Premier Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 Well its officially the saddest day of the year for me......got to get all the lights packed up and put away. It was our first year, spent 10 1/2 months programming, designing and getting everything in order. Planned on doing 32 channels, awaited the arrival of the controllers after the big summer sale. Felt all exicted the first trial run where I actually got the new controllers to talk to the computer and after several attempts and hardware configurations, everything worked! Waiting anxiously all year to see the lights "blink" ( other than in my head, I still see lights blinking in my head everywhere I go !) , watching the faces and hearing all the great compliments from our friends and neighbors. It seems to end all too quickly. So its a sad day to wrap everything up and put it away until next year. Already working on the 2014 design with 3 additional controllers and listing out another 20k to 30k lights I want to order. Back to programming tomorrow to help ease the pain of today. Hope everyones holiday season went without a hitch and had great success with your displays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
overeazy Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 Just be happy you don't have to take them down in the snow and cold. That the extension cords aren't frozen to the ground and so stiff that you can only hope to be able to somehow stuff them into tubs so you can get them indoors to thaw out for a couple of days. Yes its sad to be taking them down after all the work that went into getting them up but you will get to the point where someday you will just want to get them down and be able to relax for awhile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premier Posted January 4, 2014 Author Share Posted January 4, 2014 Yeah thats one of the beauties about living on the Oregon coast, mild weather. Makes for easy days arranging lights and taking them down. Funny, I only relaxed while my shows were running, after making sure the first three nights everything was working the way they should I finally could relax and get away from the computer for a bit to watch some TV, oh, and what did I watch.....The.Great Christmas Light Fight of course..... I am so sick. Programming for 2014 will undoubtedly begin tonight and I will again relax next Decemember... Man I remember when I first started last year and all the long-timers warned me about going down this rabbit hole, I really didn't beleive them until it was too late. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scubado Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 LMAO! We warned ya! This year sucked for setup weather wise, caused me to start two weeks late, but it was still worth it. Really looking forward to next year, my sequencing is getting better with having enough elements to work with. If you get bored not having lights on, LOR works great for landscape lighting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaeolien Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 My friend got my hooked into this. Have had a static display for the last couple years and now want control. Lol. Pulled down demo of software last night and spent 8 hours in front of it playing with it and programming a sequence. Now I really can't wait to order a controller and for the lights to "blink" next season. My wife thinks I am crazy but has reluctantly agreed to help. Lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zvacman Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 I just finished taking down 40,000+ lights from my static display in 10 degree weather. I am planning my LOR show for next year, my mind and wallet have completely different plans. I will take the advice of the wise veterans and start small and work my way into a kick butt show! The clock is ticking, especially for me, it's not uncommon for us to get snow in late October. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjdamico23 Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 I still haven't touched my lights as it's been sub freezing and everything still buried in snow. So cold I'm surprised everything isn't snapping in half. But a warmup is coming and the lights will come down, definitely a sad day, and sad when you walk outside -no cars out front , no music anywhere, and everything is dark......it's an empty place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgrant Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 I've still got to take down the roof lights but tomorrow should be a nice day so will get it done then. Snow, ice and super cold temps, stopped the take-down process. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radioguy1007 Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Been doing this now for 8 years. This is the second worst tear down in those 8 years. Worst was when we had 46 inches of snow in December - buried everything. This year it is a royal pain - 2 foot drifts everywhere so had to shovel the grass to get to the display elements. Only good thing is snow fell early and insulated the ground - so conduit anchor pipes are popping right out and not frozen in. Also cords are pulling up fairly easy as snow is dry powder type. But cold has put a delay on progress - just won't work out there with -40 wind chills. I know it could be worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulXmas Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 I have about 3' of snow I have to dig through this weekend but on a postive note it will be close to freezing (warm to us) . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duckman Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Tonight is going to be the last night of the season for my lights to be on. It has been to cold to take them down until this weekend so I figured I might as well leave the lights on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabre03 Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 I have not been able to take mine down yet because of all the snow. so until I can get it down, and people stop showing up on the run my show every Friday Saturday and Sunday night Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeighty Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 (edited) Living in Florida has its advantages - take down day was slightly overcast in the low 70's. My sadness was not taking down the lights, but that didn't have a traffic jam. In fact no more than one car at a time stopped. There were far fewer cars than I expected. First year and I knew the show was not exactly what I wanted, but I had my heart in it. I only let people know via word of mouth... so maybe its my fault. I may be shaking it up for 2014 and doing a "live" show using either DMXIS with Show Buddy or Madrix.Looking to change multi colored lights on roof line with RGBW strings. The MC lights were a budget saver, but just a little too much. Edited January 12, 2014 by zeighty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjflory Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 OMG...! These Newbs are sick people! (see caption below my banner)) tj Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgrant Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Mine are now officially down and put away for the season. 10 months to go till we start putting it all back up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave H1 Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Just got off everything off the roof this afternoon. Now another weekend of testing, putting the location tags back on and packing away. Still have to take the lights of the branches of the oak trees but they are not as noticable as red, green, blue and white C9s lining the roof and fascia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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