Arches and Megatrees

[griswald]

I plan on having six 25' arches over my driveway and a 10' Megatree. This is my first year setting up a display and I'm desperately trying to save money. Can anyone tell me if (70 count) 4" spacing 25' C6 led lights would look good on those items? I was thinking of using two strands on each arch and folding the string in half on the tree to effectively double the light count.

All thoughts and opinions are welcome and appreciated!

[Arteom]

C6 LED's?

Personally, go with the regular mini incandescent lights, cheap and effective. They don't take that much power either.

[Donny M. Carter]

How are you planning on building the arch and only use two string? 25' arches are gonna require a few more lights than that!

[TJ Hvasta]

Mini incands are cheap, plentiful and easy to work with. Build your arches with the sleeve method, allows quick easy swapping of good/bad strings and colors (think 4th July). 7 to 8 sleeves per arch, 100ct minis per sleeve. 700-800 lights per arch. Cost is abt $20/arch

Find the construction method here: http://forums.planetchristmas.com/index.php?/forum/170-arches-of-lights/

Same with a MegaTree.. use 8, 10, 12, or 16 red, green, white single color incand strings.. braided, or not (makes it easier to replace if not braided), these are called SuperStrings. If channels are scarce, make the MegaTree with just single color strings. If/when you can add more controllers, you can add another controller to the MT and add a second color. Cost is abt $100 for the 2'-3" pvc or fence post, cap (for the top), hooks (into cap for lights), lights. If you go with anything over 8', get some vinyl coated guy wire(pref steel) from HomeDepot to guy the post in 3 to 4 points.

Edited August 21, 2012 by TJ Hvasta

[griswald]

How are you planning on building the arch and only use two string? 25' arches are gonna require a few more lights than that!

I was not clear when I used the term arch. These will not be the type that "leap", but rather are just an arch with lights strung on it. This may be a terrible illustration, but if looking at my driveway from above, you would basically see this: ] ] ] ] ] ]

Each arch would either be on/off depending on what I wanted to do with the sequencing. Does that make sense, or have I totally muddied the water?

[griswald]

Mini incands are cheap, plentiful and easy to work with. Build your arches with the sleeve method, allows quick easy swapping of good/bad strings and colors (think 4th July). 7 to 8 sleeves per arch, 100ct minis per sleeve. 700-800 lights per arch. Cost is abt $20/arch

Find the construction method here: http://forums.planet...ches-of-lights/

Same with a MegaTree.. use 8, 10, 12, or 16 red, green, white single color incand strings.. braided, or not (makes it easier to replace if not braided), these are called SuperStrings. If channels are scarce, make the MegaTree with just single color strings. If/when you can add more controllers, you can add another controller to the MT and add a second color. Cost is abt $100 for the 2'-3" pvc or fence post, cap (for the top), hooks (into cap for lights), lights. If you go with anything over 8', get some vinyl coated guy wire(pref steel) from HomeDepot to guy the post in 3 to 4 points.

I've got my tree ready to go with hooks, etc and was thinking of using mini-lights to cut down on the cost, but due to only having 12 channels available (this year) I wasn't sure if mini's would look good, or if C6's would look better. As I said, this is my first time setting up a display like this and I'm really wanting it to come off looking like I've been doing this for years!

[dknahoolewa]

I had a 13' Mega Tree.

I used (2-50 count 5mm strings 4" spacing) basically 2" spacing (twisted two strings together).

I did have 32 strings though.

[rednosetbird]

C6 LED's?

Personally, go with the regular mini incandescent lights, cheap and effective. They don't take that much power either.

this is the way to go!!!

[Ron Boyd]

I've got my tree ready to go with hooks, etc and was thinking of using mini-lights to cut down on the cost, but due to only having 12 channels available (this year) I wasn't sure if mini's would look good, or if C6's would look better. As I said, this is my first time setting up a display like this and I'm really wanting it to come off looking like I've been doing this for years!

My mega last year (see avatar) was 12 channels. I did use Big Lots LEDs (120 Ct.) and made 2 strings from 1 channel (Up to top and back down) When each channel fired, 2 strings lit up. It worked and looked good. It was my first attempt at a Mega tree, but I was under a budget too. If you care to look at a few videos to see what it might look like, go here http://www.boydchristmasinlights.com/videos.html

There are 8 videos. Remember, this was my first year and my videotaping is far from expert or professional, and my sequencing was done as I was learning the software, so don't hold it against me. It is a 12 channel mega tree and you can actually see what yours might look like.

Hope I helped.

Ron

[griswald]

My mega last year (see avatar) was 12 channels. I did use Big Lots LEDs (120 Ct.) and made 2 strings from 1 channel (Up to top and back down) When each channel fired, 2 strings lit up. It worked and looked good. It was my first attempt at a Mega tree, but I was under a budget too. If you care to look at a few videos to see what it might look like, go here http://www.boydchristmasinlights.com/videos.html

There are 8 videos. Remember, this was my first year and my videotaping is far from expert or professional, and my sequencing was done as I was learning the software, so don't hold it against me. It is a 12 channel mega tree and you can actually see what yours might look like.

Hope I helped.

Ron

That's excellent! I hope my first attempt this year turns out like that. Especially since so many people know I'm planning this so the prrssure is on. You say you used Big Lots LED's? I'm not sure what those are exactly.....are they like a c6 or c7?

[TJ Hvasta]

My first Megatree was only 8 strings, but was up/down, so it was actually 16 strings if you counted them. You can either go up & down (on the hook) or up & over (triangle) That makes it really spin (like a top), whereas the wedge (up/down) makes one string spin (just 'round & 'round). Either is the best way to light a small channel number tree.

[TJ Hvasta]

My first Megatree was only 8 strings, but was up/down, so it was actually 16 strings if you counted them. You can either go up & down (on the hook) or up & over (triangle) That makes it really spin (like a top), whereas the wedge (up/down) makes one string spin (just 'round & 'round). Either is the best way to light a small channel number tree.

[griswald]

So it seems the general opinion is that mini incandescent lights are the way to go. I like that option since they're less expensive and I'm already over budget.

One more question for the group......I know there is no exact answer to this, but approximately how many feet of 3/4" PVC will a 25' string of incandescents cover? If I can get an approximate number I can calculate from there.

Thanks for everyone's input.......these forums are fantastic!

[james campbell]

So it seems the general opinion is that mini incandescent lights are the way to go. I like that option since they're less expensive and I'm already over budget.

One more question for the group......I know there is no exact answer to this, but approximately how many feet of 3/4" PVC will a 25' string of incandescents cover? If I can get an approximate number I can calculate from there.

Thanks for everyone's input.......these forums are fantastic!

one thing you will learn in this hobby if you have a budget it will always break,especially your first year.

[Ron Boyd]

That's excellent! I hope my first attempt this year turns out like that. Especially since so many people know I'm planning this so the prrssure is on. You say you used Big Lots LED's? I'm not sure what those are exactly.....are they like a c6 or c7?

About the size of an M5 or M6 LED or a mini Incan. They were 2) 60 ct strings in each box. I ran 60 up and 60 down for mine.

[Max-Paul]

So it seems the general opinion is that mini incandescent lights are the way to go. I like that option since they're less expensive and I'm already over budget.

One more question for the group......I know there is no exact answer to this, but approximately how many feet of 3/4" PVC will a 25' string of incandescents cover? If I can get an approximate number I can calculate from there.

Thanks for everyone's input.......these forums are fantastic!

Your questions lacks information. I think you where originally talking about just running the string along the length of the arch. So, 25' string is 25' long. And the gray electrical pvc conduit (dont use the white plumbing stuff, to brittle) comes in 10' length. So 2.5 lengths of this conduit will be how much.

Now if you are thinking of wrapping around the pvc, I have no answer at this time. I think also that most LEDs are 4" between each one. And the ican minis are 6"?

[griswald]

Yeah, I had originally thought I would just run the string straight along, but after looking at other options, I think wrapping mini's might be a better way to go. I realize my question was pretty vague, so I'll just experiment this weekend and see what's going to work best for me.

Thanks again to everyone for their advice, I appreciate it.

[Steven]

As I said, this is my first time setting up a display like this and I'm really wanting it to come off looking like I've been doing this for years!

Keep some mojo in reserve for future years! It's nice to advertise your improvements from the previous year.

[GS]

I plan on having six 25' arches over my driveway and a 10' Megatree. This is my first year setting up a display and I'm desperately trying to save money. Can anyone tell me if (70 count) 4" spacing 25' C6 led lights would look good on those items? I was thinking of using two strands on each arch and folding the string in half on the tree to effectively double the light count.

All thoughts and opinions are welcome and appreciated!

Yes, these would be awesome. I use c6 70 count LEDs for 90%+ of all my light strings.

[TJ Hvasta]

So it seems the general opinion is that mini incandescent lights are the way to go.

... but approximately how many feet of 3/4" PVC will a 25' string of incandescents cover? If I can get an approximate number I can calculate from there.

If you mean, you want to "generally" wrap a 25' x 3/4" pvc (not to make it leap) to just make it look lit (like a trelis), then maybe figure, two, three or four 25' strings, plugged in end to end, then wrap the length of a 25' pvc. Spacing is entirely dependant on the coverage you want. The more strings you use, the more lit it'll be. Two strings, three, four, it's up to you. I'm not talking about making the strings leap one to another, just wrap the pvc. One string, eh, if you want it as just a "line" along the pvc, dont wrap it, zip-tie it facing who ever is going to look at it.

Edited August 23, 2012 by TJ Hvasta