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newbie needs help and advice


gaklinsk

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I have been interested in going over the top and setting up next year with the music and lights. I was looking at the 16 channel starter package and had some questions. This year I used the $100 sounds of Christmas thing that had basically 6 channels and the music and speaker all contained. It was cool but being so easy and cheap everyone has one. I want it to look a little better and more professional and able to do more things so that is why I want the 16 channel for next year.

My questions are as follows, as I know NOTHING about how this all works other then what I could gather from the web site through pictures and videos.

1.) There appears to be 2 outlet plugs coming from the box (16 channel)...I would plug these into the regular house outlet?

2.) It controls 9,000 mini lights it said. Is this 9000 strands of 100 or is this 9000 light bulbs total? How do I know how many bulbs I can use on each channel? I would typically guess I would use sets of 100 bulbs per strand...

3.) What is the green phone cable looking thing for? And what does that computer adapter attach to besides the PC? I have a new laptop and I do NOT see a place where I could plug that PC adapter too...I saw there was a USB adapter..could I just use that instead? Anything else I would need?

4.) I would probably need to buy the sequence packages also for the music...How is the music heard?I did not see anything about a speaker or what kind to get etc. I'm sure it plays through the laptop but how would I project it outside on a speaker loud enough for others to hear? What are my options for transmitting over the radio short distance also?

5.) Watching the video is if I make a sequence with my own music how is that done? I mean do you have to get a time line of the seconds in the song so you know what "beats" to put lights on and off? It seems like that could and would be very complicated and require many hours to do one song...am I right? or is there something I am missing and it really isn't as hard as it seems?

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gaklinsk wrote:

I have been interested in going over the top and setting up next year with the music and lights. I was looking at the 16 channel starter package and had some questions. This year I used the $100 sounds of Christmas thing that had basically 6 channels and the music and speaker all contained. It was cool but being so easy and cheap everyone has one. I want it to look a little better and more professional and able to do more things so that is why I want the 16 channel for next year.

My questions are as follows, as I know NOTHING about how this all works other then what I could gather from the web site through pictures and videos.

1.) There appears to be 2 outlet plugs coming from the box (16 channel)...I would plug these into the regular house outlet?

2.) It controls 9,000 mini lights it said. Is this 9000 strands of 100 or is this 9000 light bulbs total? How do I know how many bulbs I can use on each channel? I would typically guess I would use sets of 100 bulbs per strand...

3.) What is the green phone cable looking thing for? And what does that computer adapter attach to besides the PC? I have a new laptop and I do NOT see a place where I could plug that PC adapter too...I saw there was a USB adapter..could I just use that instead? Anything else I would need?

4.) I would probably need to buy the sequence packages also for the music...How is the music heard?I did not see anything about a speaker or what kind to get etc. I'm sure it plays through the laptop but how would I project it outside on a speaker loud enough for others to hear? What are my options for transmitting over the radio short distance also?

5.) Watching the video is if I make a sequence with my own music how is that done? I mean do you have to get a time line of the seconds in the song so you know what "beats" to put lights on and off? It seems like that could and would be very complicated and require many hours to do one song...am I right? or is there something I am missing and it really isn't as hard as it seems?



1. YES
2, Bulbs but this all comes down to power draw.
3. Data Transfer; Yes
4. Yes {Speakers}; OR Mosr of us use FM Transmitters {Ramsey}
5. Software download and play with it, you have to do the timming yourself.
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gaklinsk wrote:

so 21 people look at my post and no one can reply...grrrrrr thanks for no help!

Remember it is CHRISTMAS, I would recomend READ and READ A LOT many of this can be found here or in the WIKI on the support page. Also check out on the LOR SUpport page the basic setup guieds, they go over all your questions.
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thanks I have read a lot but didn't see my questions answered...I am sure they were mentioned at SOME point since there are tons of posts but just couldnt come across it. Thanks for taking the time...I guess being a firefighter and sitting here on X mas bored at work I have time to post lol Merry Christmas!!

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Merry Christmas,

First, you may have had 21 hits and no responses due to the time of year, Christmas Day.

This is my first year and have found this site and the people on it indispensable. I have also noticed some thing very interesting, up to a couple of weeks ago there were a lot of general questions like yours and how to questions. Then as Christmas got nearer, the posts changed it's like everyone went into a debug support role. The questions generally involved topics that were causing someone problems with their display and needed help fast. So maybe as some read your subject then saw the content they thought this could wait a day or two.


If you do not get the responses soon, repost mid January.

Some advise I can offer is to start soon and go small the first year. Also, start buying extension cords now.

Lastly, thank you for your service as a firefighter.

Lee

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If you have only one outlet (even if it has two plugs), you probably only have 15 amps available on that circuit (that's if nothing else is also on that circuit which is doubtful). 15 amps will light about 50 strands of 100 mini lights all at once (figure .3 amps per string). Now you probably won't ever light them all at once if you have a computerized display, but it is something to think about.

This link http://www.planetchristmas.com/FigurePower.htm gives power needs for different christmas lights.

Also, check PlanetChristmas.com. Lots of good advice there too.

Sorry I can't help with the other questions, I haven't gone computerized yet.

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gaklinsk wrote:

so 21 people look at my post and no one can reply...grrrrrr thanks for no help!

Welcome,

Check out the LOR WIKI page. It will give you a lot of starter information if you read through it.

FYI... looking at the number of viewers is not going to give you any information. There are many reasons. It is the holidays and people are busy. Some of the viewers may simply be other people with the same interest and wanting to see the response. Yet as third reason is that unless Dan has this board set up to reject spiders, then some of those viewing hits could be from search engines.

But here is why I think people are viewing and not responding. It is the same reason I mentioned to someone else. It isn't because they are lazy or don't want to help. It is because you did not make a descriptive topic. Your topic reads "Newbie needs help and advice"! People have to read it to see what it is that you are talking about, and likey it is not something they can respond to.

If you would like to get the best responses on message boards, try using more descriptive topics and splitting up unrelated questions into separate topics.

Best wishes
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