Silly Newbie global set up question

[Surfing4Dough]

Orville wrote:

plasmadrive wrote:

Spreading the controllers out around the props is a much better way to go IMO.

My controllers are on stands and I wound up putting black plastic bags over each controller and wrapping them with garland and a large bell so they look like presents in the day time and you can't see them at night.

If you so much as look at those bells wrong they make a lot of noise, enough to wake me up actually. They are Christmas bells that I got at the Dollar Store. Garland came from there too.

Got any pics of your "wrapped presents" of your controllers?

Would be interested to see what you used, and how they actually looked in the yard, especially those "bells" you purchased.

Something "cute" in the yard will probably be the first target of vandals. That is all you ever hear on here--not theft.

http://admin.brightcove.com/viewer/us20111223.1052/BrightcoveBootloader.swf?isVid=1&videoId=1328377770001&playerID=180211731001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAAAGuN0bcE~,rS1wzGXkRNnKZBuQ4FRjFM7e28yVdmek

Link to article

http://www.youtube.comv/=I6UcXm_sdNM&hl=en&fs=1

http://www.youtube.comv/=FJyJCNe-RNs&hl=en&fs=1

[Guest guest]

Surfing4Dough wrote:

Orville wrote:

plasmadrive wrote:

Spreading the controllers out around the props is a much better way to go IMO.

My controllers are on stands and I wound up putting black plastic bags over each controller and wrapping them with garland and a large bell so they look like presents in the day time and you can't see them at night.

If you so much as look at those bells wrong they make a lot of noise, enough to wake me up actually. They are Christmas bells that I got at the Dollar Store. Garland came from there too.

Got any pics of your "wrapped presents" of your controllers?

Would be interested to see what you used, and how they actually looked in the yard, especially those "bells" you purchased.

Something "cute" in the yard will probably be the first target of vandals. That is all you ever hear on here--not theft.

But if you think about your statement, don't we all do this for whatever Holiday we put up decor for? I mean, if a vandal is going to strike there isn't much you can do about it. Not unless you catch them, make a citizens arrest and hold them until the police get there. I'd have 'em tied, gagged and bound waiting for the coppers to take 'em away.

I'd have to really restrain myself because I know I'd want to take whatever tool they were using to smash and destroy my decor and bash their brains in with it! Oh wait, that wouldn't do any good, anyone with a brain would know better to vandalize someone else's personal property!

[Surfing4Dough]

Orville wrote:

Surfing4Dough wrote:

Orville wrote:

plasmadrive wrote:

Spreading the controllers out around the props is a much better way to go IMO.

My controllers are on stands and I wound up putting black plastic bags over each controller and wrapping them with garland and a large bell so they look like presents in the day time and you can't see them at night.

If you so much as look at those bells wrong they make a lot of noise, enough to wake me up actually. They are Christmas bells that I got at the Dollar Store. Garland came from there too.

Got any pics of your "wrapped presents" of your controllers?

Would be interested to see what you used, and how they actually looked in the yard, especially those "bells" you purchased.

Something "cute" in the yard will probably be the first target of vandals. That is all you ever hear on here--not theft.

But if you think about your statement, don't we all do this for whatever Holiday we put up decor for? I mean, if a vandal is going to strike there isn't much you can do about it. Not unless you catch them, make a citizens arrest and hold them until the police get there. I'd have 'em tied, gagged and bound waiting for the coppers to take 'em away.

I'd have to really restrain myself because I know I'd want to take whatever tool they were using to smash and destroy my decor and bash their brains in with it! Oh wait, that wouldn't do any good, anyone with a brain would know better to vandalize someone else's personal property!

I would rather them hit my $20 display item rather than my $200 controller though. My point isn't that you can avoid the vandals, but you don't have to draw their attention to destroying your controller. Subtle is better, IMO.

[Mwhite7097]

First year I was worried about the controllers, so I centralized them in two large lockable boxes on my porch away from the weather. Works great except, after expanding this year, I have over 13,000 feet or 2 1/2 miles of SPT in the yard. The amount saved in wire if I placed them nearer display elements would have paid for all the controllers. With the rising price of copper these days, use as little wire as possible. I am redoing the setup for next year.

[dgrant]

Mwhite7097 wrote:

First year I was worried about the controllers, so I centralized them in two large lockable boxes on my porch away from the weather. Works great except, after expanding this year, I have over 13,000 feet or 2 1/2 miles of SPT in the yard. The amount saved in wire if I placed them nearer display elements would have paid for all the controllers. With the rising price of copper these days, use as little wire as possible. I am redoing the setup for next year.

Newbie here as well...1st post in fact. I have no hardware controllers yet or anything other than lots of LED strings. I'm in the initial plan thoughts before ordering and I was contemplating the location of the controllers in relation to spending for lots of cords. Cat5 is nothing as far as cost goes relatively speaking. I intend on starting with 64 channels and a plan. Guess I'm going to order the controllers and sit down in the house with some strings connected and figure out where to start with the software sequencing.

My original intent was to write my own software and sample the MP3 audio, process it against an 88-key keyboard and assign the frequencies ranges to the 88 keys, then toggle the displays from that...therefore no mapping needed. But, I think it would end up being a nightmare of too many lights on at the same time.

[Guest guest]

My controllers are directly mounted to the wall of the house and in plain sight. Most won't mess with them right out in direct view, plus to vandalize them would create so much noise I'd hear it and catch them before they probably even cracked open the first case!

[plasmadrive]

The weather has not been kind to them but they still look better then just a grey box I think.. also, no water issues of course.


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