First time light buyer

[bdrilling33]

Hello All!!!

 

So I've gotten out of putting up Christmas lights all of my last 4 Christmases I've been married...that stops this year ha.  While the wife wants something basic (outline the house with white lights) I want something flashy...which lead me to LOR.  Being it the beginning of November, its a little late to get anything worth of a show this year, but I can start on next year. 

 

As this will be the first time I am buying lights, and for a basic display this year, I would like to "future proof" any purchases I make.  I personally like the idea of LED's as I saw some while I was at Lowes the other day so I'm leaning pretty hard towards that...unless the wife decides otherwise ha. 

 

Any quick tips on brands, sizes and where to buy would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks

BD

[Mega Arch]

Welcome aboard.

Yes, a little late this year since you don't have equipment purchased yet.

My advise is to watch as many videos of others shows and determine what you like and don't like.

Then decide how much money you are going to throw at this hobby each year (and you will go over budget 100 to 200% each year..). Then draw out your yard / house accordingly. Then starting 12/26/15, put plan in action. If going full wave sealed LEDs (recommended), watch this forum and we'll tell you when the pre-sales of the quality vendors are happening. It will save you a ton. Most retail LEDs will work too, just not as reliable and some don't dim very well. I've used Hobby Lobby's lights, Lowes' and Ace Hardware's and they all work well. The full wave C6's I bought during Jan this year are just superior in every way. Thicker insulation, sealed, full wave & they look amazing lit up. Stay away from Home Depot's Martha Stewart selections. We call them MSFs - Martha Stewart Flamers. The colors will draw you in, but many here have seen them catch on fire. I haven't had the pleasure of seeing MSFs in full glory, but I haven't seen bigfoot either...

Good luck.

Edited November 7, 2015 by Mega Arch

[gmac]

Welcome to the madness BD:

 

I  2nd what Mega Arch said in the above post...........I've been there done that with the Big Box stores. When I started to do this crazy hobby I went out after Christmas and wasted almost $1000 on LED lights ........They lasted 1 and maybe 2 years and I had to throw them away,  not being sealed bulbs moisture gets in and the contacts corrode.

I got mine from  CDI they have really good sales right after Christmas and the lights not only last longer but to me they seem much brighter than the Big Box Stores have probably because there full wave lights

Hope this helps

[bdrilling33]

Thanks you both for the replies. I was just about to ask where yall prefer to shop. For the time being, I need something that looks nice to get me through the season. Any suggestions on this? I wejt to lowes and their led (by ge) seems dim to me ha

[gmac]

Here's a vendors that I use  http://www.holiday-light-express.com/  and http://www.creativedisplays.com/      Don't know if there are any sales this time of year but they have good service and shipping and I still have all their lights  ......Price might be higher than Loews but you won"t be throwing them away next year at this time either.

Edited November 7, 2015 by gmac

[mcha]

I personally think this is the best time of the year to get into LOR.  Watch the forums and see all the hot button issues that come up, you'll learn a lot. It will get you started and thinking about what you want to do next year! It takes planning to get everything understood, set-up, functioning and looking great. You will see that most of the people have certain timeframes to which the show is centered around -

 

Nov-Dec - Watch videos of other shows to get ideas, start laying out display

Jan-Mar - Watch for great sales on lights and controllers, stock-up

Mar-Sept - Program and sequence shows

Sept-Nov- Test lights, controllers and sequences - you will never have enough time.

 

Good luck.

[dgrant]

In a way, I agree with mcha above. This is the time of the year that gives you and us, ideas from other's shows. After Christmas sales are great for saving money on LED strings although as stated above, you might wish to invest in the better quality strings. I do use strings from BigLots which are cheap but hey, they work and if they fail, I can replace cheaply but for my megatrees, I use good ones and this will be their 4th year and they all still work and look nice and bright. Just as a simple note, not a single display is the same as another. We each become "Artists in Lights" and you will be no different in that way. Even in a small town, enjoy and do all you wish. I'm about 1.5 hours away from you and should you wish, you are welcome to come see my setup and I'll show you every detail as you might wish. I'm still setting up at this time and should be done in the next couple of days, then ready to run.

[bdrilling33]

Again, thanks for the replies. Yeah it's all a lot to take on, but I think by catching everyone during the season, I can learn more on the front end.

Mcha, yes, your timeline is what I'm shooting for. Going to try to get my layout figured out and get the lights bought during the sales and anything else I can get on sale for that, matter. I suppose I'll start with a basic starter kit and see where it goes. For this year, I was strong armed by the wife to get the lights she wants...in other word, the lights she remembers as a kid. I bought a two different sets of LEDs and a set if incodesents ...she chose the incodesents of course. I tried telling her but she just wouldn't listen...things will be different next year ha.

Dgrant, nice, yeah when it comes to my hobbies I usually don't cheap out on....I'm sure this won't be any different. I'll just need some direction lol. An hour and a half to check out some lights....I'd be game, doubt the wife would join, maybe I could take my oldest and swing by...25k lights would be cool to see

Thanks again

BD

[Ed K]

I imported a revised visualization file into SS, using 5 rows, which worked fine . . .  so far.  I had added a few props in Visualization, and wanted them to be in their own row in SS.  At my request, I now have 5 rows of my lights, just as I wanted.  

 

BUT, SS reassigned which lights are assigned to each "scene", essentially incrementing one row down.  Luckily (me thinks), I had scenes requiring each visualization row of lights in a separate timeline row.  Now, all I need to do is select all scenes in one timeline row and change which light strings each controls.  How can I select all scenes in one row, without having to drag across the scenes that show, page to the right, hold CTRL key and select next group, etc., until I get to the end of the song.

 

I guess I should ask a bigger question also:  How do I prevent SS from doing this again?

 

Ed

[Ebuechner]

As far as buying things for your display. It doesn't matter what you get 3 years from now it's not going to look anything like it did. And light strings that you buy for a mega tree or leaping arch will get repurposed somewhere when you dive into pixels. So what I'm saying is if it looks good to you buy it you'll figure a way to put it in. I think I'm using pretty much everything I originally bought just not the way I intended when I bought it

[KStatefan]

The only way to future proof a hobby is to never start it.

[Slowpoke]

Welcome aboard.Yes, a little late this year since you don't have equipment purchased yet.My advise is to watch as many videos of others shows and determine what you like and don't like.Then decide how much money you are going to throw at this hobby each year (and you will go over budget 100 to 200% each year..). Then draw out your yard / house accordingly. Then starting 12/26/15, put plan in action. If going full wave sealed LEDs (recommended), watch this forum and we'll tell you when the pre-sales of the quality vendors are happening. It will save you a ton. Most retail LEDs will work too, just not as reliable and some don't dim very well. I've used Hobby Lobby's lights, Lowes' and Ace Hardware's and they all work well. The full wave C6's I bought during Jan this year are just superior in every way. Thicker insulation, sealed, full wave & they look amazing lit up. Stay away from Home Depot's Martha Stewart selections. We call them MSFs - Martha Stewart Flamers. The colors will draw you in, but many here have seen them catch on fire. I haven't had the pleasure of seeing MSFs in full glory, but I haven't seen bigfoot either...Good luck.

Where did you get the superior c6 lights you mention ? What is CDI ? Thanks for steering us in the right direction.

Edited November 18, 2015 by Slowpoke

[PaulXmas]

Download the software NOW (it is free) and play with it. The only thing it won't do is control lights.

Start sequencing now for next year.

Buy quality, nothing worse than something breaking while the show is on.

Try bringing your wife to see a show, she may surprise you and back you! (Happy wife happy life).