light sticks and words

[irene]

wondering what the experts would advise.... working on my 4th of july show. in between songs i would like to use my fire sticks to write messages like... Got Freedom. Thank a vet. Land of the free.. BECAUSE of the brave. what would you all suggest for number of poles and number of sections. i was thinking 5 poles and 8 sections each. any advice would be appreciated! thanks irene

[james campbell]

what your wanting to do is called a matrix,here is one but I think it has something like 96 channels

http://vimeo.com/user1009391/2011-picozzi-family-christmas-wizards-in-winter

[rgardner518]

The break down of the video shows the 12 rows of lights on a pole. And each pole has 7 sets of lights. Making a total of 84 channels

[Tim Fischer]

james campbell wrote:

what your wanting to do is called a matrix,here is one but I think it has something like 96 channels

http://vimeo.com/user1009391/2011-picozzi-family-christmas-wizards-in-winter

Frank's display is really the example you want to model after as far as pole matrixes (and lots of other things) go. Cream of the crop.

[ainsworth]

Using 5 poles you will be able to display 1 letter at a time. If that's OK with you go for it.

[George Simmons]

I'm working on a five-pole, 9-channel each matrix for this year's display (inspired by Frank's) and I'm finding that it's difficult to determine the best speed for the letters. My reading speed is faster than most people who've seen it (maybe it helps that I know what's coming) and I'm finding it needs to be slowed down almost to a painfully and disappointingly slow speed for the "average" viewer to keep up.

I'm also working on a four-pole, 7 channels each matrix for a client, and four poles isn't quite enough for letters. I think 7 channels is the smallest number per pole and five poles is the smallest number that one can realistically use for letters. I'd definitely recommend using an odd number of channels on each pole - either 7 or 9.

[Guest Don Gillespie]

George Simmons wrote:

My reading speed is faster than most people who've seen it (maybe it helps that I know what's coming) and I'm finding it needs to be slowed down almost to a painfully and disappointingly slow speed for the "average" viewer to keep up.

Are you implying that the rest of us are slow readers, it must be painful to be atop the reading world, I must ask did you go to Evelyns speed reading course back in the 70's can't wait to see it George I am sure it will look great.

[evan.a]

yes it can be done. Chuck's Downs from Oklahoma did it in 2010. it takes some time and a lot of practice.

here is a video of dualing jingle bell. take a look at 1:40. pretty cool thinking behind it.



http://vimeo.com/2554611

[Max-Paul]

Even though I think this has been answered. I just would like to point out that back in the days of the dot matrix printers. The earlier models where limited to I think it was a 5 across and 7 down pins to make a character. I didnt stop the video linked above, but I bet it was near 12 poles in use, might have been more like 15 to get multiple letters up at the same time. Have to admit that was real cool what he did there. But to expensive for my wallet.

[lightzilla]

irene wrote:

What would you all suggest for number of poles and number of sections. I was thinking 5 poles and 8 sections each. Any advice would be appreciated! thanks irene

I did my 1st Matrix last year & I went with 9 poles with 8 channels per pole=72 channels. This way the words can begin to scroll & you can read it a bit better than 1 letter at a time. You really only need 7 channels per pole but I went with 8 because of the snow & the snow could cover 1 section of lights......which would take 19" of snow. Which we are getting now in spring & not during this past winter. lol Like an Arch or fire stick you can do different effects using odd number of channels & in this case poles, but there were times I wish I had an even number of poles & this year I plan to have 12 poles for sure, but I can go to 15 poles. I also thought of going maybe 8 poles & 9 channels per pole.....with channels 1 & 9 in say Red or Green & they stay on & I scroll letters between those two rows. I could still do the same with 12 poles because I have the extra controllers. If I had ccr's I might have considered making a ccr matrix, but I have a number of Led strings that were not being used & so I went with the pole matrix & that took up a lot of lights. My inspiration came from here..... Lindsay Lights It was the 1st Matrix I saw when I started going musical in 2007 By the way just for your info........I used Deck blocks like this..... http://www.decorprecast.com/edgerDetails.php?page=decorPost .....they need to have a hole in the center of them. The hole is 1-1/2 inches. These blocks are heavy enough to stay standing even in wind. The block is 11 inches wide & I put a small 11 inch 2x3 piece of wood between each block to give me 13.5 inches between blocks.....for me that was the right amount of spacing. My matrix stands about 8ft tall. Works for me because it is 42 inches off the ground. Anyhow I had 70 count Leds strings & I put them on 10" sleeves that were made out of a 2" black PVC pipe..... a 100 count string would more than likely work on a 12" PVC pipe. I put each sleeve over the 1-1/2" black PVC pipe. I then made a top out of 3/4" grey conduit pipe, T-connectors & elbows for the poles to keep them straight. Anyways it works for me.

[irene]

thanks much for all the replies!! first chance i've had to come back and look. i really like the "matrix" from deck the halls family. the 12 days of christmas is super. it looks like 12 poles 7 sections. i can see now that an uneven # of sections is the way to go. i have a bunch of 100 count white minis i was going to use and the sleeves from my christmas arches but i am thinking those might be too big of sections. might have to make shorter sleeves using bigger pvc. i dont have enough controllers for 12 poles but could do 8 poles. i hope that looks OK

4th of July is huge in our small town of 800. we host a parade, events in the park all day, and a car demolation derby at night, followed by a huge fireworks display. we grow to 2 or 3 thousand on the 4th. we also have alot of military from our small town that i would like to honor with my display. my brother served on the USS Ranger back in the 70s. their theme song was the the theme from the lone range show. i want to do that song and then scroll the words thanks bro.

i really do thank you all for your advice and any more ideas are appreciated!!

[Shubb]

My "Light Poles" are 8 sections high 50 count light strings about 8" tall. I used a total of 16 sections spaced 8" apart.
Scrolling text worked great, And I could fit 5 large letters at a time.
Good luck and have fun!

Scott

[MCas4380]

Could any one share a sequence with the scrolling letters to give me an idea how to sequence them?

[Shubb]

If anyone is interested in a "sample" sequence for the scrolling letters send me a PM and I will be happy to send you a sample.

Here is a video someone put of my house. The scrolling test comes in about the 1 minute mark and again 4 minute mark.

Scott

[Shubb]

Here's a pic. It is a little blurry, because it was a screenshot from Youtube as the letters were scrolling.




Attached files

[Shubb]

I hope I forwarded a sample to everyone that ask. If you PM'd me and didn't get a sequence e-mailed send me another PM or email me directly at:

s.hubbard@sbcglobal.net

I don't check the forums daily so a PM may take a bit to respond.

Hope that it helps.

Scott