newbie channel questions

[tanya]

hello everyone. I am looking into buying a lor. right now i run two gemmy holiday light shows, and after christmas i bought way more decorations and will not be able to put them all on my gemmy boxes so i'm thinking of upgrading to a lor. however i have a few questions, i've been searching through lor, and the forums but still am not understanding a few things. first, what's the difference between a 16 and 32 channel. my assumption is it's two 16 channel control boxes and when hooked up you get 32 seperate channels. the reason i'm asking is because i really only want to learn how to sync 16 channels but if i'm figuring this out right i can only have 44 mini lights on one control unit. so i have about 90-100 mini lights (consisting of lights, deer, wire stick trees, etc, i have no led's) so i am going to need the power of two boxes which i'm assuming will make it a 32 channel. and then somehow i have to figure out how to copy and paste the 16 channel sync to make it 32 rather than doing something different for all 32 channels. is this thought process correct?

the other question is about the wireless light linkers. my computer is upstairs (2nd story) and i don't want to run anything outside so can i do this with the light linkers? or do i still have to run something outside from my computer to the first light linker?

i hope all of this makes sense and someone will confirm that i'm thinking this all out correctly or tell me otherwise. i'm thinking of buying the 32 channel starter set with two of the light twinklers but before i spend all that money i want to know i have a little idea of what i'm doing. i've got the bug and i'm a little jealous that i didn't win the christmas light show in town, my electric bill is so much bigger than the one that won so i'm stepping it up a notch.

thanks everyone for any advice you may have

oh, another question, i saw on a forum that people were buying the indoor electrical cords after christmas. do you guys use the indoor ones outside?

[JBullard]

tanya wrote:

hello everyone. I am looking into buying a lor. right now i run two gemmy holiday light shows, and after christmas i bought way more decorations and will not be able to put them all on my gemmy boxes so i'm thinking of upgrading to a lor. however i have a few questions, i've been searching through lor, and the forums but still am not understanding a few things. first, what's the difference between a 16 and 32 channel. my assumption is it's two 16 channel control boxes and when hooked up you get 32 seperate channels.

That is correct

the reason i'm asking is because i really only want to learn how to sync 16 channels but if i'm figuring this out right i can only have 44 mini lights on one control unit. so i have about 90-100 mini lights (consisting of lights, deer, wire stick trees, etc, i have no led's) so i am going to need the power of two boxes which i'm assuming will make it a 32 channel. and then somehow i have to figure out how to copy and paste the 16 channel sync to make it 32 rather than doing something different for all 32 channels. is this thought process correct?

Correct. Copy and Pasting is easy to do

the other question is about the wireless light linkers. my computer is upstairs (2nd story) and i don't want to run anything outside so can i do this with the light linkers? or do i still have to run something outside from my computer to the first light linker?

A pair of wireless light linkers will do this.

i hope all of this makes sense and someone will confirm that i'm thinking this all out correctly or tell me otherwise. i'm thinking of buying the 32 channel starter set with two of the light twinklers but before i spend all that money i want to know i have a little idea of what i'm doing. i've got the bug and i'm a little jealous that i didn't win the christmas light show in town, my electric bill is so much bigger than the one that won so i'm stepping it up a notch.

thanks everyone for any advice you may have

Hi Tanya,
And welcome to LOR. Feel free to post any questions you may have.

[Surfing4Dough]

tanya wrote:

oh, another question, i saw on a forum that people were buying the indoor electrical cords after christmas. do you guys use the indoor ones outside?

yes--usually the only difference is that indoor cords don't have UV protection in the insulation so they could break down sooner. However, our cords are just for temporary use, so it is really a non-issue.

[Surfing4Dough]

tanya wrote:

... first, what's the difference between a 16 and 32 channel. my assumption is it's two 16 channel control boxes and when hooked up you get 32 seperate channels. the reason i'm asking is because i really only want to learn how to sync 16 channels but if i'm figuring this out right i can only have 44 mini lights on one control unit. so i have about 90-100 mini lights (consisting of lights, deer, wire stick trees, etc, i have no led's) so i am going to need the power of two boxes which i'm assuming will make it a 32 channel. and then somehow i have to figure out how to copy and paste the 16 channel sync to make it 32 rather than doing something different for all 32 channels. is this thought process correct?

I strongly doubt you will need the power capabilities of 2 boxes to accomplish what you are describing. Remember that only what is turned on at any given point counts toward your use--meaning that at certain times some lights will be on and some will be off, so you aren't using power for all of them at that given moment. If you do choose to sequence a point where everything is on all at once, then you need to calculate how much this adds up to. Here is a good page for estimating the number of amps various types of lights use: http://www.planetchristmas.com/FigurePower.htm

Simplistically, a 16 channel LOR controller can have a max of 15 amps per bank of channels (there are 2 banks: channels 1-8 and channels 9-16). Therefore you have potential to have up to 30 amps per controller. (there are 2 power cords that go into the controller--1 for each bank in a sense).
Now to break this down further, you can have up to 8 amps on an individual channel. However you still have to remain under the 15amps for the bank, meaning if you have 8 amps on Channel 1, then you only have 7 amps to share amongst channels 2-8.

Assuming you are using standard 100ct mini lights, which are usually about 0.33amps per string, then you could potentially turn on 90 strings all at once on a controller (29.7 amps) if you split it up properly. And don't forget that you might have another bunch of strings that are used but not turned on at that given point in your sequence.

Hopefully this is what you are asking, and please ask for clarification if needed.


oh...and welcome to LOR! (Buy more extension cords now!)

[Jim Saul]

Hi Tanya, welcome to the addiction. I jumped in this time last year, and went from the Mr Christmas light show up to LOR.

I started with the 32 channel kit last year and will be adding a lot more at the summer sale. Unless you are going to be doing other holiday displays I recommend you wait till then to purchase and save some money.

Once you make the jump you will not regret it. Big things necessary to pull it off are lots and lots of extension cords - I use the indoor ones with the 3 outlets on the end. Never pay more than $1 for them, they do and will go on sale.

one tool that you will need is a kills-a-watt Metter. http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=kill-a-watt&hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&prmd=ivns&resnum=3&biw=1899&bih=890&wrapid=tlif12946042932501&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=5525303247386121198&ei=EhgqTfmkL4nInAfG4_GXAQ&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CFQQ8wIwAg#

this will show you how much electricity you are using per circuit so you can stay within limits.

Good luck and happy lighting

[George Simmons]

Welcome. Buy extension cords every time you see them on sale. Have fun!

[tanya]

a 16 channel LOR controller can have a max of 15 amps per bank of channels (there are 2 banks: channels 1-8 and channels 9-16). Therefore you have potential to have up to 30 amps per controller. (there are 2 power cords that go into the controller--1 for each bank in a sense).
ahhh, thank you, this is something i missed. i was thinking there was just one power cord for every controller making it 15 amps. plus, i just took the planet christmas thing of 36 100 light strands for every 15 amps. never calculated it, but you're right i could put 90 on one box. thank you thank you thank you.
oh, and i have lots of extension cords. i've been doing a halloween and christmas light show for a couple years, and hooked everything up to a couple gemmy boxes, plus i got some more after christmas for all the stuff i just bought. i'd like to wait till the spring sale for the lor but i'm really wanting to do a patriotic show in april when one of my neighbors come back from afghanastan. we'll see. but again, thanks everyone for all your help.

[Surfing4Dough]

tanya wrote:

i'd like to wait till the spring sale for the lor but i'm really wanting to do a patriotic show in april when one of my neighbors come back from afghanastan. we'll see. but again, thanks everyone for all your help.

You can always download the demo software now (before you purchase) and start creating sequences with it, and then when you make the actual purchase (including the software) you can "activate" the software which will allow you to start controlling actual lights (rather than just on your computer screen with the demo version).

[tanya]

Surfing4Dough wrote:

You can always download the demo software now (before you purchase) and start creating sequences with it, and then when you make the actual purchase (including the software) you can "activate" the software which will allow you to start controlling actual lights (rather than just on your computer screen with the demo version).

cool, where is that found?

nevermind found it, now just gotta figure out how to use it, thank you

[Surfing4Dough]

tanya wrote:

Surfing4Dough wrote:

You can always download the demo software now (before you purchase) and start creating sequences with it, and then when you make the actual purchase (including the software) you can "activate" the software which will allow you to start controlling actual lights (rather than just on your computer screen with the demo version).

cool, where is that found?

http://www.lightorama.com/SoftwareDownloadPage.html

[zman]

Tanya,

Most of the heavy stuff has been covered. With respect to lamp cords. If you buy them that is cool, you can get them pretty cheap at times. Another thing you may want to consider is to buy bulk SPT cord, and vampire connectors to make your own. SPT comes in 2 versions SPT1 & SPT2. The difference is the thickness of the insulation.

If you buy lamp cord extension, these are SPT2. I make ALL my cords now using SPT2 so that I am compatible with any lamp cord extensions that I buy on sale. I keep a stock of male and female vampires connectors on hand at all times. That way if I want to add a tap to a store bought cord for a custom harness, it is easy to do.

You have to consider your interconnect early on, rather than waiting till you start to set up your display next year.

[caniac]

zman wrote:

Tanya,

Most of the heavy stuff has been covered. With respect to lamp cords. If you buy them that is cool, you can get them pretty cheap at times. Another thing you may want to consider is to buy bulk SPT cord, and vampire connectors to make your own. SPT comes in 2 versions SPT1 & SPT2. The difference is the thickness of the insulation.

If you buy lamp cord extension, these are SPT2. I make ALL my cords now using SPT2 so that I am compatible with any lamp cord extensions that I buy on sale. I keep a stock of male and female vampires connectors on hand at all times. That way if I want to add a tap to a store bought cord for a custom harness, it is easy to do.

You have to consider your interconnect early on, rather than waiting till you start to set up your display next year.

I keep hearing you guys talking about "vampire connectors", explain in simple terms for an old man that occasionally get's overwhelmed at Lowe's.

[shfr26]

Here is CDI vampire plugs

http://www.creativedisplays.com/siteresources/modules/webstore/scripts/prodView.asp?idProduct=806

[caniac]

shfr26 wrote:

Here is CDI vampire plugs

http://www.creativedisplays.com/siteresources/modules/webstore/scripts/prodView.asp?idProduct=806

Stupid question time, why are they called vampire plugs? are they cheaper from CDI as oppose to running down to my local Lowe's Hardware/HomeDepot?

[JBullard]

They are called "vampire" because they have teeth that pierce the wire insulation.

Normally Lowes or Home Depot do not carry them, and normally CDI is MUCH less expensive if you should be able to find any locally

[DownTown]

caniac wrote:

I keep hearing you guys talking about "vampire connectors", explain in simple terms for an old man that occasionally get's overwhelmed at Lowe's.

http://actionlighting.com/Items.asp?Criteria=spt2&PageNo=3

These have little points that pierce the insulation to make contact with the conductors, and then the back slides on to hold everything together nice and tight. I use hundreds of them in my display and wouldn't be wothout them.

D.T.

[zman]

Novelty Lights is one of the best pricing for Vampires, when they have them in stock. A secondary vendor is Action Lighting as noted already. I find Action with the best year round availability.

Ryan Johnson has a great How-To for making these:

http://www.johnsonschristmascorner.com/Cords.html

The only change I would make to his method for "inline" taps, is instead of using a hack saw blade, use the side profile edge of a metal file. It is the exact right width, and with a few pulls of the file, you have your wall removed to fit the cord perfectly.

[Thomas M. Fazekas]

My first year with LOR and I bought a 1000' roll of SPT1 with the male & female vampire plugs before this year's setup. Boy, was this a smart move. It allowed me to make quick, custom length extension cords in seconds. I used the factory grade extension cords (from Lowes 40' for $5.99 in January) for my power backbone to the LOR controller, and other high power/amp stuff. When running low power stuff like LED's all you need is SPT cords (Check the spec's). Get yourself a Kill O Watt at Lowes for $20.00 and check your Watts/Amps etc. I did a full power on today before I started to tear it down and was 1600 watts / 14 amps on 16 LOR channels. I'm glad I started small, I learned a lot this year. My advice is read this forum as much as possible !!!!!! Success means doing a lot of little things right.


Best of Luck.....

[rjnitto]

Many veteran displayers have mentioned buying (or making) extension cords and I'm sure most newbies don't realize the sheer numbers that are required for a display. Below is an actual count of cords that I used for my 128 channel display. I'm sure I missed a few in counting, but this is fairly representative of the quantities needed.
So, let me repeat what others have said in this thread; make sure you buy enough extension cords or buy the SPT of your choice and build them.

Richard




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[Guest guest]

zman wrote:

Novelty Lights is one of the best pricing for Vampires, when they have them in stock. A secondary vendor is Action Lighting as noted already. I find Action with the best year round availability.

Ryan Johnson has a great How-To for making these:

http://www.johnsonschristmascorner.com/Cords.html

The only change I would make to his method for "inline" taps, is instead of using a hack saw blade, use the side profile edge of a metal file. It is the exact right width, and with a few pulls of the file, you have your wall removed to fit the cord perfectly.

Or, just pick up some inline plugs from CDI...

I created some mini-tree wiring harnesses this year, using a common neutral for several "quadrants" of trees, so used a lot of inline plugs. Had originally planned on modifying the standard plugs, but when i did a last minute wire order from CDI, I bought a bunch of the inline plugs, and the time savings more than paid for them...there is no price difference, and hence no real savings modifiying the end plugs.