Nova5 Posted December 5, 2009 Share Posted December 5, 2009 Construction of my "mega"tree began today, I used 1.25" pipe as the main. a 9ft and a 5ft section. a 9ft 1" piece is inserted in between the two and bolted in place.Base is also 1.25" piping. a cross piece (with two double elbows) and a T set with its sockets perpendicular to the crosses' sockets. base protrusions will be 4ft long.Guywires will be uses to ensure to doesn't wobble and topple. Sadly my current funds don't let to LOR equipment. I have cannibalized a pair of Multifunction incandescent 140 bulb strings into a controller rig(one last year, and another this year). Since their going to be powering LED's I can run a more extensive setup on them before hitting to wattage limitations of the device.Only 16 strings on it so I'll probably do the front half. 4Red/4Blue/4Green/4White strings.May get some pics tomorrow as i finish construction of it and paint it green. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nova5 Posted December 6, 2009 Author Share Posted December 6, 2009 BaseBase and Legs.The tree stands! roughly 13ft estimate.Light controllers. Left hand one has 4 circuits and will handle the tree. Topper stays lit full time on its own cord. Right hand one will handle the house. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Simmons Posted December 6, 2009 Share Posted December 6, 2009 Your funds may be limited but your imagination sure isn't. Nice looking setup and a clever use of MF controllers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nova5 Posted December 7, 2009 Author Share Posted December 7, 2009 Thanks!Light strings are up on the tree. Hope they can take the stress of their own weight pulling on the wires. How do you folks string them up? I ziptied one end to the collar and raised them up. then ziptied the other end to stakes I made and drove into the ground (block wire cut and bent into a U. I ran out of daylight and didn't get a picture of them.I just added a total wattage to my excel sheet for figuring loads... 540 watts in my display this year... EEEK! Could be worse. Could be using incandescents! All LEDS here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Simmons Posted December 7, 2009 Share Posted December 7, 2009 I'm looking forward to seeing more pics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max-Paul Posted December 8, 2009 Share Posted December 8, 2009 Nova5 wrote: I just added a total wattage to my excel sheet for figuring loads... 540 watts in my display this year... EEEK! Could be worse. Could be using incandescents! All LEDS here.This your first year and you bought just over 100 strings of LEDs. Dang you must be rich. I wish I could afford that many strings in my first year (which just so happens to be this year also).I agree, you have good imagination. Your display will be one to watch as it evolves over the years. I see that in the future you will be one of the guys to watch as you come up with some new cleaver displays.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nova5 Posted December 8, 2009 Author Share Posted December 8, 2009 lol, no. Much of it exists from last year. the Gemmy(mistake..) stuff is what is eating the mass of the power 24 watts per string. 332 watts alone for it. Thou maybe there is a way to hack the gemmy system to control the color patterns.. probably to difficult as I am not a micro electronics wizard.... yet!Probably sell the gemmy at the end of the season and put the money toward a LOR rig. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nova5 Posted December 8, 2009 Author Share Posted December 8, 2009 Lights strung.Wired up the tree, haven't test fired it yet. Rain interfered. I did electrical tape to seal the connections that rest on the ground. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nova5 Posted December 8, 2009 Author Share Posted December 8, 2009 Measurement of its height comes out to 16.5 feet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nova5 Posted December 11, 2009 Author Share Posted December 11, 2009 Curses! I have to replace all the greens on the tree. Dying, seems they can't take the stress of hanging from the tree.. Now i will have...RedMultiBlueWhite.Ahhwell. Lesson learned. Avoid Walgreens crap lights! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nova5 Posted December 11, 2009 Author Share Posted December 11, 2009 They'll be small/mini globes vs C5/C6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nova5 Posted December 12, 2009 Author Share Posted December 12, 2009 Crap.. had to cut it back to two multi strings. seems the poor MF controller is getting overtaxed. Ahhwell. Had to hit the limit of its abilities at some point.Mult/Red/Blue/White/Red/Blue/White/Mult/Red/Blue/White/Red/Blue/WhitePattern holds out a bit at least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts