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Hi LOR forums. Im here in recent findings of Wizards in winter, which in a list of links from websites brought me here. This post is just about me, I don't have any actual questions yet.

I Currently use the for my so called "light show" (blinks and fades with no music) The: http://www.digital-decorating.com/ (digital decorating instant light show) I want more to my display. I currently have 1200 mini lights and 20 C7 lights. I like my little display, but I want it to go to music.

I have the basic understanding of Light show wiring from three years of use with the Digital decorating box. I know I can sequence the light with music, I edit video often and need to have the video go with the song. Both examples are different than what I will face in the year to come.

I looked into buying a lor for next year, and im planning on doing so. My house is small and the houses are close in my area, so im going small scale. I plan on starting with 16 channels. Also I plan on broadcasting fm with: http://www.ramseyelectronics.com/cgi-bin/commerce.exe?preadd=action&key=AM1C

I plan on buying the kit, I feel I can build it fine, I’ve been playing around with computers the last 12 years of my life, and have built a few. I know that’s not the same, im just saying.

I have the demo version of the program, and I love it, I have 40 seconds of sandstorm programmed out. (I dowt ill actually use that song) I plan on having about 1700 lights, and 20 C7, again I will say I must stay small.

So im here and I will probably be lurking around for the year.

Thanks for reading and I hope I can get my small show working next year. (2007)

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Good luck to you. I have learned so much from PC and what we wanted to do. We bought 16 channels this year. I have had so much fun finding and editing the songs, and doing the synchronization. Next year we will have 32 or 48 channels. We are even going to use it for our big halloween display next year. We have so many cars come by to see our show every night and it makes me feel so good to see the people enjoying what we have done. To be honest, I am a stay at home mom and did all the synchronizing myself and all the music editing myself too. We have 10 songs now and we even had or voiceovers done by The Demented Elf.

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Hi Doublea,

I am new this year and just started with a 16 channel lor.

So far lot's of fun and the group here is awesome for helping, advice and sharing of information and material.

Good Luck & Merry Christmas!

Stuart

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How far do you need to transmit the radio signal? I don't think you'll be happy with the quality of that kit. I made similar mistake this year and bought a FM10. It was static city...I couldn't get a clear signal even 30 feet from the transmitter! It wasn't enough to reach the road. You could hear the music, but it sounded terrible. For me, it was worth investing into a solid kit that will give quality sound.

I'll even sell you my old FM10! :laughing:

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Just curious if anyone has done 16 channle wizards of winter show... if so id like to see...

I have a whole year so I will have time to do many songs if I want to.

When running the show, does the computer running it have to be on all the time? Or can I just turn it on every night before the show.

Also: I have 4 computers to pick from to do this with, I have an old emachines etower 400ie, 160 mb ram, 400 mhz, win 98 se, 40 gb hd. I would like to do my show with that computer, its old I never use it, and it meets lor requierments. Also it is quiet, and uses small ammounts of energy. All my other computers are actualy usable computers, one hp pc Xp (734n) my second choice, its loud, but has more power. Rarly used. my other computer is my gaming rig and I will not use it for lor unless I need to (I built this one :)) (note all my computers have serial ports and usb ports)

I plan on having a sign in my window up stairs saying what fm station to tune to. (visable, yet less clutter for my near houses to see) also I will have my lor computer in that room, running the cat 5 cable down my roof to my yard. (less than 100 ft)

I hope im not in lala land thinking I can do this. Thx for the warm welcome, I can tell this is a nice fourm community.



oh and quick question where are you getting the image for the signatures? I want to use the one that says I am a lor newb :laughing:.

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How far do you need to transmit the radio signal? I don't think you'll be happy with the quality of that kit. I made similar mistake this year and bought a FM10. It was static city...I couldn't get a clear signal even 30 feet from the transmitter! It wasn't enough to reach the road. You could hear the music, but it sounded terrible. For me, it was worth investing into a solid kit that will give quality sound.

I'll even sell you my old FM10! :laughing:


[line]



It says it can go 1/4 of a mile, but again the co. that makes it says that...

I need to bradcast about 200 feet (its actualy less than 50 feet to the road from the window), though 800 ft would be nice. Also I want to keep the $$ low...

my total planned light show budget... $400 that includes the $167 kit, $40 lights, $50 ish for the fm transmitter, $20 box to put lor in, $20 for wires, $99 for software. Im throwing nice round numbers out right now...

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Welcome! I stumbled in here about a year ago with the same idea, start planning for the next season. Use your time well.

The only good advice from here I didn't follow was 'start small'. I looked at that as a challenge to my manhood, but it wasn't a message to tell me I couldn't. The message was, it is a lot of work. I've easily got 600 hours over the last year in planning, buying, building, sequencing, installing, testing.

My advice to you is about time planning. Whatever time you think it will take, triple it to get a low-end estimate.

Jeff in Raleigh

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doublea wrote:

I need to bradcast about 200 feet (its actualy less than 50 feet to the road from the window), though 800 ft would be nice. Also I want to keep the $$ low...

my total planned light show budget... $400 that includes the $167 kit, $40 lights, $50 ish for the fm transmitter, $20 box to put lor in, $20 for wires, $99 for software. Im throwing nice round numbers out right now...

I think you will have a hard time sticking to this budget. A big cost is the cost of extension cords for all 16 channels. It's unlikely that your display will be setup so that you don't need any. Remember, each channel will need extension cords unless the lights are close enough to the LOR box to plug in directly.
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movtarget wrote:

Welcome! I stumbled in here about a year ago with the same idea, start planning for the next season. Use your time well.

The only good advice from here I didn't follow was 'start small'. I looked at that as a challenge to my manhood, but it wasn't a message to tell me I couldn't. The message was, it is a lot of work. I've easily got 600 hours over the last year in planning, buying, building, sequencing, installing, testing.

My advice to you is about time planning. Whatever time you think it will take, triple it to get a low-end estimate.

Jeff in Raleigh

This is very true. I kept making my first project so complicated I nearly killed myself trying to get it all done. (It's an expression. :laughing::laughing::laughing:) There really are a lot of small pieces and minor details, and it takes a lot longer than you think. You will thank yourself later for not creating a complicated plan your first year.
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I think you will have a hard time sticking to this budget. A big cost is the cost of extension cords for all 16 channels. It's unlikely that your display will be setup so that you don't need any. Remember, each channel will need extension cords unless the lights are close enough to the LOR box to plug in directly.




I already have lot of cords from using my digital decorating box. I have 30 6 foot cords I think, also I have an extremely small yard, in fact almost none at all. (I know I need a cord for each channel) I know it will be hard to say in $400 if I go over its not the end of the world...


thx for the help :)
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doublea wrote:

I currently have 1200 mini lights and 20 C7 lights. I like my little display, but I want it to go to music.

I've given this advice to anyone who will listen. It was given to me, and I was able to run 80 channels in year one.

You already have a display. Go out there NOW, with an amp meter, and figure the loads on everything you have. Write this information down.

Now, figure out how many channels it will take to animate your current display. Decide how much control you want. More channels = More control. Less Channels = Possibly having to double up on things.

Look at your sheet. Do you have enough money to buy the channels needed for your display? Can you afford more?

If you can afford more ... buy them.

Once you have made this decision, don't move away from it. Period. Do not add any more channels this year.

You can now begin planning your layout. You already have your electrical loads calculated, so you can begin planning where on the controllers you are going to plug in the lights. (Search the forums for Rick Williams spread sheet)

Now that you have your channels set, loads figured, etc., you can begin the sequencing process.

Following these steps I was able to begin sequencing in May of my first year. This allowed me to run 10 songs my first year. (And one more that was sequenced for me.)
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Hey doublea,

Don posted a very good source of ideas. I also wanted to add. Please take a day or two and read thru the LOR, lights, and other forums in this chat room. There is a whole new world of info here and each topic is almost like an instruction booklet to an idea, a situation or a problem that was incountered and solved. And most certainly, almost every question asked has been answered.

So your homework is to read the past posts of the forums provided. Read them, learn from them (print them off if you have to), and get after it. Almost every question you have will be answered from reading the history of the past 6 months.

Hope this helps,

Tom

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I've given this advice to anyone who will listen. It was given to me, and I was able to run 80 channels in year one.

You already have a display. Go out there NOW, with an amp meter, and figure the loads on everything you have. Write this information down.

Now, figure out how many channels it will take to animate your current display. Decide how much control you want. More channels = More control. Less Channels = Possibly having to double up on things.

Look at your sheet. Do you have enough money to buy the channels needed for your display? Can you afford more?

If you can afford more ... buy them.

Once you have made this decision, don't move away from it. Period. Do not add any more channels this year.

You can now begin planning your layout. You already have your electrical loads calculated, so you can begin planning where on the controllers you are going to plug in the lights. (Search the forums for Rick Williams spread sheet)

Now that you have your channels set, loads figured, etc., you can begin the sequencing process.

Following these steps I was able to begin sequencing in May of my first year. This allowed me to run 10 songs my first year. (And one more that was sequenced for me.)



Im starting out small, I knwo that. 16 channles, max 32. My house has literly no yard, (town house) When I do get a larger house and hopefuly have more experiance with LOR, I want to go big...I knew that the first time I watched a large scale light show when I was 12 years old in Lewiston, Idaho.

That is actualy a good idia to go out now and see what my loads are. I alredy have planned to add 500 more lites, im sure I can find more palces to put more. I have overlaoaded my digital decorating box alredy... (ops... wrong plug) But I dont think I will have any overloading problems with less than 2000 lights...

Thx for the good advice, and replying to all of my questions :)
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I'll try to get some pics of my house on here soon to really show you guys how truly small my house is. I woudl like to go big and im sure I can save the $$ up to go bigger...

Im in california a small house in the bay area is the big $$

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don has some Great advice.. this is my first year doing any display of this magnitude.. i never couldve pulled mine off without planetchristmas this place is awesome!, I went larger right away only because I knew id get discouraged if I didnt have a lot of channels to play with. I started in late september and have 4 songs running. More channels gives you more freedom even if you only plug a few lights into each channel. 16 channels in a small space will give you a great Light show, since you have a year to work on it you can play around with all the different effects can do.. im finding that a good part of the really nice displays i drive by is how they transition from one effect to another.. welcome aboard and Have fun :)

oh yeah and buy twice the number extension cords you think you need.. I dont even want to imagine how many tubs of cords ill have packed away after this season.

-Christopher

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http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q51/doubleatheman/christmaslights005jpg.jpg



This is a picture of my house I took today. I opened it in paint and put in where I think my imaginary 16 channels should go. (the people next to me have the pumpkin out by the door, not me.)

Im asking for input on channel placements, and also ideas on how to improve.

And one more question, what is a good song for a newb to sequence to, what song should I attempt to tackle first?

PM me your email address and I will send you my .lor visualization.
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