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For the new folks


Ron Boyd

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To improve your search results, use the Dogpile Advanced Search engine; type in the search arguments ("ccr setup", etc) then point it to Forums.Lightorama.Com and Fetch the results.

 

You'll be pleasantly surprised how well it works.

Ken thanks for this tid bit. I am always looking to assist with the fact that I am "search challenged"

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I am a newbee this season, and in time hope to be where most of you are. I started with the basic package and have 2 controllers. I have over 15,000 lights and hoping the 2 controllers will do most. I'm not ready to do every single thing. I purchased some RGB lights thinking they were just red, green, and blue but to my pleasant supposed I feel like I struck gold lol. I purchased quite a few Ready-to-Go sequences since I know I have no idea on how to make a sequence. Too Hi Tech for me right now. I tested those so far and excited to see them in action outside. I already have it planned what is going in what plug number, etc and I think I have the number of amps all figured out where ill b ok.

So, with 2 controllers, FM transmitter, and Ready to Go sequences, I feel I will be efficient enough to start this season. If anyone has any ideas or other tips or think I don't have enough to start, all opinions are appreciated--good or bad.

Good luck to All and thanks!

IMHO, I think you are starting out at a comfortable pace. I said above I started with 32 and I had 5 bought sequences and then ended up with 20. When you get a chance, study the sequences you have and you can pretty easily start from there.

 

You did get the starter package with the USB485, Cat5 and such, right? Now all you need is at a minimum 32 extension cords for the channels and 4 more for the controllers. That is, unless you have learned about Zipcord and Vampire plugs.

 

Go ahead and ask a question if you hit a snag. Enjoy your new found addic.......Uh..hobby. yeah, that's it, hobby! :P

 

As my favorite musical band and circus big tops around the world say, Welcome To The Show

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IMHO, I think you are starting out at a comfortable pace. I said above I started with 32 and I had 5 bought sequences and then ended up with 20. When you get a chance, study the sequences you have and you can pretty easily start from there.

 

You did get the starter package with the USB485, Cat5 and such, right? Now all you need is at a minimum 32 extension cords for the channels and 4 more for the controllers. That is, unless you have learned about Zipcord and Vampire plugs.

 

Go ahead and ask a question if you hit a snag. Enjoy your new found addic.......Uh..hobby. yeah, that's it, hobby! :P

 

As my favorite musical band and circus big tops around the world say, Welcome To The Show

-------

I do have a gazillion extension cords as I have a large property and outlets are far away (until the electrician comes in a few weeks and adds more circuits and outlets throughout) the yard for me. I do have the starter package and extra Cat5 cables anyways. Thanks for assurance that I'm not going in too deep at first! THANKS!

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Start early to allow yourself LOTS of time!

Keep buying those extension cords, you can never have enough.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Thanks Ron. I'm totally new to Light-O-Rama. I started sequencing my own CCR lights two weeks ago when they arrived from the summer sale. The software is a learning curve but I'm getting a good understanding.

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Thanks Ron. I'm totally new to Light-O-Rama. I started sequencing my own CCR lights two weeks ago when they arrived from the summer sale. The software is a learning curve but I'm getting a good understanding.

 

And requires the most time.

My first year I started programing in Feb and bought my first controller in the summer sale.

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This will be my second year. I learned a lot from all the people here who already went through the learning curves and were willing to share their suggestions...Thank YOU! I agree, starting early is absolutely the only way for this hobby and for newbies, you must understand that it is "Not" a plug and play thing. I'm expanding mine this year and fixing sequencing errors from last year...lol, seems to be a never ending battle. I'm looking forward to the day after Halloween when I tear that down and start putting up Christmas.

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aaggghhhh...there is HOW MANY DAYS until Christmas? (hands shaking and eyes rolling) and THANKSGIVING is only what?(pulling hair out)....oh don't tell me. SSTTRREEEEESSSS (teeth chattering, body shaking uncontrollably), no, no, no, not here (drinking lots of caffeine). so much to do and so little time.....aaagggghhhh their coming to take me away ha ha!!!

 

seriously, take your time and learn LOR. look, listen and read...then ask. everyone here at some point didn't know ANYTHING about this stuff. most will share their knowledge, but like everyone said above, it may take a day or few to get back to you this time of year. I think most of us are getting ready for the season. some of us have a 'little' different sense of humor and will give and take a lot of sarcastic stuff (and I think enjoy it? weird). But most of all remember this is supposed to be fun, and it is. I lover watching people see my show and listen / talk to them without them knowing I did it. Just take your time and have FUN!!!!!

 

<Clark, the little lights aren't twinkling>

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One other piece of advice I'd add, as a second year LOR participant.  Set realistic goals and expectations for yourself.  Everyone's situation is different, and if you see a display that someone else put together, think about if you have the resources (time and money) and skill set to do that.  If not, you'll set yourself up for disappointment.  Last year, I joined the party late...I started in June/July.  I only did 16 channels, and almost everything was borrowed/shared sequences.  Frankly, they didn't look all that good, but they went "blink blink" and my kids thought it was awesome.  Mission accomplished.  This year, I started in February.  I've now added another controller, so I have 32 channels.  That said, even with the much earlier start and some prior experience, my goals are still very realistic.  The biggest limiting factor for me is time.  Just the way my life is, I'm on the go from 4:00am until 8:00pm every weekday.  Most of my weekend time is spent catching up on all the housework my wife and I can't get to during the chaos that is our work week.  So even if I had unlimited financial resources and more skills (which I seriously lack), I just don't have a ton of time.  Where that shows up most is in sequencing.  I can build enough of a physical display so that I've got a lot of lights, trees, etc...which is great.  But as Ron originally said, sequencing takes hours upon hours.  So I keep my goals realistic.  From the time I started in February until Thanksgiving, I hope to have 5 songs sequenced.  That's realistic for me.  And my sequences will be childs' play compared to what many people here do.  But I'm just as proud of it and very happy with it.  I wish I could do more, but I can't.  I wish I had a ton of time to watch YouTube and study how to sequence.  But I don't.  So I learn what I can when I have time to read, and a lot of it for me is just winging it and trial/error.  My show won't be something that the local news comes to do a feature on, but it'll be entertaining and that's my goal.

 

Next year, the stress will begin early for me.  By about July of this year, I realized that my layout is really restricting some of the effects I can do with sequencing...at least I think it is based on my very, very limited knowlege of how to sequence.  But it's too late to change now, so I'm making it work the best I can.  I plan to blow it up and redesign everything for 2014, so the songs I'm sequencing now will be nearly useless and I'll have to start all over.  Oh well.

 

I'm not saying to aim low.  If you want to go for it, go for it.  But be realistic about what you really can and can't do.  This is an amazingly fun hobby, but it can be very time consuming and expensive.  What's realistic for you?  Get that straight, and you'll have a blast.

Edited by Klayfish
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Be sure to back up all your sequences and files!!  All the long hours you spend throughout the year programming can be gone with one click. Last year I upgrade to a later version of LOR and after the upload some of my sequences were missing.  If I had not backed them up I would have been at a loss.

 

So I say again, BACK EM UP!!

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Not only backing up files is a great idea, but consider loading everything on a backup computer so its ready to run, just in case of a computer hardware failure. I have mine on the show computer, another desktop and my laptop. The laptop is used for checkouts but can be used as a show computer.

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  • 2 months later...

We started 5 years ago, with 16 channels, a week later ordered another 16, this year we have brought the total up to 144, and I feel like I need another 144 more LOL.

We have a VERY large area we light up, 1 acre of front yard on each side of our driveway, the driveway which is 400 feet long through the woods, which consists of 7 14 foot tall and 14 foot wide arches which you have to drive through, with 6 different colors on each that chase you down, then there is the private road that leads to our driveway, which is about 1800 feet, and we decorate both sides of that. with cat5 wire running overhead, and power running underground to the LOR boxes, we have a 110 foot train, I  made out of pvc pipe which is decorated with 5 different colors of LED rope light, chaser poles, chaser arches, and new this year, a box pyramid tree that stands 15 foot x 15 foot, this year with 2 colors, next year 5? :) 2 10 foot tall candy canes made out of 10inch pvc pipe, covered in 5400 lights each. we have aprox 125000 lights, all LED, aprox 7 miles of extension cords, 4 speakers around the property, and a FM transmitter with a 3 mile radius, and thankfully a bunch of great neighbors who enjoy the show!

We start decorating in October, as we need the time, and the nice weather helps. the train, and driveway arches stay in place year round, as they are quite hard to dismantle and store anywhere. Our show runs Thanksgiving night to New Years night, 4:30 pm to 10pm weekdays, 11pm weekends, midnight  Christmas week.We also do a food drive for the local food pantry, where last year we were able to give them over 3000 canned goods, and $1000 in cash. Christmas Eve, the family stay out at the end of the driveway, and we hand out hot chocolate, cookies, brownies and candy canes, while myself and a few friends direct traffic, we can only allow so many cars down the driveway at a time, or people get trapped in LOL.

Last year we has a line of cars for 3 hours, down the private drive, and 2 miles down the main road, even had a local and state trooper sitting in our yard for about 15 minutes watching the show :)

Next year I hope to expand... yup down the private road in the opposite direction, about 1000 feet toward my inlaws house, the only problem will be getting the cat 5, and power down there :)

The setup goes smoothly... except  fot the sequencing... the wife and I dont see eye to eye on that LOL

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Newbie here!  And I got started back in September.  Its been tuff with only my 16 channels, planning to start early next year and double up!   

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Newbie this year I have been wanting to join lor for 5 years now. When I saw how much time it would take to build it all I said no way. I picked up a mr. christmas and started planning for lor since.

I purchased 2 controllers in june. From then till october planning the display.. My wife sequencing and then to start building it up.

We were so hooked and the kids oh and not to mention the neighbors loved it.

Ok so here comes november 1st my wife stars planning christmas and tells me we are going to need 3 more controllers. I said WHAT no your crazy more lights more extension cords. I worked from the 3rd of november day and night flood halogen lamps up to make daylight and kept working neighbors looked at me like I was crazy.

I finished my display yesterday and still adding lights to the static section of my display.

With that being said I suggest for those of you who are thinking about joining the lor family really plan at least a year ahead.

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Hi All, 

 
I purchased the software probably a couple of years ago and I believe I registered it as well.  
I spent probably about 30 hours working on 1 song and got about half way through so I have a good taste for how to play with it.  
I was thinking about getting my first controller then maybe by the summer sale I will purchase another controller. 
Other than creating the sequences, if I have the software, and can get my own CAT5 cable, can I just purchase a controller now or do I need anything else to get started?
 
Thanks!
Mickey
 
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I've been following this for three whole weeks now and the learning curve is HUGE.  And I know my way around electronics and computers. So far I have 6 channels and 4 songs and I'm pretty excited.

 

So partly to keep things straight in my head and partly to help others I've started a blog of what each day has been like as a newbie.

It's stuff everyone on this list has heard before, but I'm trying to collect the things I found useful together in one place.

And maybe remind you old timers of what this looks like from new eyeys and what you take for granted. Like WTH is SPT?  :-)

 

http://lightinganimation.blogspot.com

 

Enjoy,

Dave

 

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yep i'm a noob here in this hobby

but i wanted to say how i was able to get our show off the ground for 2013

 

i saw my 1st light show in 2011

bought the software starter kit a few months back after our move to tx ; i been playing with it since 

i knew being new i knew i wouldn't have a show ready for Halloween so i concentrated on Christmas 

my family and i tried for the  scholarship fund twice and was planning to try our 3rd ; but not necessary now 

 

after the move we readjusted our finances and i found we would have trouble getting  some of the equipment i would need (controllers)

 

well thanks to some wonderful folks here ; my family and i WILL be able to get our show off the ground the equipment i WAS

needing will be here in a few days 

and we will be trying to contribute and pay it forward for the 2014 contest when BobO announces it

 

and i want to  say who these  wonderful people are here and the Christmas spirit that thrives in all who have helped us in all we asked for to make it possible 

 

BobO and his list of donors 

 

thanks for  all the help

and from my family to yours 

Merry Christmas and a happy new year

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Hi All, 

 
I purchased the software probably a couple of years ago and I believe I registered it as well.  
I spent probably about 30 hours working on 1 song and got about half way through so I have a good taste for how to play with it.  
I was thinking about getting my first controller then maybe by the summer sale I will purchase another controller. 
Other than creating the sequences, if I have the software, and can get my own CAT5 cable, can I just purchase a controller now or do I need anything else to get started?
 
Thanks!
Mickey

 

 

You will also need the USB485 adapter to connect the network cable to the controller. Take a look in the LoR store at the starter packages under the Light Controllers section for a list of what you need to get started. The Starter packs have everything you need.

 

 BTW, I highly recommend CAT5e cable instead of Cat5 for the extra shielding. You will have many power cords and wires running around and the extra shielding helps ensure no interference in the signal.

 

-Paul

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  I just purchased the showtime-central-starter-package-2.gif from LOR, will be here tomar.  I need to pick up a SD card for it and I need some SEQ and I will be set.  I already hung my lights and and everything is going to a 6 channel MR. Christmas right now. I figure keep it simple this year and start planning for next.  I just want 4 controllers for next year.  How do I go about loading the Seq on the card and adding the music.  I'm good with computers and have web design knowledge like dreamweaver/flash/photoshop but this software is much different. Anyone write any good books on this or step by step videos I can pruchase?

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