First LOR Show Is A Parade!

[Guest guest]

This is my first year to do a fully synchronized light show with LOR. My first real show and it was a float (actually a fully lighted & decorated pontoon boat) for a Christmas Parade in Shawnee, Oklahoma. Our local Parrothead club (Central Oklahoma Parrothead Association) entered the float and asked me if I would put together a light show.

The parade theme was "Christmas Around The World", so of course our theme for the float was "Christmas In The Caribbean. We spent 2 evenings decorating and setting up and testing lights & sound and tonight we unveiled our moving display. After some scary moments just prior to the parade start, we finally managed to get the lights working and everything went smoothly from there. The problem was a bad connection to the USB485 Adapter. The lights would barely flicker on until I moved the connection and then they would come on like they should. The problem was intermittent. I tried 2 different Cat 5 cables and had the same problem with both. I finally managed to get a solid connection and using electrical tape to get it to stay connected for the duration of the parade.

We used a Honda generator that is rated for over 40 amps which powered the lights and sound system. The laptop was set-up inside the truck with the LOR 1602WHS on the boat. We used all 16 channels and used the following 5 songs that I had sequenced.

Christmas In The Caribbean - Jimmy Buffett
Island Jingle Bells - Jimmy Buffett
Feliz Navidad - Jaci Velasquez
Having A Tropical Christmas - Jimmy Buffett
Mele Kalikimaka - Jimmy Buffett

As far as lights, we used 2,500 mini lights, 150' of clear rope light and 150' of multi colored rope light, 16 lighted candy canes, a lighted palm tree, lighted Christmas tree and lighted wreath. Of course we had mucho tropical decorations. We had about a dozen of our members on board as well as a fully-dressed pirate and our very own Carmen Miranda complete w/ maracas. I'm quite sure there was some hot buttered rum on board also!

Bottom line is: We brought home the trophy for "Best Use of Lights" aka the "Clark Griswald Award"

Hopefully I will be posting some pics soon and possibly some video if it turned out well.

A special thanks to PC member "Santa's Helper". Tom let us borrow his LOR unit that we had on board. He was a real lifesaver, because my 3 boards are setup in a permanent installation in my garage and using one of them would've meant disassembling my setup and I really didn't want to do that right now.

I haven't been able to get my home display totally up and running due to our lousy icy and snowy weather, the parade preparations and some other circumstances. Hopefully I will get it up and running this weekend. I hope so, because our city contest is scheduled for the 14th and I would like to compete in it.

Merry Christmas & Happy Lighting To All!

[Guest guest]

Dana,

That is GREAT news :waycool::waycool::waycool::waycool::waycool:!!!

Congrats on the award.

You better provide some pics and video (I don't care how bad they look). From your description, that sounds like a heck of a float display.

I'm glad it all went well (I hate those last minute bug things).

Again, congrats on your efforts for what sounds like it paid off.

Now get those decorations going at your house dang it :].

Tom

It was a great feeling to be able to help out a fellow P.C.er/friend. Thanks for the mention. I'd help out anytime I can.

[Guest guest]

I have always wondered with the LOR parade thing, doesn't the generator make an awful amount of noise? Do you have to blast the music to drown it out? I'm curious how the setup works for this.

[Guest guest]

The generator was the most quiet I've ever heard. The music was at a moderate level yet loud enough for the crowd to hear. We had the speakers on the boat, but the sound system and the generator were in the back of the truck.

My concern was if the power from the generator would be at a consistent level throughout, but it never varied at all.

Thanks for the interest, I will be glad to answer any further questions you might have.

[Guest guest]

Do you know the model number of the Honda Generator? I had horrible luck with a "good" generator, but it wasn't a Honda. I've looked online at Honda's "Inverter" series and it sounds like it should work, but I'm leery now. My parade float was just on "solid" for this year.

As far as noise, practically every float had a generator and mine was one of the quieter ones. I turned up the volume to cover THEIR noise, not mine.

Glad your parade went so well.

[Guest guest]

For anyone else who was trying to figure out what a parrothead club was, here it is. :)

Central Oklahoma Parrothead Association (COPA) is a group of people who enjoy the writings and music of Jimmy Buffett and the lifestyle he portrays. Sometimes known as "Angels in Tropical Shirts", we share in social and community betterment activities. We "party with a purpose" while serving our local and global communities as a service organization. We, also, have a lot of fun getting together, sharing stories and just enjoying life. We are an Official Member of Parrot Heads in Paradise (PHIP).

[Tom B.]

Hi,

Do you have any videos of your float?

Would love to see them.

T.

[iresq]

JonB256 wrote:

Do you know the model number of the Honda Generator? I had horrible luck with a "good" generator, but it wasn't a Honda. I've looked online at Honda's "Inverter" series and it sounds like it should work, but I'm leery now. My parade float was just on "solid" for this year.

As far as noise, practically every float had a generator and mine was one of the quieter ones. I turned up the volume to cover THEIR noise, not mine.

Glad your parade went so well.

When using a generator with senstive electronics (LOR, soundsystems), the inverter series is what you should be looking at. I have a Honda EU2000i. I use it for camping and DJ'ing. Not cheap at $1000 but its light, quiet, and fuel effecient. I needed quiet for camping and inverted for running my DJ equipment.