jeff bush Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 Well, looks like we sold our house and bought the house posted, move in around Feb. Same neigborhood as our current house so hopefully wont lose too many people. I have so much to do not just moving/moving in, but then cutting down the trees/shrubs to get it the way we want it (yes, the big tree in the front has to go). The last 4 yrs I have only done a Christmas show but would love to do a small Halloween show at some point. I figure running RGB my let me do that. Sequencing time is what I am afraid I wont have much of, I am just gettting in RGB smart and dumb--Here is what I have planned so far: I currently have a Sandevice E681 for the smart strips and a CMB24D for the dumb. My thought is the run the smart strips horz on the both the top and bottom front edges, and also run smart strips vertical on all 6 posts, and also each side of the top dormer and top roof each side edge. And then run dumb strip frames on the windows and door and maybe the front of gargage with the CMB24D. I will have to purchase another CMB24D due the number of windows. I respect all of your options and would like your thoughts so I can get started planning (and buying if the wife lets me after buying this house) and sequencing. I told the wife with all that is coming up with the move and outside work, don't plan on much of a show as the layout is completely changed. Current house in and single story w/ garage and smaller front yard. I have seen several houses similar to this posted on the forum, maybe you'all who have them can provide some input please. Thanks in advance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mega Arch Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 I don't have any RGB experience to throw at you, but just have to say -what an awesome house that will be to light up!Congratulations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff bush Posted December 16, 2014 Author Share Posted December 16, 2014 Thanks Mega, I have only done some testing as well. With 2 kiddos, haven't played around with it too much but know enough to have the fever Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 As far as the "minor" lighting holidays, the RGB improves your possibilities. I am going to suggest that you think about what can be permanently installed and either used every night or at least on the minor holidays. As my signature below indicates, when I am completed with my front yard landscaping project, I will be running almost 200 channels year round. Except for a few channels, it's all RGB. Makes it very easy to light up the minor holidays. For example, my yard is red, pink, and white for Valentines day; all green for St. Patty's day; red, white, and blue for July 4th; and orange and purple for Halloween week. Except for Halloween night and Christmas, it's only animation. Looking at your photo, you don't have much in the yard that lends to permanent lightscaping, but there are some things you could do with the house. lighting up the front porch with strips on the underside of the roof, and the underside of the eves of the 2nd floor. For year round lightscaping, you are not looking for something that is showy, so area lighting works pretty well. If you are going to do any front yard landscaping, plan for your lighting. Especially if you are going to be digging up the yard, think real hard about getting conduit in the ground to places where it would be useful. In my case, I started my landscaping project by stripping the front yard to bare dirt. Had to trench the yard for a new (relocated) water main and sprinklers. My yard is sort of a trapazoid shape that is 85 feet long and 15 - 25 feet wide. There is almost a quarter mile of conduit under the lawn. Most of it is used all the time, but there is two conduits (one each for AC power and low voltage) to three different locations that are intended only for temporary use. Let me tell you what I have for my permanent lightscaping. This might give you some ideas for things you might do. I have two brick columns on either side of an entry walkway. Each column has a light on top, and one has a lit address sign and the mailbox. Both the lights on top and the address sign are fully RGB. There are 3 brick tree rings. Each ring is 4 bricks high and 6 feet in diameter and has a dwarf fruit tree in it. There is RGB dumb strip along the inside edge at the top of each tree ring. I have 17 roses along a wall with the fake brick scolloped edging in front of it. There is RGB smart strip in front of each rose. There is a 30 foot long raised concrete block planter with a brick cap on my side of the sidewalk. There is RGB smart strip on the inside edge of the brick. There are 3 steps up to the front porch. Each step has a small overhang and there is RGB dumb strip on the underside of the overhang. This was originally done because my father is almost blind and he could not see the steps very well in the dark. Lighting the steps make it far easier to see the steps when my parents visit. There will be in a few months, a 55 foot long walkway from between the brick columns at the sidewalk to the front porch. That will have a brick edging that will have RGB smart strip along the walkway. Lastly, the front porch light, three lights in a bay window, and a light at the end of a wall between my property and a neighbors are all under LOR control. These are the only lights that are not RGB. I will give some idea what I am doing with the landscaping lighting a little later. I have to get to a meeting... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Boyd Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 (edited) Jeff, I've posted this link in several threads. If you're wanting to get going with RGB, the links in this post will get you most of the info you'll need. By no means is it all you will find, but it's a lot of really great videos and tutorials along with some great documentation. I used most if not all of it when I made the total jump. There's a wealth of information, so it will take awhile to get through it. Getting started now is a good move. It's not very hard, but it is time consuming. Here's the link: http://forums.lightorama.com/index.php?/topic/32270-cmb-24-videos/?p=297149 Edited December 16, 2014 by Ron Boyd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Santas Helper Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 Jeff, What a great house to do a light show with. The style, the color. it's all good. Just my opinion.I would keep the big tree.It has potential for Halloween as a spooky big tree lit up with blue, green or red floods. That's like a prop many wished they had.For Christmas, wrap the trunk and big branches with lights and have the lights/branches swaying side to side to the music/sequence.The tree is tall enough so it's not blocking the house from the street.Also, depending what direction the front of the house is facing, that tree will help with shade during the summer.Just something to think about before cutting it down.No, I'm not a tree hugger but I do see some real potential having it there for both seasons. Just my thoughts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff bush Posted December 16, 2014 Author Share Posted December 16, 2014 Jeff,What a great house to do a light show with. The style, the color. it's all good.Just my opinion.I would keep the big tree.It has potential for Halloween as a spooky big tree lit up with blue, green or red floods. That's like a prop many wished they had.For Christmas, wrap the trunk and big branches with lights and have the lights/branches swaying side to side to the music/sequence.The tree is tall enough so it's not blocking the house from the street.Also, depending what direction the front of the house is facing, that tree will help with shade during the summer.Just something to think about before cutting it down.No, I'm not a tree hugger but I do see some real potential having it there for both seasons.Just my thoughts.Thanks for that. I had thought the same thing on the wrapping for Christmas and having the illusion of the branches swaying, have not thought about the floods for Halloween though. All Good thoughts so far Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Santas Helper Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 have not thought about the floods for Halloween though.All Good thoughts so far thanks! For Halloween, I would use blue and green mix LED floods shining up the trunk and branches.Fabricate some fake branches and temp mount them about 10 feet off the ground and get some spanish moss to drape off them. Maybe even hang a skeleton. A couple black crows with red eyes.That can be one serious Halloween tree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff bush Posted December 16, 2014 Author Share Posted December 16, 2014 I like the idea!! I will need to do some forum searching on how best to affix the RGB strips to the wood faces without boring a bunch of holes the the wife's new house Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oilmoney Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 The first thing that jumped out at me is those columns. I'd be doing 6 or 7 ch per column and making them look like stereo equalizer bars jumping up and down with the beat! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff bush Posted December 16, 2014 Author Share Posted December 16, 2014 The first thing that jumped out at me is those columns. I'd be doing 6 or 7 ch per column and making them look like stereo equalizer bars jumping up and down with the beat!Thanks. I was thinking along the same lines only using 6 channels of my Sandevice and zip tie a smart strip to each post. I can see them doing "the wave" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff bush Posted December 16, 2014 Author Share Posted December 16, 2014 ...if I read enough to be able to program "the wave" or stereo equalizer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff bush Posted December 17, 2014 Author Share Posted December 17, 2014 (edited) I like the under eve mount RGB thoughts to mount permanent Edited December 17, 2014 by jeff bush Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mixnight Posted December 25, 2014 Share Posted December 25, 2014 Don't cut the tree, instead of that, install lights on it, for Halloween you can install pumpkin faces on each window and I like the idea of install the RGB on the edges, that's what I did for Halloween on my house Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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