The REAL How to..

[Orville]

His website is gone. He's no longer listed on the "official LOR Partners" list. He hasn't participated in numerous threads about his status (which he used to). Rumor has it numerous people were shafted on controllers, etc.

I think he has disappeared.

Reminds me of a song,, anyone ever sequence it? "Take the Money and RUN".

Sorry just couldn't resist the temptation.

[Guest wbottomley]

Reminds me of a song,, anyone ever sequence it? "Take the Money and RUN".

Sorry just couldn't resist the temptation.

Is that what 47% of those people do?

[Guest Don Gillespie]

Is that what 47% of those people do?

Dang it out of likes again so here is a like for you William

[T17443]

These post are all pretty much dead on. I started my First LOR adventure in March 2012. I figured I would spend a few hours here and there and cruise into Christmas. Now months later, after hundreds of hours invested, and a seriously lighter wallet I am in serious panic mode. I just finished up wiring my electrical sub-panel and plan to start installing my lights in a couple weeks. As many have said above spend your time reading, learning, and asking question. The one thing I wish I would have done differently was to educate myself before acting and have a complete plan (lay-out, light locations, colors, electrical load, and NUMBER OF CHANNELS you plan to us). I worked for two months when I decided to add two more 16 channel controllers. Everything had to be reworked, extension cords, lay-out, and the sequencing of every song that I thought was complete. Plan, plan, plan before you buy anything or invest your time.

[paralegalnc]

I hear you. Some very old music capability here plus lots of computer experience. This will be my first year out as well. I'm trying a 32 channel megatree this first year and hoping the spiraling will work. I decided to do 16 channels alternating each direction therefore a total of 32. 16 one way and 16 the other, alternating each strand. I was able to simulate this on the visualizer...well, I think I did, lol. At this point, I'm not going to change things and just see how it turns on at first light-up. I'm no longer working so I was able to dedicate lots of time to sequencing but I was able to do a song in about 3 hours. I will admit that I purchased one song already done, then modified it a lot to work with my display. So at the moment, 27 done but still going back and tweaking all the time. Plus, I purchased a single CCR at the sale so now I'm learning how to program it and incorporate it into the display. You are on the right track. Obession or not, time will tell how it works for me as it will for you too.

well if that tree works out... pass the programming along to me save me some time next year! is it too sick to be thinking of next years stuff when I haven't even put this year up? I don't know what the CCR is...is that the cosmic ribbon?? not sure. Heck...I just bought LED lights. whooo hooo. did the 10 foot mega tree in 8 wedges. That was enough for my first year. I do have a few arches though. found I couldn't do much with them though. Not too much cool but.... it is what it is. I think it will still be cool.

[paralegalnc]

Welcome to the madness, from another newbie! This is my first year at it, and I got a super late start myself. I started in July/August, thinking I'd have enough time. Do'h! But as others have said, read, read, read. I've been reading as much as I can, and at least am getting the basics. Given my late start, and limited free time, I'm starting out very basic. 16 channels, which will control about 4000-5000 total lights. The rest of my display will be static...but it's better than last year which was pretty much all static last year... last year I bought a $30 4 channel controller last minute. At least I was able to break up my static display into 4 sequentially flashing groups, which was cool. This year will have no mega-tree, it going to be fairly basic. Going to Lowe's this weekend to pick up some supplies to build a few of my props. By comparison to folks here, my display will be caveman crude, but that's OK. It's my first year, and I'm excited to have something beyond what I've always had in the past.

Oh, and by the way, my electrical skills probably aren't much better than yours. First thing I bought was a Kill-O-Watt, to be sure I don't overload anything. Again, reading here and asking focused questions will help (well, as much as a total newbie like myself can ask a coherent focused question... ).

The sequencing part is going to be one of the, if not the steepest learning curve. I've been playing with it, watching the LOR videos on YouTube and reading posts. This year I'm using the generosity of others for my show. Put it this way...I'm working on my first song, "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepson. I'm not keeping track of time invested, but I'd guess it's somewhere around 5 or 6 hours so far. How much do I have done? Uh, well...about 60 seconds worth, maybe a little less. That's just for 16 channels. Hoping to have it done before "lights on" Black Friday evening.

Last thing...it's definitely not cheap. I'd guess I've invested about $450 this year. I've still got some lights to buy, along with wire. By time I'm done, I'll probably have spent $700. And that's just for a very, very basic starter. Thankfully I already have something around 5000 lights and 1000' of extention cords from my previous static displays.

Best of luck!!!

$450 this year??? I invested $450 TODAY!!! LOL a Kill o watt? So am I really OCD when I have a spread sheet of every prop and every strand of lights on it? I read the tag got the amps off them and my spreadsheet does all the math....

[scubado]

I do have a few arches though. found I couldn't do much with them though. Not too much cool but.... it is what it is. I think it will still be cool.

How many channels are your arches? Maybe you need to watch more videos

[scubado]

$450 this year??? I invested $450 TODAY!!! LOL

Been there, done that a couple times this year. Don't want to know what I spent this year.

[logandc99]

Churchfamilyfarms, welcome to the fun.

I'm new this year too and starting out small scale this year ( 32 to 56 channels depending on how far I get) so I'm not sure it's too late to get started if your expectations are realistic ( although I think you did say you we're more geared towards 2013) . I think some people who have been doing this for years have huge displays that take a long time to setup but we new guys aren't at that point yet so we don't necessarily need 12 months to get going. There is some really helpful advice on this forum but unfortunately I think that some forget that we all have to start somewhere and when you are completely new, questions can be vague.... that's because we are newbies. I have read till the cows come home and still have difficulty getting my head around a lot of this stuff. It's just a bit of a shame that I think some people do forget that we all have to start somewhere and by asking questions, and admitting your electrical inexperience, you are trying to be safe. It's unfortunate that, whilst trying to be helpful, some responses can be very off putting to the noobs.

You can also try the auschristmas.com.au forum which also has lots of great advice and read fasteddys AusChristmas light manual 101 ( unless someone has already mentioned that) http://auschristmaslighting.com/forums/index.php/board,51.0.html?PHPSESSID=244e43e652f8ee6bce5430d7847615fd

I'm starting small year 1 and then hope to go crazy year 2!!!!!

Enjoy, have fun.... I know I am.

[ramona lights]

well hell, have been a user of the software for many years and this year lost the computer that the program runs in. No problem the hard drive was saved and I can use it as a portable hard drive now. I have reinstalled the soft ware and have the controller up and running.Buuuuutttttt when looking for my sequences in my original hard drive i found all of them but everything I tried to copy and past to the new computer in sequence editor will not play, they show up but won't play. I know I am doing something stupid and may be coping the wrong stuff but now I am stuck. Trying not to have to re purchase sequences I already have. The way I do my program is load the sequences in sequence editor and then use Simple Show builder to do the rest but shows as of now are dead!!!! any ideas

[Don]

I have reinstalled the soft ware and have the controller up and running.Buuuuutttttt when looking for my sequences in my original hard drive i found all of them but everything I tried to copy and past to the new computer in sequence editor will not play, they show up but won't play.

Click Edit -> Media File and choose the new location of the audio file. They should then play in the sequence editor, and thus the shows.

[dgrant]

well if that tree works out... pass the programming along to me save me some time next year! is it too sick to be thinking of next years stuff when I haven't even put this year up? I don't know what the CCR is...is that the cosmic ribbon?? not sure. Heck...I just bought LED lights. whooo hooo. did the 10 foot mega tree in 8 wedges. That was enough for my first year. I do have a few arches though. found I couldn't do much with them though. Not too much cool but.... it is what it is. I think it will still be cool.

Yes, CCR is a Cosmic Color Ribbon which I own just one at this moment. I'll be happy to share, assuming it works out. I'll know during the next month when I start testing outside for the first time. Since this is my first year, my arches are just going along the lines of what I've seen others do, plus my own wishes for this or that song. You can chase them, pattern them different directions and so on. If you have multiple colors then that can be changed as well but of course requires more controller channels. I've built two arches, 8 groups/channels each and each group has 100 lights in it, therefore 800 lights per arch. I'm just doing white this year for the arches. The megatree is multi LED's but the spiraling will be the main effect. I dare not spend for 32 CCR's for the tree alone as that's $8,000 alone. Some are made of money, I'm not. Anyway, will try to post a video of this year's show so you can see for yourself. I'm still in the learning mode!

[Larry Leonhardt]

Still waiting for the answer to #10. LOL

I'm not a chicken expert, but i can use Google, So here is Google's answer to question number 10:

The white stuff in chicken feces is called URIC ACID.

Mammals like us produce waste ammonia but it is combined with carbon dioxide (CO2) and converted into urea. Humans dissolve urea in water making urine (pee).

Chickens do the process differently. They use less water and do not pee ,so they convert the ammonia into Uric acid and excrete it as a white paste or powder.

[Aaron Maue]

His website is gone. He's no longer listed on the "official LOR Partners" list. He hasn't participated in numerous threads about his status (which he used to). Rumor has it numerous people were shafted on controllers, etc.

I think he has disappeared.

I didn't get shafted on what I paid for, but I feel a bit cheated on what I was promised. Since I got everything I paid for, I was just gonna let it go, but just in case it keeps someone from the same experience, thought I'd capture the Reader's Digest version here.

I'll try to keep the story short, but it was a drawn-out process. Early in the year, I contacted him telling him I needed 7 controllers. He said he'd get back to me, so I waited. Meanwhile, a month went by without contact and I bought a few from another member here. He finally got back with me and asked if I still needed them. I told him I still wanted 4. I sent him money via Paypal and began the wait. He had my money for well over a month. Finally, after multiple contacts, he got back with me and said he'd send them, complete with an extra controller for my trouble. It had probably been 3-4 months since my initial contact, so I was happy with that offer. Fast forward and I finally get my controllers, but only the 4 I paid for. I was wondering if the 5th was lost, so I contacted him. He said there was a shipping problem and he'd taken care of it and that I should receive it soon. A few weeks and a few contacts later, he said that he wasn't sure what had happened to it, as it had been shipped. However, he'd send me another one, as well as a set of controller stands to use in the yard, asking if I was OK with green ones. I was and told him so. I never received the controller or the stands. That was July or August, I think. I may have contacted him one more time, but don't remember for sure. Suffice it to say, I'm not expecting to see the extra controller or stands.

Again, I got everything I paid for, so I don't feel like he owes me anything. In my dealings with him (did 3 transactions), communication was never good, but I always eventually got what I paid for. That said, I was not planning to buy from him again. Quality of my last few units was bad. Glass fuses instead of ceramic in one unit. Missing hot and cold jumpers (15-amp unit) in another. A couple of them had a bunch of strands of copper outside the screw-down connectors on the main power cord. Glad I looked at hem closely before I plugged them in. If I'd have been a total newbie, I probably woulda fired 'em right up and ended up with a dead short at the power input.

[Klayfish]

$450 this year??? I invested $450 TODAY!!! LOL a Kill o watt? So am I really OCD when I have a spread sheet of every prop and every strand of lights on it? I read the tag got the amps off them and my spreadsheet does all the math....

Trust me, if the budget was there, I'd have spent well beyond what I did. I still have lights to buy, wire, etc...so I'm not quite done yet. I'm also saving some of my budget for all the post holiday sales, when I can snap up stuff for 1/2 price.

I know a lot of people keep spreadsheets of everything. I plan on doing that too. Since my display is so small this year, I can get away with out it, but I'll probably make one anyway to get in the habit. I got the Kill O Watt first, as I wanted to be completely sure of what I'm doing. I'm by no means an expert, but from what I understand it's not as simple as adding up the strands to figure out total electrical usage.

[ehgilman]

Usually people entering this hobby tries to answer these ten questions. Give it a shot.

1) What's electricity?

2) What's the difference between AC & DC?

3) What's a Triac?

4) Does your PC have directories or folders?

5) Why do some extension cords have their blade on the male end turned sideways?

6) What's the number one reason for electrical deaths?

7) What is RS485?

8) What would you do if you were electrocuted?

9) Can you download and install software without help?

10) What's that white stuff in chicken poop?

The only one I do not know is what is a triac???? I am guesing it is a countroler????? I hope I don't need a whole year. I am not the brightes bulb on the string, but have a little sence.. I purchased the softwear a few weeks ago and have built 3 sequenses. I am waiting for my 16 chan controler to arive. I do know the difference betwwen 120 and 240.... been hit by both too..... it hurts..... ALOT!!!!