Aaron Maue Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 All,My daughter, Faith, told me a few weeks ago that she wanted to have a countdown to Christmas as part of our display this next year. So, I worked with her to design it in the way that she wanted it done. She did all the sequencing, helped attach all the cords to the controller, and helped with all the painting.It uses a 16-channel LOR controller and 100 C7 LED lights behind some frosted plexiglass. I cheated an added an extra channel by using a DPDT relay to turn the word Christmas on whenever "day til" or "Merry" are on.The segments of the LED digits as well as the "boxes" behind each of the words are made of 1/4-inch hardboard, glued to a piece of particle board. The top is on a hinge so that it opens easily to get inside to change bulbs, troubleshoot, etc.I've got a batch file written to take an output from the show each day and set up the appropriate files that will be used in the show.I'm working on a set of instructions to go along with the project, in case anyone's interested in duplicating it. I'm sure there are easier ways to do it, but this was within my ability to construct.http://youtu.be/b8hgfSyv/&hl=en&fs=1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron Maue Posted February 26, 2012 Author Share Posted February 26, 2012 I'm not sure that post to the YouTube video is actually working, so here's the link...http://youtu.be/b8hgfSytbD0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 It looks very nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CKSedg Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 Aaron Maue wrote: All,My daughter, Faith, told me a few weeks ago that she wanted to have a countdown to Christmas as part of our display this next year. So, I worked with her to design it in the way that she wanted it done. She did all the sequencing, helped attach all the cords to the controller, and helped with all the painting.It uses a 16-channel LOR controller and 100 C7 LED lights behind some frosted plexiglass. I cheated an added an extra channel by using a DPDT relay to turn the word Christmas on whenever "day til" or "Merry" are on.The segments of the LED digits as well as the "boxes" behind each of the words are made of 1/4-inch hardboard, glued to a piece of particle board. The top is on a hinge so that it opens easily to get inside to change bulbs, troubleshoot, etc.I've got a batch file written to take an output from the show each day and set up the appropriate files that will be used in the show.I'm working on a set of instructions to go along with the project, in case anyone's interested in duplicating it. I'm sure there are easier ways to do it, but this was within my ability to construct.http://youtu.be/b8hgfSyv/&hl=en&fs=1Aaron, I would love to have your instructions. A sign like that would be cool to have in front of my house. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulanator Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 Aaron, I am very interested in a countdown timer like you have. Looks great and would love to see the instructions too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 Very nice countdown sign Aaron. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beeiilll Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 Great job Aaron and you be sure to tell Faith that she did an excellent job as well.A very clean design and easy to read.You should be proud of her as well as yourself for this. A nice Father/Daughter project and something that will be a nice asset to the display. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimswinder Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 Excellent job...kudos to the kid!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imacericg Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 Awesome! How about adding a third digit then you cold use it now!Great work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scubado Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 That's about how fast my days have been going!!! I can't believe we're knocking on March's door already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron Maue Posted February 28, 2012 Author Share Posted February 28, 2012 beeiilll wrote:You should be proud of her as well as yourself for this. A nice Father/Daughter project and something that will be a nice asset to the display.I'm a proud Papa. It was awesome getting to work with her on this. Definitely my favorite part of the sign - building it with her.And Thanks to everyone for all the nice comments, I'll be sure to let Faith know.I'll be posting the instructions tonight. One more quick proofread after work and they'll be ready. I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimswinder Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 Aaron Maue wrote: One more quick proofread after work and they'll be ready. I think. I think Designer Faith should be proofreading it!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron Maue Posted February 28, 2012 Author Share Posted February 28, 2012 jimswinder wrote:Aaron Maue wrote: One more quick proofread after work and they'll be ready. I think. I think Designer Faith should be proofreading it!! You're right, Jim. I'm bound to screw it up. She's clearly the brains behind the opreration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmacw Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 Great job. It looks very professional! Curious as to where the relay came into play? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron Maue Posted February 28, 2012 Author Share Posted February 28, 2012 gmacw wrote:Great job. It looks very professional! Curious as to where the relay came into play?I'm finishing up the instructions, so you'll see more details there, but the channel count is as follows...6 channels for the tens digit.7 channels for the ones digit.1 channel for "day 'til" text.1 channel for "Merry" text.1 channel for the "s" at the end of the first line, as I wanted to be able to turn it off with only one day left til Xmas.That makes 16 channels, with nothing to turn the word "Christmas" on. Sine I can't get X10 to work reliably at my house, I needed another method. So, I used the DPDT relay driven by the "day 'til" and "Merry" channels to create a 17th output. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob_moody Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 Absolutely fantastic!!!Great job. I can't wait to see the build instructions on it. Your project is sure to stolen .. ummm .. duplicated by others...Best to you and your daughter .. well done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron Maue Posted February 28, 2012 Author Share Posted February 28, 2012 As promised, here are the instructions for building this prop. In the next post, I'll include a zip file with all the files used in the construction/programming/operation of the prop. Attached files Christmas Countdown Sign Build Instructions.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron Maue Posted February 28, 2012 Author Share Posted February 28, 2012 And here's the zip file. Note that the included batch file has a lot of comments to augment the instructions in the .pdf file above. Attached files Christmas Countdown Sign Files.zip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bisquit476 Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 Fantastic Instructions! Very complete, with number sequences. Thank You,Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cenote Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 Great job on both how it looks and the instructions you wished to share. Thanks a bunch Attached files Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts