ebrown1972 Posted November 19, 2019 Share Posted November 19, 2019 It seems every time I put an prop in my yard, everything tests good from the controller. But each time I get something set up and test it through the sequencer, I will either have a bad pixel, or a bad connection. A few weeks ago S5 archived a bunch of my props and groups in every sequence I have. I had to fix each of those. I wake up in the morning and have found a few of my props lit even though there is no data being sent to them. This year has been problem after problem. Even so I just keep going and keep working on things. Some of the above problems I mention is my fault. I was uncertain if I was even going to do a show this year and waited until about 6 weeks ago to do anything to my display. All other years I work on it throughout the year and test often. I did not do that this year. With that said, its been a major pain this year. I have never had this many problems. In the end though, my display makes my community happy and people really enjoy it. Many times I have thought about calling it quits for this hobby but its so hard to do when many people have come to expect it. Truth is though, I still love this hobby but it has tested me this year. Just felt like I needed to vent a little. Thanks for listening everyone. Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichRX7 Posted November 19, 2019 Share Posted November 19, 2019 1 hour ago, ebrown1972 said: With that said, its been a major pain this year. I have never had this many problems. In the end though, my display makes my community happy and people really enjoy it. Many times I have thought about calling it quits for this hobby but its so hard to do when many people have come to expect it. I find holding on to this thought is what keeps me trudging through the muck setting things up. I just know the look on my grandkids faces when it lights up for the first time will be amazing, and it'll bring a big smile to me and others as well. Keep up the good fight! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orville Posted November 19, 2019 Share Posted November 19, 2019 (edited) 1 hour ago, ebrown1972 said: It seems every time I put an prop in my yard, everything tests good from the controller. But each time I get something set up and test it through the sequencer, I will either have a bad pixel, or a bad connection. A few weeks ago S5 archived a bunch of my props and groups in every sequence I have. I had to fix each of those. I wake up in the morning and have found a few of my props lit even though there is no data being sent to them. This year has been problem after problem. Even so I just keep going and keep working on things. Some of the above problems I mention is my fault. I was uncertain if I was even going to do a show this year and waited until about 6 weeks ago to do anything to my display. All other years I work on it throughout the year and test often. I did not do that this year. With that said, its been a major pain this year. I have never had this many problems. In the end though, my display makes my community happy and people really enjoy it. Many times I have thought about calling it quits for this hobby but its so hard to do when many people have come to expect it. Truth is though, I still love this hobby but it has tested me this year. Just felt like I needed to vent a little. Thanks for listening everyone. Eric I feel yur pain. I wasn't going to put up a display either this year{2019 Christmas}, but wife, friends and neighbors all were sad they would be nothing going on outside. So I caved in and put up my display. And I've had some issues going on because of how late I started working on things to get things up. I still have more RGB lights, speakers and a few more things to get out and wired up. I hope I get it all done by Thanksgiving, but at the moment I have doubts I'm going to have everything up and ready to start the "official show" Thanksgiving night. Having to redo all my sequences and add the outside items to them has taken a ton of time to accomplish, fortunately I could just copy and paste from previous years sequences to add the outside items. Just getting it all up is the challenge now. And being legally blind and other medical issues I have has also cramped getting things done, since some days I have pains all over and barely get out of bed, but I keep pushing on. And now got a dad-blasted hernia and using a hernia belt to keep that in check as much as possible. So I keep facing more and more challenges, but the happiness the display brings, I just push on when I can. I've thought about getting out of this hobby too, many times, but I just can't bring myself to do that either. So I'll keep going until they have to pry my controllers out of my cold, dead hands. ROFL Well maybe not that extreme, but I'll keep doing for as long as I can, medical issues or not. I'm like my late father at times, too stubborn to let things keep me down for too long, if at all. LOL p.s. I used to do Halloween too, but have quit that one for a couple reasons, the main one is because it's just too much work for me to transition from Halloween to Christmas, and the other is the current church I attend and am a member of, really don't like {actually hates} it. Edited November 19, 2019 by Orville Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeERWNC Posted November 20, 2019 Share Posted November 20, 2019 I don't do pixels but I do feel your pain. I am so far behind... I had my front yard giving me problems. I kept messing around moving network cables. I found one of my RJ45's bad. Then the next morning it felt like all my progress was for nothing. Opened up box 31 to the smell of burnt electrical. A capacitor had a melt down. Lucky I have five spares on the shelf. Replaced 31 with the bad Cap and 32 with the bad RJ45 and the whole front section is lit up and talking fine. I should have taken this year off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dibblejr Posted November 20, 2019 Share Posted November 20, 2019 (edited) We’ve all been there, I am there right now changing my 17,500 lite MT to a winch instead of my tower. i got the kit back in July. It’s all supposed to work, all I had to do was purchase pipe. Purchased pipe last week. Thursday went to set it up, easy peasy, right. The pin that connects the 2- 10’ sections didn’t fit. Filed down the walls of the pipe. Pin went in perfect. As I was ere ting it, it felt awfully wobbly. I looked up just in time to dodge the top half headed toward my head. The weld broke on the collar that adjoins the two pipes. Collected myself, took it to a local weld shop. Got it back today pun no longer fits. I’m thinking the heat from welding may have caused it to swell a little. The tree is the main prop for the left side of my yard. I can’t set up some of my props because I may have to move them if the tree blocks them. So yes, I believe in this magical world of lighting when it rains it pours. Ebrown- I’m with you. I do this for my community and children or I wouldn’t be doing it at all. I do a huge Halloween display si most of the big props stay up from 1 Oct until I get them down. Due to rain last year all was up until mid Feb. I use Halloween to test the big stuff. Beat of luck to all of you. Tomorrows another day. JR Edited November 20, 2019 by dibblejr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichRX7 Posted November 20, 2019 Share Posted November 20, 2019 Just hit my first snag in the setup. One of my arches has 1 strand out of 7 that is only half lighting. If that's the worst of it this year I'll be pretty excited (knock on wood). The only items I have left to set out are two big bulbs that go under the two outside arches, the arch I have to fix (which, of course, is why I can't hang the bulbs yet) and my two candy cane clocks. Then the wiring commences this weekend. Fingers crossed on that one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichRX7 Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 10 hours ago, MichRX7 said: Just hit my first snag in the setup. One of my arches has 1 strand out of 7 that is only half lighting. If that's the worst of it this year I'll be pretty excited (knock on wood). The only items I have left to set out are two big bulbs that go under the two outside arches, the arch I have to fix (which, of course, is why I can't hang the bulbs yet) and my two candy cane clocks. Then the wiring commences this weekend. Fingers crossed on that one. And, of course, I bring the arch in the house, plug it in and all the light strings fully light. I tapped and pressed on bulbs and could not get any to go out, so I just shrug my shoulders and go set it up in the yard. Everything is now up except the candy cane clocks, and the door wreaths which I put out last since we walk in and out a lot while wiring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speedster Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 1 hour ago, MichRX7 said: And, of course, I bring the arch in the house, plug it in and all the light strings fully light. I tapped and pressed on bulbs and could not get any to go out, so I just shrug my shoulders and go set it up in the yard. Everything is now up except the candy cane clocks, and the door wreaths which I put out last since we walk in and out a lot while wiring. Could it be a bad extension cord or SPT wire? Had a similar problem last year with one strand in a firestick. Made a new SPT1 cord and didn't have a problem after that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichRX7 Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 11 hours ago, Speedster said: Could it be a bad extension cord or SPT wire? Had a similar problem last year with one strand in a firestick. Made a new SPT1 cord and didn't have a problem after that. Yeah, not sure. And the strands are packed tight together and purposely overlap, so it may be that when I was testing outdoors I saw the edge lights from a strand next to it not lit. But it is working (for the moment) so I move on to other items (like setting up controllers and running cords). Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 We had a extremely rare for us hail storm yesterday. Came home and half of a CCP string is lit solid white, and one GECE bulb on the roof is solid white. Didn't have ambition to do anything about either one last night, but two more issues to deal with 🤬 . I suspect that the CCP was due to water getting into a pixel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LightsWithSoul Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 1 hour ago, k6ccc said: We had a extremely rare for us hail storm yesterday. Came home and half of a CCP string is lit solid white, and one GECE bulb on the roof is solid white. Didn't have ambition to do anything about either one last night, but two more issues to deal with 🤬 . I suspect that the CCP was due to water getting into a pixel. We had hail here in Vegas yesterday as well. The storm that blew through our area ended up dropping a possible tornado about 50 miles away. Good thing I waited to set up the display... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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