't have any return wire to deal with.  I only ran one candy cane per RGB channel on a CMB24D.

Had I been doing smart pixels though, and given the difficulty of getting the bullet pixels through in the first place, I probably would have run the wire on the outside.  Another reason why folding over a ribbon might be a far superior way to go.

[gsmith37064 139]

I just folded a ribbon and tried it.

You still need a wire to help pull it through else it gets stuck at the curve of the candy cane. 18 pixels is pretty cool and offers some nifty effects.

It does not offer a solid glow like i was hoping but its still neat but I will be doing dumb strips in them when I am finished building them.

 

Edited February 18, 2018 by gsmith37064

[TheDucks 141]

Dumb pixels don't need a return wire, just parallel feed to each cane. each CMB24 port can drive 5M of strips (the bank limit is 30A, so you run out of that before you hit 40M of cane strips)

[steve synek 23]

2 hours ago, gsmith37064 said:

I just folded a ribbon and tried it.

You still need a wire to help pull it through else it gets stuck at the curve of the candy cane. 18 pixels is pretty cool and offers some nifty effects.

It does not offer a solid glow like i was hoping but its still neat but I will be doing dumb strips in them when I am finished building them.

 

I put 3 zip ties somewhat evenly spaced on the folded in half ribbon and was able to push the ribbon inside the candy cane pretty easily.  On some when the ribbon stuck at the bend, I just lightly tapped the candy cane and the ribbon moved pretty easily.  I figured at some point I would be pulling them out and by zip tying

, I would have a better chance of getting the ribbon out without it expanding position or locking against itself in the tube.        My candy canes were horizontal when pushing in the ribbons.

 

[Wayne K 21]

Thanks for the info everyone. I had an order for the HC presale for other things, so last night I added 2 dumb pixel strips to my order to play with and see how they would work.

Wayne