Light Strings

[Charles Nafziger]

New guy again, I am doing Red,green,blue & white LED strings across the front of my roof line.

What is the best way to do this many? Bundle them with tywraps? staple them individually? or mount them to a seperate board and then hang the board?

I have them set up as 5 separate groups of 4-strings.

Charles

[PaulXmas]

Size and type?

Last year I had 3 colour LED (the small ones) and I zip tied them together before hanging.

I used platic cable holders to attach them to the house.

This year I am using 3 colour C9 LEDS and attaching them to the house with light clips that I bought on line. (http://colonnade.com/index_files/Page679.htm )

It bothered me when the bulbs went in any directions the light strips line them up nicely!


I guess it depends on if you own the house and if you can or want to put holes in.

[Charles Nafziger]

PaulXmas,

Thanks for the link, cool stuff.... this light animation is turning into crack :shock:

You get one thing, then oops! I need this... then this.. and don't forget the other stuff....

I think for this year I'll tywrap them, I am already waaaayyy over budget :?

If she-who-must-be-obeyed find out how far, I'll be sleeping with the dog for the next year..

By the way, they're miniature LEDs, my house so I can do what mods are needed...

Are the C9's brighter? or just wanted a different style?

[Bob Wingert]

Charles Nafziger wrote:

this light animation is turning into crack :shock:

If she-who-must-be-obeyed find out how far, I'll be sleeping with the dog for the next year..

YOU HAVE NO IDEA!!!

And make room in the dog house! I may need a place to hang my head

[PaulXmas]

Not sure if the C9s I bought are any brighter but look better during the day.

And they dim! Was worried about that.

[TJ Hvasta]

Hey Charles, where in Mesa? I'm at ValVista & -60 (north side of freeway).

There are several way, just whichever way you want to leave less marks.. they are called SuperStrings.. single colors, either zip-tied or braided together. I made them for my mega tree..

you could:

ziptie all 4 strings to 1/2" PVC, drill a couple holes in the pipe and run some drywall screws into the eaves, or screw broom clamps onto underside of eaves and just pop the pipes in place.. (what I want to do this year.)

ziptie all 4 strings together (dont worry abt which way the bulbs face, wont matter seen from the street), and hang them off several small nails in face of eaves (what I did last several yrs)..

staple to thin pressboard and screw onto front face of eaves with 1" screws every 4' or so.. paint pressboard to match eaves color before stapling lights.

PM me if you would like any help..

TJ

[Charles Nafziger]

Hey there TJ, I'm south of the 60 on Elliot & Signal Butte in Meridian Springs

I spent a couple of hours yesterday stapling a set up one string at a time... Ugly is not the word for that experiment...

I thought of getting a 3/4" PVC but instead of tying them to the outside, cut a slit down the length of it and feed the wires inside with the lamps out through the slit... I can cut the pipe at the correct point to wrap the corner of the roof and join the extra straight pieces with a slip coupler. hang them with a conduit clamp. This way I figure I could just fold them up at the end of the season for storage..

Because I am still putting my system together (bought 2 -DYI systems) I think for this year I'll do the tywrap and get fancy next year (I know I'll be adding more stuff :shock: )

So far I have 5 sets of of LED RGB&W 23' long mini strings, 10-18" white trees w/stars, 4 R&G floods, 3-deer, 3- inflatables, bunch of stuff from last year & a FM transmitter..

I did my controller system differently. They are mounted on a 2'x'2x1/2" board with 4 each 4-gang duplex boxes mounted below. Each duplex hot side is individualized and goes to a channel on the controller, the neutrals for each duplex goes back the controller also. This give me 32 independent plugs without the clutter of the danglie cords. I'll post a picture once it is all completed if you want.

When I add I'll just duplicate the board 32 channel at a time... (I tell you this like crack... can't wait until the next holiday :] !!!)

Charles

[boborino]

Heck.. I think crack would be cheaper! I'm building mini trees for the first time this year. Planned on 8. Silly me thought I could build them with 42" tomato cage with 3 colors WRG 100 count each. No way.. 100 barely covers 1/2 of one. Wife even said I need to at least double the count. Soo... off tomorrow looking for more. I found Albertsons in our area has 100 count for 2.88.. guess I should have sprung for the 200 amp service afterall!

No, seriously, neighbor down the street got me started last year, and I am so hooked! A member on our HOA told us they will need to hire traffic control next Halloween because of the congestion 'our displays' caused.

[TJ Hvasta]

oooooh, 42"? I used 30" for my first ones.. and yeah, I'd at least double each string.. 2 (or 3) x WRG. You can try those 2' minitrees at WalMart, peel off the tinsel, 3 single WRG 100ct strings would fill it nicely..

[lightzilla]

boborino wrote:

Heck.. I think crack would be cheaper! I'm building mini trees for the first time this year. Planned on 8. Silly me thought I could build them with 42" tomato cage with 3 colors WRG 100 count each. No way.. 100 barely covers 1/2 of one.

300 or 400 lights would be better yet per colour on a 42" tree.

30" tree is just right for my yard/display with 210 LEDs per colour.

Charles do you have J-Channel going around your house? As far as my house goes I use the J-channel on the house to hold my LEDs in play. Easy set up and the lights are straight.

As for my C7 retro fit LEDs I put them in the F-channel that I put up on the front of the house (Peak) , that F-channel holds them snug. Light sockets go in no problem and come out no problem. Quick & easy.

Like was mentioned above I guess a person would be willing to put a few holes in their house.

I certainly am willing to do that simply because I am trying for a quick set up and take down this year. Oh and getting things done before the cold helps me to screw a few holes too. lol

[Charles Nafziger]

This weekend was fairly productive!! Of course I tywrapped light-strings until my fingers were bleeding :shock:

Here is where I am right now, 10- 18" mini-trees, 3- inflatables, RGB&W strings across the front of the house, just need to add the one across the very top and down the south side.

4-R&G floods pointed at a large occatillo and the front of the house, still have the wreaths and some misc. lights....

Next year I'm starting in October...

Now I need to tie it into my controllers and start testing the sequence...etc..

[Charles Nafziger]

Woot woot !!

I just finished testing my first controller last night... all channels are working perfectly :] :]

Started assembly of #2, should have everything ready to run tests this Friday on the entire system..

I need more lights & channels.... !!!!!!!!!!!! :)

[TJ Hvasta]

Yep, never enough channels.. I've got 8 controllers (for 128) but two aren't working.. One's definetly toast(processors), another has 3channels always on(also a processor or opto- problem I think) so I'm down 32channels!!

Make sure you register your email addy for notice of the Clearance Sale(Feb) and Summer Sale(July)!

Keep pluggin' away at it, you'll have a show that'll make many smile.. Especially the bank.

[rstately]

TJ Hvasta wrote:

Yep, never enough channels.. I've got 8 controllers (for 128) but two aren't working.. One's definetly toast(processors), another has 3channels always on(also a processor or opto- problem I think) so I'm down 32channels!!

Make sure you register your email addy for notice of the Clearance Sale(Feb) and Summer Sale(July)!

Keep pluggin' away at it, you'll have a show that'll make many smile.. Especially the bank.

TJ, You have 32 bad channels? Man, Did you fry them on Halloween?

[TJ Hvasta]

dont know when it happened, I had 3 working halloween (including the DC card), 4th was a spare, and just finished the four kits I got during the Summer Sale.. One from the sale had a solder bridge, I cleared it but its still buggy.. processsor I think.. the 5v regulator could heat a turkey one of the halloween controllers I used has 9 of the 16 channels always on.. It was outside during this weeks rain and water got inside, shorted out somewhere. tried several resets, but no dice.. so I ordered another CTB16PC kit, I'll only be down 16 channels by next Saturday (I hope)..