Thank the Lord, I'm almost done with setup for 2019!

[Orville]

Just got one more RGB strand to get ran and mounted to the exterior to the interior of my handicap ramp, a few odd and end non-lit decorations, find my snowfall lights and get them mounted and my Star Trio {Gemmy} and one single star and I'm done.   Hoping to finish up all this on Saturday.  Only last thing I've got to figure out is what to do about making a Tune To sign since I also use an FM Transmitter, my old sign was worn out, and then a new Radio Station came in that killed the frequency I had been using for years, but the sign had seen better days, so time for a change on that.  Just trying to figure out what and how to do a new non-lit sign using black sharpie marker.   Tried making a,lighted sign, but an artist I'm not, so every one I tried making looked like junk.  I can never get the lights right or in line properly.  So that's out.  My L.E.D. programmable sign also bit the dust that I also used.  When things go awry, they really go awry for me. LOL

.Thursday finally got my 2nd RGB Controller mounted, Cat5  from 1st  Controller from 1st RGB Controller to 2nd.  S1 strand set up using 50 green Christmas light stakes around my small flower bed area, S2 strand to be done Saturday.  And power ran to 2nd RGB Controller and finally my outdoor speakers up and operational. 

For a very small display, this has sure beaten me down this year.  And I've still got a little left to go, hoping I can finsih everything up on Saturday, but might not.  As long as it's all done by Thanksgiving night I'll be satisfied.

[Crimson Lane Lights Etown]

Sounds like you will be done in time and it will be glorious!  I moved my show start date to December 1st to give me that extra few days, just in case.  Of course It doesn't end after setup.  There is that troubleshooting thing.  I like to count the number of bins all my stuff is packed in and take one day to install each.  I begin the the first week of November.  Have fun and have a Happy Thanksgiving.

[Kapkirk]

Sounds like you two are closer than us, been working every day for 4 weeks and still have to hang my strands on mega tree, put up 8 smaller mega trees, my 10 mini trees and run the final cat 5 from 1 to 7. Oh yea we still have 3 trees to hang lights in and put up a couple houses icicles. Then I am hoping for a power test Monday night but will probably be Tuesday.

 

I don't know about you guys but I've been falling asleep in my recliner 8-9, didn't even finish watching the game last night. This hobby is for young people LOL.

[Speedster]

My setup is almost finished too.  Despite the late start due to the weather, I'll probably finish one day sooner than I usually do. 

[Dcroc]

I still have to put my Pixel strip tree up.  Have to replace all 16 strips, because HC strips are garbage.  Have actually had to repalce every single strip on my house, also (each is 1 ro 2 years old).  Having a hard time getting motivated to do it.   Haven't been able to add anything new this year, because I spent the entire budget replacing strips, many of which I just replaced last year.  This has all set me behind, and left me feeling a bit less than thrilled about doing it.   Am glad there is an extra week this year.  Hopefully, that, and a few energy drinks will be enough to get 'er done.

[Godney]

Well i have about a day maybe two to finish, working a 9 to 5 really cuts into my time on the lights. I've already put up about 30,000  still have the roof and big oak out front to go and some yard work as long as the rain holds out, but thats Florida for you. But i should make my Black Friday deadline.

[Godney]

Hey Kapkirk get out of the Recliner if I'm outside so can you , Aspen has to be ready LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   PS Don't forget the Tylenol and a lot of it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edited November 23, 2019 by Godney

[Speedster]

I can't believe it, but I'm actually FINISHED!!!   And a day ahead of schedule too.  Luckily we had the extra week due to Thanksgiving being a week later than last year, otherwise I might not have been ready for the first light up on Thanksgiving night.

[Orville]

On 11/22/2019 at 7:42 PM, Kapkirk said:

This hobby is for young people LOL.

Well I just turned 63 this past week, but I did get it all done outside.  Turned a placard, stake mounted snowman into my Tune to sign with a white LED spotlight highlighting it.  Doesn't do an excellent job, but good enough for what I had to work with.  Black Sharpies and hand printing the info on the Snowman's open white space on his stomach area. LOL  Anything in a pinch, right? 😛

Saturday night I hung my Snowfall lights long the roof line, got the speakers wired up Thursday night and the last RGB strand strung and connected.  My entire display is only on one side of my house this year, just on the ramp side.  So it's fairly compact, still used 2 CTB16PC Controllers {V2} and 2 original CCB-100D 5V RGB Controllers.  And even got all my sequences and animation files updated.  So the show is now up and running.

I still have a few non-animated, non-lit static decor to put up, but I don't need to worry about that as much as I did getting everything else completed in time!

Edited November 24, 2019 by Orville

[Godney]

After 2 days of very hard work the display is operational , only some minor bugs to work out , but i will make Black Friday deadline

[MichRX7]

1 hour ago, Godney said:

After 2 days of very hard work the display is operational , only some minor bugs to work out , but i will make Black Friday deadline

Mine is going well, sort of, 6 of 9 boxes up and running, but there is something wrong in either a network cable or dongle that drives my dmx network. Hoping it is the cable and not the dongle. Not sure how I would get another usb dongle in time. At least I could build/buy another cable. I can wiggle the cable and dongle and get them to work, but if it gets bumped they freeze up or go off until I wiggle it again.

[Kapkirk]

1 hour ago, Godney said:

After 2 days of very hard work the display is operational , only some minor bugs to work out , but i will make Black Friday deadline

Okay Godney

 

Seeing as your done you can come over and work our last minute issues. Got the 135 strings up my Mega Tree today , now have to wire them up, this part's a real pain, still have one more mega tree, light 2 big pines, bush's etc. If the ibuprofen works tomorrow I may be able to power up Tuesday and work the bugs out for a Wednesday night trial before live Thanksgiving night.

[Wayne K]

I have been on vacation last week and I don't know why, but it just seems to be taking longer this year to get stuff done. But on the other hand I got everything put out and hooked up and ran network cables and powered up all 22 controllers about 5:00 this afternoon. Everything has a heart beat and is alive. I ran an all on sequence I have made to test everything and every thing looks ok at this point. I had a couple of blow molds that the bulbs came loose in between testing and setting up. I also noticed I forgot 2 hook 2 stars up and a run of strobe lights around my mini tree's. But I will work on these items in the morning and by tomorrow night I should be ready to go.

Wayne

Edited November 25, 2019 by Wayne K
Spelling

[Orville]

I've completed everything outside and added a couple of new sequences, more to come, but we all know sequencing is a never ending task in this hobby!

Do have a couple of trees I'm modifying for outdoor use using an older CCb-100D controller, one tree will have 50 pixel bullets on it, the 2nd only 58, had an issue with one strand and when added new pixel bullets to it, didn't work, so just cut the strand back to 48 pixel bullets.  Won't be noticeable on the trees anyway.  If I get them done early enough, I may add them to this years display.   These were originally Gemmy Light Show Trees, so they have large pots on the bottom, and they're big and wide enough to hide the controller in one of them and still connect both strands to the one controller.   if I don't get it completed this year, hopefully they'll be ready to go for 2020.

So show is now running Sun-Thur 5:30pm-10pm Eastern Time

and Fri-Sat 5:30pm-11pm.

And after the shows are over, I have it cycle all the lights for 2 hours after the final show ends, then my snowfall lights along the roof line turn on after that and run until 6:30am.

Then at 6am my Off Hours Christmas Music plays and Ramp Walkway lights turn on from 6:30am-7:00am, then they ramp lights turn off at 7:00am and the Off hours music plays from 7am until 5:25pm, then at 5:30pm it all start over again.

My display is nothing really big or fancy, and it's only on one side of our home, you can't see all sides of our house anyway, so I condensed everything to one side of the house.

So if anyone is visiting or lives in the Orlando, Florida area and would like to visit our meager display, PM me and let me know and I can give you the address where the display can be viewed.

I know my sequencing isn't the best, but for a person that's legally blind, mildly dyslexic, and 55-60% deaf, and have a few other medical issues I have that might preclude some folks wouldn't even attempt this at all, so most folks are amazed I even get anything done at all like this.