Second Year of LOR

[George Cotton]

The star in the window and landscape lights are turned off by a simple night light shining on their light sensors to make them think it's daytime. Currently the star is not programmed as part of the show, so it's turned off when not needed. The landscape lights are a bit of a distraction during the show, so they too go dark. In my opening welcome just moments before the show starts, I finish with saying that now I'm going to turn off the star (and it goes off) and then the landscape lights (and they go off). This gives anyone listening at the moment, some idea of things to come.

The "C" in Christmas is normally just green, but white is added for use with the Go Fish song "Christmas with a Capital C". Guess when white is used. The white overpowers the green so those lights seem to disappear.

The large red concentration of light below the "C" is a 12" traffic light LED replacement with 216 high output red LED's. It operates at 120vac using an internal switching power supply which won't work for fading and such or I've wired the LED's to also be directly driven at 24vdc via the CMB-16 DC controller which does allow for all effects. Since it's only on for the word "stop" in Frosty the Snowman, it's just fed via a 120vac channel.

Below the star is a scrolling message telling viewers where to tune to listen to my lights as well as a plug for our local non-commercial station that has Christmas music 24/7 with NO interruptions.


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[scubado]

Looking good! I like your Capitol C idea. My only thought for you is this, can the scrolling message sign be easily seen from the road as people are driving by? I know in my case, people don't stop long enough to realize there's music playing with the crazy lights. Next year I definately need to get a transmitter and signage.

[George Cotton]

You brought up a point well considered about the scrolling sign. And one I thougt about long and hard. I priced several models. Of course the larger and brighter, the more expensive they become. This one was under $200 and has several colors. It is visable from the road as the letters are double wide and the frequency blinks for 3 seconds and then steady for 5 seconds before moving on. That is, if someone looks at it in the first place.

And yes, I've had people stop and "look" at the lights and never "see" the scrolling sign. When they see me days later and compliment me on the light show, I ask if they were "listening" to my lights. I usually get a blank look from them. Some have ask what all the flashing was about. I do take some joy in all of this. I guess it all boils down to taking in everything in front of you. Actually, I'm thinking of making an LED signboard with just the frequency on it and placing it somewhere slightly away from the display but totally visable. It might even be one with RGB LED's and put some cheap sequencer on them to attract attention without using LOR channels.

I know that no one will sit and listen to the whole 25 minute show, but if they stop by anytime during each half hour show, they will see something interesting. It's even a better experience if they pay attention to the signage and listen to my lights.

Others just don't have a clue how it all looks and sounds together. I try not to go into much detail with some as I know I might as well be talking to them in Vulcan.