mgrant8163 Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 I'm new and this is my first post.In putting up my typical holiday display this year and watching my kids dance around in the yard with excitement I realized that my lights and displays are getting old and it's time to replace most of them. Enter LORIf you were to start from scratch. What would you do differently? What kind of lights would be buy- LEDs vs incandecent?, controllers, PC, cords, props, etc. I figure that after Christmas sales would be the best.I have the opportunity to start buying equipment over the next year and I'd love to come out the other side with a first rate show.Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wbottomley Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 LED's. The only way to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imacericg Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 wbottomley wrote:LED's. The only way to go.Agree. I was a cheap and bought all incandescents. I have had power problems after power problems. I bet I have enough $$$ in running 20amp circuits, etc than the cost of just buying LEDs.I wish I had 2011 all over again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caniac Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 Last year was a learning year so I wouldn't do much different, thought a rope light mega tree would be cool but the rope light wasn't particularly bright and ended up having burnout spots. But needed that live and learn to pull off this year. My only issue for this year is that I should have stopped playing with props around August and focused completely on Halloween/Christmas sequencing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travis p Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 seems like all us newbies are in close to the same boat but i got some real good advice from the guys with christmas carolina i went all led edm fm transmitter i just gotta learn to close the hook ends of my mega tree guy wires tree lasted 3 days before the wind blew it down.(ever tryed to restring a webber in the dark thank goodness those leds are tuff did not lose one) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Champion Sound Entertainment Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 The Incans use more power - but i like them better. To me the LEDs just feel cold and lacking soul...But than again I also prefer vinyl records to MP3's and CD's...To each their own...As for power, i use the 20k watt generator i got in case of emergencies / power outages for my xmas display so i can run another 200,000 incan lights without batting an eye Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donny M. Carter Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 I would RUN! I've already spent thousands on new lights, wires,and plug ends for 2012! I can't stop At least it's not illegal, right?Donny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scubado Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 At the moment I'm glad I have cheap led and minis in my display. I have a rabbit that's done quite a bit of chewing. I would really be PO'ed if I had really nice led strings. If I could start over and money were no object, I would like all berry or C6 led lights.Paul at CDI just announced he has RGB strings. That would be great for my bushes. Four sets of strings weighs down the branches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhitePlainsNY Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 I wish I had built all my extension cords from scratch and labelled them correctly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Hall Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 Not buy all of this stuff and instead have an LS fuel injected engine in my Monte? Although this gives more people more smiles per gallon that that would. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron Maue Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 All LEDs for sure. 2 nights of rain so far this year. Both nights, the GFCIs tripped with all controllers that are running incans. I have one that is running only LEDs and it runs rock solid even in the rain and even though those lights and plugs are more exposed than some of the others. I'll be replacing my in cans with LEDs next year.No guarantees this will help, but keeping my fingers crossed that a lower power draw really helps the cause. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Mitchell Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 I would have bought a bigger shed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CKSedg Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 All LEDs for sure. I started with icans three years ago and have gradually replaced them with LEDs. Buy lots of SPT wire and vampire plugs to make cords, buy the advanced software right off the bat, and start early (January!) to sequence. And make every fixture/prop easy to put up and take down each year. Also, order LEDs online early.Great hobby, but can be very time and money consuming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Simmons Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 Brian Mitchell wrote: I would have bought a bigger shed. +1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BBY2KS2K Posted December 15, 2011 Share Posted December 15, 2011 I would start putting the lights up earlier. Especially here in the Pacific Northwest where the weather doesn't always cooperate. I refuse to climb on a wet roof. I didn't have my show running until Dec 1st. My goal was Thanksgiving weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjmiller Posted December 15, 2011 Share Posted December 15, 2011 What a great question!To start with - you're in the right place to get a lot of information and advice. I don't know how much time you have spent here in the forums reading posts.When I was first considering an animated display I spent a couple of months on these forums and kept seeing: Welcome to the hobby, obsession, addiction - which didn't make sense at first. I was going to buy a controller animate my display - and be happy! HA! Four years later I'm up to 10 controllers, and I add new features and controllers to my display every year - as well as now doing a Halloween display.The first thing you should do is view the LOR tutorials on sequencing a song, then download the LOR S3 Demo software. Pick a Christmas song you can stand to listen to a couple of hundred times (download Audacity and convert the song to .wav), build an animation in LOR that represents your display - and sequence the song. In my case the planned 1 controller didn't give me the visual effects I wanted - so year 1 I started out with 3 controllers... and I found that it took a lot longer to sequence then I thought it would. I plan on 30 to 60 hours per song for sequencing.Now that you have sequenced a song for YOUR display you'll know how many controllers you want to start with - and how many lights you "used".Figure out what you're budget will be for the next year, and plan, plan, then plan some more...What % of your budget will be for controllers - will you buy fully assembled or kit?You'll need an FM Transmitter to broadcast the music - EDM is the leader in quality product.How are you going to have the music playing for your display - I put a boomboxoutside, or you could put stereo speakers.Depending on your preference, ican or LED - power may be an issue, I used the spreadsheet that http://www.Quarzthillchristmas.com has available to plan my power consumption per controller when I was using primarily mini-lights. I happen to like how LED lights have that brightness that pops out of the display - and have converted most lighting to LED.My note on LED strings from the box stores, I no longer buy them. It's a gamble whether they will fade, twinkle or shimmer. Most of the box store lights have replaceable bulbs, the conductors in the socket are copper and the leads on the LED are solder tinned - dissimilar metals corrode when exposed to moisture. I tossed 10 strings this year, all bought last year - and I'm still not done putting up my display.Buy your lights during the pre-season sales, I happen to be a fan of Creative Displays - 30% discount and excellent service/support. Sale is going on now.Part of your planning needs to include the next biggest $ expense, extension cords. Most buy SPT-1 bulk wire and use vampire plugs and receptacles. Label both ends of your extension cords - next year when you put up your display you can sort the cords by feature and quickly assemble the display.Last but not least - time management.Even after reading the forums for a few months, I didn't really comprehend what it took to do an animated display.It's not what I would do differently, it's that I didn't know what to plan for.Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caniac Posted December 15, 2011 Share Posted December 15, 2011 Champion Sound Entertainment wrote: The Incans use more power - but i like them better. To me the LEDs just feel cold and lacking soul...But than again I also prefer vinyl records to MP3's and CD's...To each their own...As for power, i use the 20k watt generator i got in case of emergencies / power outages for my xmas display so i can run another 200,000 incan lights without batting an eyethere are load limitations per channel (maximum amps) so with incans you may easily exceed that, hard to do with LED's plus now they have a "warm white" one that IMO matches the soft glow of incans. I also hate paying the power company more than I have to so LED's gives me more lights, bright lights, without making the power company smile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wmilkie Posted December 15, 2011 Share Posted December 15, 2011 Start planning display and sequencing in January instead of waiting till October:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caniac Posted December 15, 2011 Share Posted December 15, 2011 wmilkie wrote: Start planning display and sequencing in January instead of waiting till October:)that was my lesson learned from this year, kept thinking I would get to it and it would take no time but was wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeA Posted December 15, 2011 Share Posted December 15, 2011 I am happy with my decision to NOT use LED's yet. I buy medium quality Phillips brand incon's and have been happy so far. This has allowed me to grow my display and channel count. If I would have gone all LED's I would have about 1/4 the size. Looks like in about 2 years I will start to make the switch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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