beagledudley Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 (edited) These Are Photos Of My Christmas Display Plans I Hope And Plan To Have This Up And Going By Christmas Of 2015. Everything In The Display Will Be Red, Green, And Blue, The Arches Will Be Clear And The Light Poles/Trees (Labeled LP1 And LP2 In The Plans) Will Have Clear Trunks Wrapped Like The Arches And Will Jump Like Arches. The Branches On The Light Poles Will Be Red, Green And Blue. The Snowflake On The Mega Tree Will Be Clear As Well. I Estimate There Will Be Right Around 55,000 Lights In The Display And All Them Will Be Mini Incandescent Lights. I Have Almost All Of My Lights (45,000 Of Them) So I Will Have To Buy The Rest Of Them This Year And Next Year. There Should Be Right Around 127 Channels In The Display. What Are Your Thoughts On It?? Anyone Have Any Ideas To Improve Upon It??Thanks! PS: Sorry For My Poor Drawings/Handwriting! Edited December 16, 2014 by beagledudley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmacw Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 Hey beagledudley, It sounds & looks awesome but if your just getting started, I'm hoping you aren't biting off more than you can chew to start! You do have a whole year get it going but that's quite a lot to start out! I'm in my 9th year and add more every year and still learning everyday from some great people here.... good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uncledan Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 I'm with gmacw on this one. That's an awful lot to tackle for first year. You will have to watch your amperage draw very closely if you plan on 55,000 incandescent on 127 channels. Coming from someone that has close to 100,000 incandescent do yourself a favor and don't go that route... Get your feet wet first year and transition to RGB. Got my feet wet this year with smart pixels/dmx and I'm over incandescent! Just my two cents after close to decade of doing this! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Santas Helper Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 I think giving a year to get it done, the layout and sequencing can be done easily. The major problem MIGHT be all the power to drive those incans. Do your math on how much amps with those lights and how many controllers you will need. At least your thinking about next year now... and not this year for last week... like some. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beagledudley Posted December 16, 2014 Author Share Posted December 16, 2014 Thanks To Everyone (I Know, I Know Only Three People Have Responded) For Your Comments. I Have Been Doing A (A Meaning Two, I Do One At My Ggrandmother's House) Big Christmas Display For Around 8 Years Now (Without LOR) And Am Currently Running Around 20,000 Lights, Along With 6 Or So Airblowns And A Handful Of Blow Molds. We Are Coming Close To Pushing The Limit On What We Can Put On Our Place (Power Wise). We Are Building A New Home In The Spring, And We Are Having Them Put 9 Outdoor Outlets On The House Each With It's Own Breaker, So I Think That Will Handle It (Hopefully!). I Am A Sucker For Doing The Traditional Incandescent Lights, )I Don't Care Much For Any Other Replacement To Them) And Since I Have Almost All Of My Lights I Need, I'll Stick To Them For Right Now. I Have Been Tinkering Around With My LOR Controllers For A While Now To Get A Feel For What I Need To Do, And I'm Planning To Set It All Up In May/June So I Can Get All Of My Sequencing Done And Get All Of The Bugs Worked Out (I Am Sure There Will Be Bugs When I Set It Up For The Holiday, But At Least I Can Resolve The Major Issues). My Biggest Issue Is The Site Where I Am Placing The Display, There Is Only One Live Tree There! All Of The Rest Are Going To Bet Props (I Have Almost All Of Them Pre-Built) But I Guess Even Though It Will Be More To Store, I Won't Have To Put Up And Take Down All Of The Lights Off Of The Trees , I Can Just Get Out The Pre-Decorated Trees.Thanks Everybody So Far And Keep The Comments Coming! Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godman Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 i'm with those above, it can be done but the power on 55,000 incans is going to be off the charts, I hope you have plans for a sub panel! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godman Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 Sounds like you know what your doing, just make sure to use a kill-o watt so you don't put to much amperage on each circuit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beagledudley Posted December 16, 2014 Author Share Posted December 16, 2014 godman, thanks for the tip about the kill-o-watt, I just looked it up on e-bay and I'll be sure to buy one!Thanks again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buckeyelights Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 (edited) The kill-o-watt is a handy tool; because your display has to be up to measure the draw. That may be too late once your display is up and you don't have enough power to run it. You need to plan and figure out where and how that many lights will powered. What outlet/circuits will you use? What else may be on those circuits? Do you have room and capacity in your current electrical panel to add circuits? Edited December 17, 2014 by Buckeyelights Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mwhite7097 Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 Start programming all those channels and building your props now. Not next week, not tomorrow. Now. You will thank me come next fall when the setup takes 3x as long as you thought, you find GFCIs tripping, or any numerous problems we all have run into. Get your props made as much as you can and the sequences out of the way asap, so you won't be overwelmed just before the season. You have a lot of channels for a 1st timer. It can be done easily if you plan accordingly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Simmons Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 Set the nay-sayers aside and proceed with your plans. I started out my first year doing 144 channels, and had a much thinner plan to begin than you do. Is it easy? No. Is it doable? Most certainly! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiplorenzo Posted December 17, 2014 Share Posted December 17, 2014 I agree with Mwhite, Start Sequencing ASAP... I started last January (2014) with this years display as I had an increase of Lights (from 3000 to 11,500.) I am still sequencing songs, but this years show is launched. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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