T17443 Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 This is my first year in putting together an automated system, but I never start small. I am planning on an 80 channel show with a mega-tree and all other elements are designed with a four color step (red, green, blue, and white). Total lights currently are sitting at 30,000 with half being LED and half being mini lights. I am en electrical engineer by trade so feel pretty comfortable on the power supply side and have all 80 channels planned from the breaker to the controller including total amp load, wire sizes, etc. My son and I have 12 songs programmed for our display so far, FM transmitter seems to be working well and we are now a few weeks out from starting the actual install. These forums and all of you have been absolutely incredible. So far every question I have had has been answered by reviewing old postings and you have saved me a lot of time and money. However, now that it is crunch time I am getting worried. What are some of the big "gotchas" that I am missing that will doom our show before the first light goes on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Surfing4Dough Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Have spare fuses for your controllers, though if you do things right you shouldn't need them, but a blown fuse is a sure show stopper since there is no workaround. Spares are cheap and wise to have on hand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max-Paul Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 (edited) Surfer gave you a excellent suggestion with the spare fuses. I will add that someone else said that they taped one spare in each controller box cover. Critters like to chew through wires. So have some butt splices on hand and maybe a long spare Cat 5 wires if you buy them or the makings for another on hand if you roll your own. I have had my display up for 3 yrs now and last year one chewed through one of my SPT2 wires knocking out one of my elements a lit candy cane.edited the grammar, sounded like Yoda. Edited October 9, 2012 by Max-Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scubado Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Be sure to have back up of your files! A hard drive failure can put a damper on things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Be sure to stock up on patience and nerves!! It is real nerve racking initially to make sure all the lights are on and everything is working like it should. After 7 years of doing this, I finally realized that the people watching are enjoying the show no matter what may or may not be working like you want. Also, it's a good idea to test the show a few times before the actual start up date just to make sure there are no little bugs that needs to be worked out. Welcome to the club and good luck! Blessings.Tim 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhitePlainsNY Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 I managed to miss all the standard, "Gotchas" over the previous 3 years so I've been pretty fortunate. One thing that did stump me for about an hour during the start of my second year was why two of my six controllers weren't working. All the sequences were fine and four of the controllers were working as expected. My. "Oh that was stupid of me" moment was when I realized that I hadn't upgraded my licence level from Basic Plus (up to 4 controllers only) to Advanced (unlimited controllers) when I added more controllers to my show. I skipped the Standard level as I wanted the other features that Advanced gives you.So my "Gotcha" to look out for is check to see that your software supports the total number of controllers you're planning on using. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Hans Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 A tip 1, take your cat5 cables and zip tie them to the stake or whatever your controllers are attached to so when (not if) you trip over a cat5 cable you don't rip out the socket from the controller. Tip 2. Mark your extension cords as to where they go so that next years setup will be easier and you won't be hunting for certain length cords. In fact, once your done with setup diagram it all. You'll never remember next year! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caniac Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 and did we say, lots and lots of extension cords!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digdeepfundraising Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 and dont forge to plug it all in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Fischer Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Surfer gave you a excellent suggestion with the spare fuses. I will add that someone else said that they taped one spare in each controller box cover. Critters like to chew through wires. So have some butt splices on hand and maybe a long spare Cat 5 wires if you buy them or the makings for another on hand if you roll your own. I have had my display up for 3 yrs now and last year one chewed through one of my SPT2 wires knocking out one of my elements a lit candy cane.Holy cow, talk about prevention! I haven't blown a controller fuse in 9 seasons now - hope I didn't just jinx myself! I don't come close to the power capacity on any controller though - in fact I had about 6 controllers on one circuit last year.As for critters chewing wires, I had about 75% of my lights down one night a few years back on the coldest night of the season. There were about 8 cars out watching what remained of the show, and then watching me run around frantically with a flashlight. Turned out a bunny chewed through my longest network cable (about 100') which ran behind our hot tub. Since I didn't have any spare cables of that length I had to chain a few together to get lit back up. When the display sprang back to life everyone honked and cheered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff bush Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Test the light strands before putting the out. Helps find out if you have a problem before you start chasing your tail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 A tip 1, take your cat5 cables and zip tie them to the stake or whatever your controllers are attached to so when (not if) you trip over a cat5 cable you don't rip out the socket from the controller.As a more permanent solution, install these: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T17443 Posted October 10, 2012 Author Share Posted October 10, 2012 Thanks all for the tips to date. I am going to do every one of them. All look like low cost, minimal time ways to minimize the pain later. The comment about rabbits chewing wires has me concerned. I don't have rabbits, but do have squirrels by the dozens the continually screw up my landscape lighting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-klb- Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 First year, I only ordered double the wire I thought I needed. In hind sight, I probably would have ordered 4x...Remember, it isn't any fun, if you aren't having fun along the way.If you push the scale you will have times when you will question why you are doing it. The smiles of the kids, and the pure joy of seeing what you built will eventually make it all worth it.I have blown fuses. I had a C7 bulb fail where the screw base shorted to the wire for the center contact. I popped a few fuses before I figured out what channel to unplug. Since it was up on the roof of the fire house, and in a string of 42 bulbs, it never did get sorted out until it was taken down. I still keep a few packs of spares in my truck pretty much year round.I have blown up the circuit breakers in a power strip. We had a few cords and power strips chained for testing light strings. The power strip circuit breaker popped. I told everyone who recently plugged things in to unplug them, reset the breaker, and try again, but not so many at once. When it happened again, I moved about half the load to a different circuit and power strip, then pressed the reset on the first one. That circuit breaker self destructed in place. It turned out that one of the strings had a vampire plug where one of the blades was rotated 180 degrees, so both blades were puncturing the same wire, and forming a dead short.Be smart with your spending. I've over paid to get things without enough lead time. I've saved a bunch with pre orders. I've lost a bunch by failing to spend money before fiscal year end. Be thankful that it nearly always comes down and stores away faster than it goes up.Plan twice, build once.Organizing your storage is key. I don't really waste time untangling strings every year, (though I do loose some to untangling cords) but I do loose a bunch trying to find things, or trying to figure out which unlabeled custom fit string fits where I am looking. The display items that you build to last a year or two may become your favorites that you want to keep a long time. Conversely, the ones you build to last a lifetime may be the ones you hate.Make notes to yourself. About the day after go live, I'm glad other people remember my name. I'm not sure I do.. Let alone trying to figure out what I was going to do with something a year later.Try to figure out which things are going to be stable elements in your display and which will be vary can save you a bunch of time. Or if you get it wrong, cost you a bunch of time.Reading these forums can save you a bunch of time, or cost you a bunch of time.. First year newbie, or 6th year veteran... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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