oilmoney Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 Just some random ramblings,,, When I first started this hobby I was genuinely jealous about all the lucky ones down south who were bragging ( in a good way ) about being able to hang lights in shorts and t shirts. I was outside last night unplugging cords in -30 C and came to a realization or maybe it was just the cold freezing my brain.....I'll take the cold. I've seen alot of posts about people having issues with rain/dew tripping out GFCI's, shorting out controllers and strings, critters and insects getting into boxes, etc. After 2 years of displays the only issue I had was a string of CCP's stop working halfway through the first season. A large cotton ball jammed in the port where the network cable entered the case fixed that this year. Has the cold hurt your displays? If it has I'd love to hear about it! Last year I only had 4 1602's and being unsure how the cold would affect them I had 64 extension cords running under my garage door as I erred on the side of caution. After talking to some who assured me that the 1602's can handle the cold I had 14 1602's scattered around my yard this year without any problems. The only controllers that remain in the garage are my 12 CCR's. While the opportunity is not there to be able to run strings all over the ground or all over the roof I've come to enjoy the way the lights reflect off the snow. Nobody wants to come over and watch the entire show in a lawn chair although it was one of the nicest decembers I've ever seen up here so quite a few got out of their vehicle to watch...I'd love to be able to sit out front with a beer and my friends and enjoy the show. I tried that in -20 deg C and my beer was freezing in my mug after 15 mins! Tear down would definitely be better down south, this year I made a point of only walking along a set path through my display so I had a better chance of not having to try and retrieve cords from underneath packed snow and ice, so far I've retrieved over 100 cords with no problems, fingers crossed for the rest of them! I'm sure a couple network cables will be spending the winter outside! I mounted LED snowflakes on plastic electric fence posts with a metal spike in the ground, the snowflakes will come off but the posts are stuck there until spring thaw! I now know I am hopelessly addicted to this, planning on another 41000 lights so far, 8 more 1602's, 300 more strobes and maybe some wireframes....still taking it down and already looking forward to getting sequencing, building, and putting it back up plus I think my friends are getting sick of hearing me talk about lights all the time! The community really got interested/involved in the display this year, my facebook page went from 315 to over 1200 likes, donations more than doubled and traffic noticably increased plus a couple even left me a really nice thank you note in the donation box plus a ton of thanks and encouagement on the facebook page as well! The display was considered " the house to see in town " and we even had 6 greyhound busloads of people come through in a single night! Xmas eve turned the whole street into a parking lot in both directions and some random dude dressed as santa was running around giving out candy canes! I can only imagine what year 3 is going to bring! I need to make a separate box for $$$ donations. Some people told me that they wanted to donate but didn't feel comfortable leaving money in the item donation bin.... The twinkle and shimmer buttons are awesome! This forum is awesome! You guys n gals are awesome too! Have a great 2015! Chad Kozak The Fort McMurray Bouncing House www.facebook.com/fortmacbouncinghouse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mega Arch Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Chad, +1 on this forum being awesome. Lots of fun decorating and sharing thoughts, trouble shooting, ect. Good people - good stuff. That said - I don't Facebook. Could you throw one or so of your videos on this thread so I can enjoy your hard work too? Thanks, - Daniel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Simmons Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Facebook isn't as ugly as it used to be. Most of the kids have moved on to other things and now the adults are left to fend for themselves. We don't need no stinking teeny-boppers to have drama. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgrant Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 I don't do facebook either. While out there taking down mine (so far), I'm thinking about next season and what changes I might make. I know I have to boost my pixel tree up off the ground as I felt that too many people couldn't properly see the lower animations on it, when parked across the street or cars blocking the view of others, so I'll build a stand for it. Probably wrap the stand in indoor/outdoor carpet with a red bow on it and probably hand a string on it to turn on whenever the tree is running.Not as cold here as up there where you are, but I still enjoyed standing out there and watching it. What I really loved was hearing all the kids in their cars, singing loudly to the "Let it Go" song and other Frozen songs in the mashup song. Some of the kids couldn't sing worth a darn but they were singing anyway and loving it! The word got out on Facebook anyway and the people came. Some from fairly long distances. I got a lot of "Thank You's", Merry Christmas wishes and saw a ton of people smiling. It was worth all the effort! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiplorenzo Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 I don't do Facebook as the data once posted is no longer yours. I do however do Google + Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oilmoney Posted January 7, 2015 Author Share Posted January 7, 2015 Chad,+1 on this forum being awesome. Lots of fun decorating and sharing thoughts, trouble shooting, ect.Good people - good stuff.That said - I don't Facebook.Could you throw one or so of your videos on this thread so I can enjoy your hard work too?Thanks,- DanielHere's a link to my youtube channel....https://www.youtube.com/user/oilmoney1000 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mega Arch Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Here's a link to my youtube channel....https://www.youtube.com/user/oilmoney1000I've watched some of your awesome videos before. Now we have a great link to all. Thanks for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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