Newbie Regrets?

[enraginangel]

Looking back at what I've done starting out as a newbie, there are some things I wish I had done instead.

1. Saving money by getting a Residential Light Controller.

I could have saved quite a bit of money there which could have gone towards more lights!

2. Getting half-wave LEDs.

Some people tell me that they get headaches looking at half-wave.

3. Programming songs in advance before set-up of lights.

I always thought I had to see it set up and in action before I could program it. Now I don't have enough time to do it exceptionally well this year.

4. Getting the correct sized extension cords.

It's just a wiry mess back there. I don't even want to look at it. And I don't even know where to begin to clean it up.

5. Lending people extension cords.

I wasn't using them before my setup and now I'm short on cords since people never returned them back.


6. Starting slow.

I bought two CCRs a couple weeks ago, but I didn't have enough time to learn how to use it completely. You look at all these wonderful displays that inspire you, but your wallet tells you that you can't do it just yet.

[Guest guest]

All good learning experiences.

Re number 4, consider buying SPT next year, along with your own plugs and sockets. You'll be amazed at how much easier it is to manage custom length (and custom design, if needed) extension cords.

[CKSedg]

DonFL wrote:

All good learning experiences.

Re number 4, consider buying SPT next year, along with your own plugs and sockets. You'll be amazed at how much easier it is to manage custom length (and custom design, if needed) extension cords.

+1. This is the first year I have made custom length cords. What a difference! If the cords are longer than about six feet, it's also just as cheap. I still use some "store-bought" cords, but only those I already had that are the correct length.

[Guest Don Gillespie]

CKSedg wrote:

DonFL wrote:

All good learning experiences.

Re number 4, consider buying SPT next year, along with your own plugs and sockets. You'll be amazed at how much easier it is to manage custom length (and custom design, if needed) extension cords.

+1. This is the first year I have made custom length cords. What a difference! If the cords are longer than about six feet, it's also just as cheap. I still use some "store-bought" cords, but only those I already had that are the correct length.

couldn't agree more, I myself have gone through just over two thousand feet of SPT wire alone not to mention all the other extension cords I am running

[jimswinder]

enraginangel wrote:

3. Programming songs in advance before set-up of lights.

I always thought I had to see it set up and in action before I could program it. Now I don't have enough time to do it exceptionally well this year.

BIG mistake....

you should already be sequencing for NEXT YEAR!!!

[WilliamS]

DonFL wrote:

All good learning experiences.

Re number 4, consider buying SPT next year, along with your own plugs and sockets. You'll be amazed at how much easier it is to manage custom length (and custom design, if needed) extension cords.

Cant agree more, this is my first year, and 1000 foot of SPT1 and the plugs were a life saver, everything is very tidy.

[PaulXmas]

#1 Costly lesson but looks like you learned and you could sell them and buy the PC controllers and have money left over!
#2 Just make sure you buy good quality, not a good deal if they die of 1 or 2 seasons.
#3 Program all year long! Start thinking about next year's display NOW!
#4 Move to a colder place where snow covers the cords!
Mine look like hell until the first snow fall.
Every year I say I will make them neater next year but....
#5 Isn't that some kind of sin???
#6 LOL take your time, this should be fun, a lot of work but fun!

[Scott T]

I tell everybody ...

It's not hard, just time consuming!

[james campbell]

Scott T wrote:

I tell everybody ...

It's not hard, just time consuming!

that is so true, I have a friend who bought three ccrs right before Thanksgiving and I did a song for him he kept saying I could never do that, told him the same thing. He had better learn because he wants more stuff next year and I want more stuff next year,mine comes first:D

[CKSedg]

I have people ask me all the time about getting into this hobby/obsession. When we start talking about the money and the time it takes, all have bowed out so far.

[fxdwg]

another thing to think of, next year when you go with spt and plugs, once your cords are ran, zip tie them together for common elements or common runs.

e.g. i have 32 minitrees, both in green and red, so the 64 cords that power them, get zip tied once they are in place. when i take the display apart this year, it will be coiled all together and next year, i will simply uncoil and roll it out and connect everything. planning this year should save a large amount of time for next year.

[TitanBry77]

My first year here also, I did the SPT cable route, and I did as Fxdwg does. For my mini trees, and arches etc, I zip tied the cables together, and then I neatly marked on both ends of the cable what they go to. It should make next year a snap.

For the cables that aren't in groups, I still marked each end so I can coil them up and store for next year.

Doing the cables cut to size saved a ton time and I was able to make it all very neat.

Programming the sequences is where I goofed. Way under estimated how much time it took, I also had a tough time doing it, not seeing what it did not connected to the lights, now that I know what it does, how the timing reacts etc, I should be able to start earlier, definitely planning something for Halloween etc.

[Donald McBride]

Another good idea, when making SPT wire bundles for more than one color per display item, is to color code the ends with spray paint and number the male ends. Makes putting them out the next time a lot faster and you don't get the channels mixed up.

[TJ Hvasta]

+1 ^^^^ Don's a frikkin' genius!!

[CKSedg]

Donald McBride wrote:

Another good idea, when making SPT wire bundles for more than one color per display item, is to color code the ends with spray paint and number the male ends. Makes putting them out the next time a lot faster and you don't get the channels mixed up.

I haven't color coded them with spray paint, but I mark each end with the color. For instance B1 means: Blue, mini tree 1, etc.

[jimswinder]

mine are both painted (Red, Blue and White and left unpainted for Green) and marked with a sharpie with Unit ID and Channel # as I have 4 controllers per enclosure...

makes set-up very easy...

unless you mis-mark the plugs with the wrong Unit ID's and Channels #'s...

then it takes HOURS to figure out where you went wrong...

at least that is what I hear anyway...

[David Rise]

I made an SS of my channel configuration.

I used colored zip ties at each end to keep the cords straight. The rest was just making sure that I connected only one prop at a time.

Each bundle of cords are zip tied together. When I take them down, I will label them for which prop they go to. Making it easy to route them back to the correct prop next year.

I thought that I would have plenty of extension cords. I sure am glad that I got in on a SPT2 bulk buy. I used the entire spool to make custom length cords.

[TitanBry77]

All excellent Ideas, I just made sure to use the sharpie on both ends of the spt cable. I also made a spreadsheet like David.

I had it printed out and folded up when I was outside getting ready for the first lighting, and I pulled out was looking over everything, I felt just like Clark Griswald in that scene!

[DownTown]

Scott T wrote:

I tell everybody ...

It's not hard, just time consuming!

I'll take issue with that... moving that 28' ladder and getting those controllers and lights and wreaths and cords up on the roof IS hard... Better eat your Wheaties...

D.T.

[fxdwg]

Along with the zip ties each cord gets a strip of red/green/blue/white electrical tape at the display element end, that way I know who goes where for each color.