pstigerfan Posted November 16, 2013 Share Posted November 16, 2013 Since it was going to be in the mid-50s today in the Detroit area, I figured I would try to get as much done today as possible before the rain, winds, and almost 70 degree weather come in tomorrow. Got my Candy Cane Perimeter fence up (took over 4 hours to get it setup and wired for power), got a few other things up in the yard, and then got the base for my Nativity Scene built and put up in the yard. Tomorrow, if the rain holds off, I would like to get the rest of my Nativity built and put up, plus get the lights on the landscape bushes out and get everything I put out today wired to controllers. I almost forgot how difficult it was doing this by yourself. But on the bright side, I enjoy the weird looks from the neighbors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Farmer Posted November 16, 2013 Share Posted November 16, 2013 I noticed your leaping arch has some extra length of pipe at the end. Is that for staking it to the ground? How did you attach the two pieces together? I am assuming that is pex tubing. correct? Sorry of all the questions, I have been thinking of building some of those. Thanks in Advance That's correct, the extra PEX is for staking it to the ground. I put rebar in the ground a slide the leaping light onto it. They are put close enough that I can daisy chaing the leaping lights. The PEX is hot glued together, it works amazingly well. I think the hot glue partically melts the PEX and the adheasion is great. On a test piece of PEX I hot glued two pieces together and could not rip them apart using a crowbar.I cut 2x8" pieces of PEX from a 10" length and glue them on. The remaining PEX was the perfect length for 25 pixel ribbon.(using DMX for my leaping lights)Damn, hate not being able to edit.... It's a 10 foot lenght of PEX... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigbaby Posted November 16, 2013 Share Posted November 16, 2013 I noticed your leaping arch has some extra length of pipe at the end. Is that for staking it to the ground? How did you attach the two pieces together? I am assuming that is pex tubing. correct? Sorry of all the questions, I have been thinking of building some of those. Thanks in Advance That's correct, the extra PEX is for staking it to the ground. I put rebar in the ground a slide the leaping light onto it. They are put close enough that I can daisy chaing the leaping lights. The PEX is hot glued together, it works amazingly well. I think the hot glue partically melts the PEX and the adheasion is great. On a test piece of PEX I hot glued two pieces together and could not rip them apart using a crowbar. I cut 2x8" pieces of PEX from a 10" length and glue them on. The remaining PEX was the perfect length for 25 pixel ribbon.(using DMX for my leaping lights)Damn, hate not being able to edit.... It's a 10 foot lenght of PEX... Very nicely done. I wanted to do the same but could not figure a practical way to anchor the arch to the ground. You solved that problem for me. Have to make it down for next years setup. Are you running CCRs or sansdevice type stuff? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Santas Helper Posted November 16, 2013 Share Posted November 16, 2013 Got to almost 80 degrees today and had to take advantage of it.Next week a huge cold front moving in so get-r-done!!! Everything was tall ladder day before nasty weather next week.Got the snow flakes wired up. Did more cable management to make it easier next year.Also hooked up a few more floods on the mega tree tower. Waiting to get some more Cat5 cable to finish it up. Less than two weeks boys and girls!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Farmer Posted November 17, 2013 Share Posted November 17, 2013 Very nicely done. I wanted to do the same but could not figure a practical way to anchor the arch to the ground. You solved that problem for me. Have to make it down for next years setup. Are you running CCRs or sansdevice type stuff?I'm using a Sandevice E6804 to run my leaping lights (and my roof line pixel ribbons).You can see it in this picture:http://lightshow.franktronics.net/?attachment_id=987 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plasmadrive Posted November 17, 2013 Share Posted November 17, 2013 Day started great.. then my iphone needed updating.. so I started that process and walked away.. come back 30 min later to find it bricked my iphone. 2 hours on the phone with apple and they said my phone is history.. So total time away from what I needed to do, 3 hrs. Now I have to drive an hour each way tomorrow to get it replaced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimswinder Posted November 17, 2013 Share Posted November 17, 2013 The PEX is hot glued together, it works amazingly well. I think the hot glue partically melts the PEX and the adheasion is great. On a test piece of PEX I hot glued two pieces together and could not rip them apart using a crowbar. I cut 2x8" pieces of PEX from a 10" length and glue them on. The remaining PEX was the perfect length for 25 pixel ribbon.(using DMX for my leaping lights)Damn, hate not being able to edit.... It's a 10 foot lenght of PEX... You can get IPEX in 20' lengths at bigger plumbing outfits (not Lowes or Home Depot)...my arches are nearly 14' in length and I used 1"... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Papa6058 Posted November 17, 2013 Share Posted November 17, 2013 Day started great.. then my iphone needed updating.. so I started that process and walked away.. come back 30 min later to find it bricked my iphone. 2 hours on the phone with apple and they said my phone is history.. So total time away from what I needed to do, 3 hrs. Now I have to drive an hour each way tomorrow to get it replaced. Don't you hate that, I woke up 2 weeks ago with my Samsung in a software update screen, when I was ready for the day the phone was off. I would never turn on again. After talking to Samsung they said send it in we will fix it. I sent it in 12 days later (yesterday) I called to see where it was. They had tried to call me 3 times (on my cell phone!) Since they couldn't get a hold of me to tell me they would not fix it if I did not pay them to fix a crack in the glass, they shipped it back! WITHOUT FIXING IT!! I love the modern version of customer service. BTW - Today made 12 super strains of lights one each of red, white & blue + green. Took my 23 foot tower down, (seems my tower climber that said they would rather climb the tower to put the lights on than wait and put them on before raising it the first time, got 8 feet up and chickened out) attached the 12 super strains,wired the 3 channel star. Hooked up and tested a borrowed transmitter (thank you Santas Helper) Hooked up 48 extension cords to the mega tree + 3 for the star. Tested the Mega Tree & Star Wrapped one bush with Red, White & Blue + Green Started setting out Red, White & Blue + Green icicles then was informed it was time to call it a day I agreed I am beat Papa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richdash Posted November 17, 2013 Share Posted November 17, 2013 I completed my first sequence today.... 1 Song down, hope to get more done soon!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little_b Posted November 17, 2013 Share Posted November 17, 2013 In between rain clouds, my kids (3 and 6) and I made 51 super strands Red, Green, and White. Hung them all on the mega tree. Put out the 8 mini trees and the Candy Cane fence. The yard is looking nice and full. Can't wait to get the mega tree hooked up to the controllers to test it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slipperyclam Posted November 17, 2013 Share Posted November 17, 2013 added a foot to my mega tree as I was to wide on the bottom now it looks good. Got more lights up before the rain. also installed a com port on the side of the house. Hoping tomorrow to get controllers mounted and wires run Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Santas Helper Posted November 17, 2013 Share Posted November 17, 2013 added a foot to my mega tree as I was to wide on the bottom now it looks good. Got more lights up before the rain. also installed a com port on the side of the house. Hoping tomorrow to get controllers mounted and wires run Today I grabbed magnifying glass to read this post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Santas Helper Posted November 17, 2013 Share Posted November 17, 2013 BTW - Today made 12 super strains of lights one each of red, white & blue + green. Took my 23 foot tower down, (seems my tower climber that said they would rather climb the tower to put the lights on than wait and put them on before raising it the first time, got 8 feet up and chickened out) attached the 12 super strains,wired the 3 channel star. Hooked up and tested a borrowed transmitter (thank you Santas Helper) Hooked up 48 extension cords to the mega tree + 3 for the star. Tested the Mega Tree & Star Wrapped one bush with Red, White & Blue + Green Started setting out Red, White & Blue + Green icicles then was informed it was time to call it a day I agreed I am beat Papa Papa, nice color config layout explanation (R,W,B & G) So did the transmitter work okay?And the mega tree climber guy got you hooked up? If you need a climber, I can help.I climbed mine working the cat5 cables today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffF Posted November 17, 2013 Share Posted November 17, 2013 Since it was beautiful out yesterday, I worked on placing almost all the yard decorations and even wired some. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Papa6058 Posted November 17, 2013 Share Posted November 17, 2013 Papa, nice color config layout explanation (R,W,B & G) So did the transmitter work okay?And the mega tree climber guy got you hooked up? If you need a climber, I can help.I climbed mine working the cat5 cables today.LOL That's just the right way ti post those colors! The transmitter is working fine, but I notices some car stereos only have auto tune and the signal varies whether it is strong enough to make the tuner stop on my channel. I ordered another (longer) cable to get the transmitter closer to the street. The climber guy was my 17 year old granddaughter, but I lowered the tower attached the lights then re-raised it. All is good there for now. Lowering it with me and 2 teenagers was a hoot! When I replace my truck, I will get a winch on my new one! Did your cables come in? I am having a big issue locating SPT-1 cable at a reasonable cost. At this point I am 58 extension cords short. There is a real possibility that I over reached this year. Going from 48 to 96 channels, 10 foot 8 channel Mega Tree to a 23" 12 channel, and going from one color on each lighted point plus the needed light, hardware and misc maybe more than I can do this year. I have not started formulating plan B yet. Wife walked out into the garage yesterday and saw almost 100 baggies of new lights and almost passed out LOL well, she loved the first test of the Mega Tree and Star. Also yesterday mounted three controllers to the Mega Tree, two controllers to the side of the house and one under the eve on the porch for the icicles. Papa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Papa6058 Posted November 17, 2013 Share Posted November 17, 2013 "There is a real possibility that I over reached this year. Going from 48 to 96 channels, 10 foot 8 channel Mega Tree to a 23" 12 channel, and going from one color on each lighted point plus the needed light, hardware and misc maybe more than I can do this year. I have not started formulating plan B yet." Ok, let me rewrite this paragraph. There is a real possibility that I over reached this year. Going from 48 to 96 channels, 10 foot 8 channel 3 color Mega Tree to a 23' 12 channel, 4 color Mega Tree and going from one color on each lighted point to 4 colors at each lighted point, plus the needed light, hardware and misc maybe more than I can do this year. I have not started formulating plan B yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgrant Posted November 17, 2013 Share Posted November 17, 2013 Hooked up my controllers for my 33' mega tree (64 channels).Running tests and flipping out the new neighbors (I moved and it's my first Christmas in this neighborhood) How in the world do you get up to the top of a '33 foot tree to hang lights? I had a hard time doing my '15 foot trees. Did you rent a cherry-picker or something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Santas Helper Posted November 17, 2013 Share Posted November 17, 2013 How in the world do you get up to the top of a '33 foot tree to hang lights? I had a hard time doing my '15 foot trees. Did you rent a cherry-picker or something? Climbed up with a safety harness. That's the beauty of a radio tower. I have a platform to stand on while attaching lights. There is a pulley/rope system at the top to raise 8 strands (two mega strands) at a time. Takes about 1 hour to hang all 192 strands, or 48 mega strands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Papa6058 Posted November 17, 2013 Share Posted November 17, 2013 Wrapped all trees and bushes with Red, White & Blue + Green. Hung all four colors of icicles Made PVC frames for windows, painted them black put lights (all four colors) and put frames in the windows All lights are up, all controllers are mounted All but one Cat cable run and connected (had to order another cable) Need to measure what extension cords I need install them, install last Cat cable and eat Thanksgiving Dinner and I should be ready! Perfect weather this weekend what a blessing! Hope to finish by Wednesday if I can locate the remaining 58 extension cords. Papa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
75redman Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 Went to Home Depot today. Shouldn't have done that. To many temptations. Put some more light in my Pepper Tree. So far my light count is 21,154, and just a few thousand more to put up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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