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Brand new to the LOR scene


Oilfield trash

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My wife purchased me the CTB16PC kit for my birthday(lucky ain't i) assembly looks pretty simple. My question is can someone point me to an article that will tell me what else I need to purchase/do to succeed in this endeavor? Not sure what to do after assembly. Can't let her down because I'm hoping for more good birthday presents

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You will need a sequence editor to program and control the CTB16PC (LOR S3 is the LOR solution). a USB485 dongle to connect a PC to the controller, a PC, a CAT5 cable to connect the dongle to the controller, and lights.

 

Check out the complete packages sold on the LOR website as they list the contents needed. There are also many articles and tutorials on their website that will help you get started.

 

Best of luck and welcome to the madness!

 

-Paul

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As Paul mentioned, watch the tutorials.  If you scoll to the top of the page there is a link for them. 

 

Welcome to the funnest, craziest, and most expensive hobby I've ever been into.

 

Oh, and you will want to keep the wife happy! :D   Happy wife, happy life.

Edited by 75redman
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One of the first year "gotchas" is the FM tuner and the "Tune To" sign. Also, the software purchase, SuperStar license if you are doing RGB, dongle, extension cords, cat 5 cable all kind of hurt the 1st year.

Edited by robigd
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If you build it, they will come. Remember that one important thing. To help encourage my neighbors acceptance we invite them all to the house to hang out in the driveway every night. I spent about $150 on those folding camp chairs, but most of them bring their own. The second thing I must stress is the importance of proper timings in the show. I have a tutorial on my wesbite  that covers many important aspects (www.xmas.planetmonkman.com) look for the tutorial on the left. Seems like a lot to take in all at once, but before you know it, freshman year will be over and you will be a seasoned veteran. I dont get on here as much as I would like to so dont hesitate to email me. Like Redman and Paul said, welcome to the madness.

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Start with a plan of your house/yard and how you wish to decorate and how you wish to control things. The visualizer is your friend as it'll allow you to sequence your music, without actually having the controller and lights out there. Get the advanced license as you'll need it in the end if you go forward. Acquire the music legally of course. As mentioned already, FM transmitter if you are broadcasting the music and a tune-to sign for others to know what frequency. Also as mentioned already, watch those video tutorials as they are of great help. We've got lots of lessons-learned for you, based upon what direction you go and how you elect to elaborate your display/show. Its really too late to accomplish a lot this year, but if you have lots of time available, you can get s simple show running. Welcome to the madness...twinkling lights.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have several songs that I found sequences for, or sequenced myself, for 16 channel and an RGB tree.  If you like I'll send you the song names let me know if your interested.  You can google, or look on these forums and find more than enough songs with sequences already for free.  Once you get the hang of the sequencer program its not to hard to adjust a larger channel song to one that you can use for your house.

 

If no one else in your area is doing something like this than your sure to be a hit.  Up here someone made the news because they bought the 8 channel kit from lowes with the pre programmed songs.

 

Of course, its addictive.

 

I used an 'ammo box' commonly available at Wally world or Harbor Freight ($5) and made holes to house the controller.  I used the 6' extension cables at walmart or the dollar store for $1 -1.25 each. 

 

Goto Lowes and buy a spool of the lamp cord and some plugs (there are you wire plugs and vampire plugs, whichever you want)  Get ready to make a whole bunch of extension cords.

 

If you are powering a LOT of light strands, you MAY need to use the 2 plug feature of the board.  But... make sure to plug into 2 different outlets on different circut breakers.  If your using LED lights it takes a LOT to go over 15~ amps. 

 

You can facebook  Osprey Loop Fort Drum  for my display.  Thats with 16 channels and the tree is on its on 24 channel controller.  

 

This year I will have 32 channels and a 24 channel tree.  Baby steps.

Edited by chandalen
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