Where should I start?

[Guest guest]

TitanBry77 wrote:

Thank you for the information. Now that CCR is some cool stuff! I didn't know it existed until now, albeit expensive, but cool, and the technology is amazing.

It looks like one spool is about 16ft long. That seems like it could be enough to do maybe 2 very small arches? hmmm

Don't quote me on this, but I think the CCR has only been around for about a year now, could be slightly less or slightly more, so it's still a fairly new item to the LOR family, as well as still a fairly new technological advancement in lighting.

When I can afford some, I plan on buying them and using them myself. They are just so cool, just wish they'd come down in price just a bit though. Maybe they will by the time I'm ready to purchase a few or the technology will improve even more on them to make them that much better and the price still be about the same.

If you can afford enough of them, you can actually make animated characters with them, spell out words, just so much more than you can do with any light string, which makes them all the more versatile for animated displays like we do.

[BrandonH]

Welcome to the hobby! You have come to the right place.

I think you mentioned the 16 channel circuit board being unavailable in your previous post. That would be the LOR series board. Light O Rama sells two different types of circuit boards: DIY and LOR series. The DIY series is preferred for home light shows normally, because they are smaller and cheaper. The LOR board has the same capabilities, but is bigger, heavier, and more expensive.

If you would like to compare the two boards, Light O Rama has a comparison chart in the middle of this page: http://www.lightorama.com/ShowtimePC.html

For our lightshow, we have always used the mostly assembled DIY boards, because plugging in wires only takes around an hour, and the circuit board does not require soldering. http://store.lightorama.com/ctascpa.html

[JBullard]

Orville wrote:

Don't quote me on this, but I think the CCR has only been around for about a year now, could be slightly less or slightly more, so it's still a fairly new item to the LOR family, as well as still a fairly new technological advancement in lighting.

The CCR was introduced in July 2009. That was when I bought mine.

It is now considered to be a very mature and reliable LOR product and not at all new.

The DIY community was using RGB ribbons and pixel strings in Christmas displays even before LOR introduced their version over 2 years ago.

[Guest guest]

JBullard wrote:

Orville wrote:

Don't quote me on this, but I think the CCR has only been around for about a year now, could be slightly less or slightly more, so it's still a fairly new item to the LOR family, as well as still a fairly new technological advancement in lighting.

The CCR was introduced in July 2009. That was when I bought mine.

It is now considered to be a very mature and reliable LOR product and not at all new.

The DIY community was using RGB ribbons and pixel strings in Christmas displays even before LOR introduced their version over 2 years ago.

That's why I said don't quote me on the time. Just seems like they just released that not all that long ago. Wow, 2009, sure doesn't seem like it was that long ago. I didn't start in this until 2010 for my first display, but was playing with the DEMO software in very late 2009 to learn how it worked before taking the plunge. I guess the CCR was around back then, but since I wasn't looking for one or that type of lighting at the time, I just wasn't aware it was available until much later in late 2010. Hence why I thought it may be a somewhat new item, although only a little over 2 years old, I'd still say it's fairly new to the market from LOR. Don't know about other CCR types, never really looked at anything like that until more recently.

But thanks for clearing up the time frame and date.

[JBullard]

BrandonH wrote:

Welcome to the hobby! You have come to the right place.

I think you mentioned the 16 channel circuit board being unavailable in your previous post. That would be the LOR series board. Light O Rama sells two different types of circuit boards: DIY and LOR series. The DIY series is preferred for home light shows normally, because they are smaller and cheaper. The LOR board has the same capabilities, but is bigger, heavier, and more expensive.

I think you are refering to the LOR Showtime PC controller as the DIY. Not exactly correct to call it DIY as it is also available fully assembled for plug and play, as well as a solder it yourself kit..

What you are referring to as LOR series is really the LOR Showtime Pro controller series. It has UL 508 certification for jurisdictions where the local codes have this requirement. It also has extra capabilities that the LOR Showtime PC series does not have.

I have both types, and each has its advantages depending on the application.

[Dave Boros]

TitanBry77 wrote:

Hey all, great forum here. I have been looking around for awhile and finally want to take a stab at starting a light show.

I was looking at the 16 Channel Starter package as maybe a place to start.

I have always done tons of lights (incandescent mainly) and have lots of strands. I had some questions that if anyone could help me with it would get me going in the right direction.

1) If the controller is 16 channel, does that mean I can only use 16 strands? Or can I have multiple strands on 1 channel?

2) Can any types of lights be used? For instance I really want to try some arches and love how the bulbs are lit one at a time fastly to almost look like its leaping etc. I also have some plastic trees (spiral) with strands of lights around them, can I make them chase as well?

3) Between owning my own business, 2 kids, sports etc, I don't realistically see myself having time to sit and program an entire show. Other than the ones for purchase on LOR, are there other sources of pre-sequenced shows? Are they adaptable to my lights for instance if I didn't have as many channels etc?

Thanks again, and love everyone's input and time and effort in to their displays! I can't wait to get started (albeit it's a late start this year lol)

If the controller is 16 channel, does that mean I can only use 16 strands? Or can I have multiple strands on 1 channel?

Yes you can hook multple strands/channel, you just need to watch your amps. Pretty sure its 8/ channel, 15/ bank on the pc controller. Each contrler has 2 banks. (Ch 1-8 and ch 9-16). You can have more amps hooked up to each bank DEPENDING on how you program your lights, but ONLY A MAX of 15 at a time per bank (30 total for the controller). And mega trees and arches are channel hogs. My mega is 21 channels. It would be more, but I only have 32 at the moment. Next year, it will be more, cause I plan on getting at least one, probably two more controllers for next year. Maybe even three because I want arches next year.

[TitanBry77]

BrandonH wrote:

Welcome to the hobby! You have come to the right place.

I think you mentioned the 16 channel circuit board being unavailable in your previous post. That would be the LOR series board. Light O Rama sells two different types of circuit boards: DIY and LOR series. The DIY series is preferred for home light shows normally, because they are smaller and cheaper. The LOR board has the same capabilities, but is bigger, heavier, and more expensive.

If you would like to compare the two boards, Light O Rama has a comparison chart in the middle of this page: http://www.lightorama.com/ShowtimePC.html

For our lightshow, we have always used the mostly assembled DIY boards, because plugging in wires only takes around an hour, and the circuit board does not require soldering. http://store.lightorama.com/ctascpa.html

Thanks, I was just looking at them now and didn't know there were 2 different options. It looks as though it's a good savings and the ProSeries and PCSeries don't have a ton of differences between them.

What do most people use here, the Pro or PC?

[Dave Boros]

Most I've seen talked about here is the pc. I have the pc, and my friend down the road does as well.

[Dave Boros]

Most I've seen talked about here is the pc. I have the pc, and my friend down the road does as well.

[JBullard]

I have both types. The application depends on which type I use where.

[TitanBry77]

Ok, I pulled the trigger and ordered the PCSeries to start, upgraded the USB and the software. Now to hope it takes less than 2-3 weeks to arrive :)

[Dave Boros]

TitanBry77 wrote:

Ok, I pulled the trigger and ordered the PCSeries to start, upgraded the USB and the software. Now to hope it takes less than 2-3 weeks to arrive

They should probably be fairly caught up, I ordered mine late the first day the went back up for sale and got it today. So, that was 12 days I think including weekends. I'd just start bustin out the sequences so when you get them, you can just make some tweaks if needed. Good luck and have fun!

[Dave Boros]

And welcome to the madness!

[TitanBry77]

Thanks! I am excited.

I was wondering what a lot of you use to secure the lights when you outline the house, like around the gutters etc. I imagine they get pretty heavy if you do a couple individual color strings and so forth.

[Dave Boros]

TitanBry77 wrote:

Thanks! I am excited.

I was wondering what a lot of you use to secure the lights when you outline the house, like around the gutters etc. I imagine they get pretty heavy if you do a couple individual color strings and so forth.

I just use gutter clips, lots of em. My buddy made something out of pvc pipe and mounted those with the metal strap brckets. He made a form for his table saw and cut down the length of the pipe, 1/2" diam I believe, and then slid the base of his light and the wire into it. Nice staight 10 ft lengths. Just a lot of work.

[Dave Boros]

The problem I have is around the windows. Any tips there so I dont get the mid season droop.

[TitanBry77]

That seems like it would be harder than outlining the house, I wasn't thinking of doing much on the windows this year, just add progressively but it would be good to know how to keep them nice and tight around the windows.

I was thinking also, what does one do when you say need 2 lengths but the 2nd length of lighting is too long, can you clip it off and wire on a female end receptacle or is it more involved than that.

[TitanBry77]

I did find these in my search, not sure how they would work.

http://christmaslightsballtipclip.blogspot.com/

[Dave Boros]

TitanBry77 wrote:

That seems like it would be harder than outlining the house, I wasn't thinking of doing much on the windows this year, just add progressively but it would be good to know how to keep them nice and tight around the windows.

I was thinking also, what does one do when you say need 2 lengths but the 2nd length of lighting is too long, can you clip it off and wire on a female end receptacle or is it more involved than that.

I think there might be ways to do that, but I dont know how. There was a post a cohple weeks ago about that, i think. I dont remember if it was in general or hardware or newbies, but it was called something like taking 50 to 20. If I have somewhere to tuck the other length, I put them in a black bag and tuck them. Like I said, dont know how to cut them.

[CKSedg]

It's definitely more involved. The lights will burn very quickly because the voltage is now spread across just 20 lights instead of 50.

There are ways to do it, but covering them up is the easiest way for sure. I bought some shrink tubing just larger than the light bulb. I cut it just a bit longer than the light bulb and pushed it on as far as I could. Then I heated it to shrink it to the light, and used a pair of needle nosed pliers to "close" the open end (while it was hot). Worked great. I am using LED lights, but incandescent lights should work this way too.