New display goin big, need a few questions answered

[Unionman]

Hello, 

Ok, I am an electrician and I am going to set up a display at my Union Hall.  Just a way to get people together and do something else for the local kids.  

 

I expect to have about 160 channels and 500 strings of lights doing different stuff.  I think I am going to go with LED lights.  My understanding is I need Full Wave to work properly.  Is there a preferred vendor for quality and price?  I have set up a few wholesale accounts but want to make sure I do this right.  

 

For now, that is the only big question, I expect I will have little issue setting up whereas I am in the biz. 

 

Please let me know, 

 

Thanks

 

Joe

 

[Premier]

Tons of sites on the net, as well as local stores. I personally like LEDWarehouse, lights are good, shipping reasonable and fast. They back up their products.

[ItsMeBobO]

welcome Joe !    Where are you located?         Is your design settled on using only LED string lights?     RBG lights give you multiple color options within the same string.   Will give your guests much more wow for the money. 

[PaulXmas]

Hello, 

Ok, I am an electrician and I am going to set up a display at my Union Hall.  Just a way to get people together and do something else for the local kids.  

 

I expect to have about 160 channels and 500 strings of lights doing different stuff.  I think I am going to go with LED lights.  My understanding is I need Full Wave to work properly.  Is there a preferred vendor for quality and price?  I have set up a few wholesale accounts but want to make sure I do this right.  

 

For now, that is the only big question, I expect I will have little issue setting up whereas I am in the biz. 

 

Please let me know, 

 

Thanks

 

Joe

 

I assume you are getting ready for next year....

CDI is where a lot of us get our lights.

And Bob is right RBG might be the way to go if you have that kind of budget!

[Steven]

My understanding is I need Full Wave to work properly.

 

Half-wave will also work. I have a few dozen 100-bulb half-wave LED strings in red, green, and blue, and they work, except I needed to add a resistor to each channel to get them to dim properly.

 

I bought them in 2008 from a reputable vendor and they are still working fine. At that time, most LED strings sold were half-wave. Today, manufacturing has improved so that most are full-wave.

 

Half-wave strings always flicker at 60 Hertz, which is too fast for most people to notice, although some people may be sensitive to that if they see the lights in their peripheral vision.

[Vince4xmas]

I use both half and full with success. However, if starting from scratch, I would go ALL RGB, even dumb RGB.

[BryanZ]

I'm partial to HLE. http://www.holiday-light-express.com/

 

I believe HLE and CDI get their lights from the same vendor.

 

If your planning on a display for this year I would recommend keeping it small and search for used gear. (You may run into supply problems this late in the year.) If this is for next year, the lights tend to go on sale early and LOR will have their summer sale for the controllers. Budget accordingly for the display could easily run you into the $7,500+ range before you add in the other expenses such as extension cords, clips, lumber and PVC for props, zip ties, etc.

 

You can get the software and start sequencing everything in advance. That is where most of your time will be. In any event, best of luck!

[ItsMeBobO]

Did we lose the OP?

[Mega Arch]

Not trying to say you will or won't have problems, but I know many electricians and running media through SE is very different than programming a PLC. It takes hours and hours and hours per song. If you plan to start with 10 controllers, hope you've been sequencing for months. Or the hall is paying your time so you can work on it non-stop the next 30 days. If not, hope it's like others posted and you plan to go big next year.

Either way - good luck.

 

Bob-O,

Hope he's busy sequencing is why not checking back...

Edited October 23, 2014 by Mega Arch

[lightzilla]

welcome Joe !    Where are you located?         Is your design settled on using only LED string lights?     RBG lights give you multiple color options within the same string.   Will give your guests much more wow for the money. 

I agree with you.  If I was 1st starting out now that is what I would do. I am selling 4 more of the last remaining 7 controllers & I am now going to move a bit more into smart pixels for 2015. This year I have a mixer of Regular Lor controllers & ccrs & ccps.

[Unionman]

Hello there,

I am looking to do a dramatic display at my Union Hall.  I am a Master Electrician however this type of installation is new to me.  I have some questions and really could use some help for my initial investigations.  I appreciate any and all advice!!

1)      I will be installing many 16 channel controllers.  If I have 2 mega trees, in different areas, that I want to do the exact same thing, can I program 2 controllers as 1 address? 

2)      I will be buying 5 or 6 pre-made, modifiable sequences.  My time is short this year so I want to be able to get up and running fast.  I am presuming if the sequence calls out for 16/32 channels that breaks that into “groups of 4” and then optional “groups of 8”……….then running 5 songs/sequences will do similar tasks.  In other words, if I have a sequence that runs two leaping arches on a sequence that states “optional groups of 8” and another sequence states the same, then the leaping arches should work similar?

3)      When purchasing the LED strings, I presume full wave is the only way to go?

4)      What is the best place to purchase LED strings, I have looked as Sival and opened an account, good choice?

I have many people counting on me to pull this off and I have managed to raise some money to fund what I cant.  I have put lots of thought into it.  I have locations, tree design, cord assembly and leaping arch design all down pat.  The only big concerns will be controller set up, but it can affect initial layout.

 

Thanks in advance!!

[Don]

Have you seen the answers from your other thread on this topic?

 

If not, I would go check them out.

[Unionman]

Thanks, could not find the original thread, did not think it posted. Some of this one is different, perhaps someone could answer the different ones here. 

Thanks!

[Don]

Threads Merged.

[Unionman]

Hello everyone and thanks for the info.  I could not find my original post so I did not know you had responded and I guess LOR forum does not send email to let you know someone repsponded.  I have secured funding and enlisted a bunch of volunteers.  I have looked at the RGB and that may be an option for either expansion next year or something.  When everyone says "next year" is that due to products not available or just the short time frame?  This is why I was going to go with pre-made modifiable sequences.  Do that not do what they seem to say they do?  I know this will not be as impressive as the custom sequence but if it is ready to go, then I think it will hep out.  Oh, and by the way.....no the hall is not paying me to do this, it is my night and weekend thing, but I dont sleep much!  

Thanks for the merge.  Is there a way to get email alert when someone responds?

Thanks

[Don]

Top right of page. "Follow this Topic"

 

You can also modify your settings to follow topics that you reply to.

[Unionman]

welcome Joe !    Where are you located?         Is your design settled on using only LED string lights?     RBG lights give you multiple color options within the same string.   Will give your guests much more wow for the money. 

Rhode Island   As far as the RGB goes, Each string has its own controller, but what creates the sequence? 

[PaulXmas]

Hello everyone and thanks for the info.  I could not find my original post so I did not know you had responded and I guess LOR forum does not send email to let you know someone repsponded.  I have secured funding and enlisted a bunch of volunteers.  I have looked at the RGB and that may be an option for either expansion next year or something.  When everyone says "next year" is that due to products not available or just the short time frame?  This is why I was going to go with pre-made modifiable sequences.  Do that not do what they seem to say they do?  I know this will not be as impressive as the custom sequence but if it is ready to go, then I think it will hep out.  Oh, and by the way.....no the hall is not paying me to do this, it is my night and weekend thing, but I dont sleep much!

Thanks for the merge.  Is there a way to get email alert when someone responds?

Thanks

WOW a show that big this year and nothing is bought.

Good luck to you! You are going to need it!

[Santas Helper]

Hello there,

I am looking to do a dramatic display at my Union Hall.  I am a Master Electrician however this type of installation is new to me.  I have some questions and really could use some help for my initial investigations.  I appreciate any and all advice!!

1)      I will be installing many 16 channel controllers.  If I have 2 mega trees, in different areas, that I want to do the exact same thing, can I program 2 controllers as 1 address? 

2)      I will be buying 5 or 6 pre-made, modifiable sequences.  My time is short this year so I want to be able to get up and running fast.  I am presuming if the sequence calls out for 16/32 channels that breaks that into “groups of 4” and then optional “groups of 8”……….then running 5 songs/sequences will do similar tasks.  In other words, if I have a sequence that runs two leaping arches on a sequence that states “optional groups of 8” and another sequence states the same, then the leaping arches should work similar?

3)      When purchasing the LED strings, I presume full wave is the only way to go?

4)      What is the best place to purchase LED strings, I have looked as Sival and opened an account, good choice?

I have many people counting on me to pull this off and I have managed to raise some money to fund what I cant.  I have put lots of thought into it.  I have locations, tree design, cord assembly and leaping arch design all down pat.  The only big concerns will be controller set up, but it can affect initial layout.

 

Thanks in advance!!

 

#1 - Yes you can have both mega trees assigned the same unit ID doing the same thing.

#2 - Yes, if I read your question right.

#3 - No. It was mentioned earlier in this thread about it.

#4 - Been doin this since 2005 and never heard of Sival. Not sayin they are bad, just don't know of them. As far as LEDs, I would go with CDI. Great customer service and they ship their lights super fast, which is what your gettin ready to need. I'm sure others have their places but I think CDI is the most popular. Here is their website. https://www.creativedisplays.com/

I would stay with LED strings to keep the process easy for this year. You don't have a lot of time to do homework or run into a lot of problems, then trying to figure it out too.

 

If you purchase the premade sequences, you can adapt your layout of the lights to their layout of the channels. Hopefully all the sequences are laid out the same.

 

I think you can do it. But you're goin to have to hussle.

 

Good luck,

Tom

Edited October 27, 2014 by Santas Helper

[1983ss454]

welcome Joe !    Where are you located?         Is your design settled on using only LED string lights?     RBG lights give you multiple color options within the same string.   Will give your guests much more wow for the money. 

Rhode Island   As far as the RGB goes, Each string has its own controller, but what creates the sequence? 

Welcome, I'm from New England as well in springfield mass. Just remember a bought sequence while it will help some in time savings it will take considerable time to alter to work for your show unless you are say setting up a Display like the wow lights display and buying their sequences for instance.