Lessons Learned for 2015

[gmac]

Simple tent stakes and those large red ones at Home Depot will not hold my mega tree base ring. Ended up buying some 12" long screw in anchors (4) to keep the ring pulled down tight. Also those little wire anchors dont do carp for holding other elements down. Between the wind and rain, my anchors just pop right out of the ground. Figure out what anchor you think is big enough to do the job. Then get one that is twice as big. Consider the use of screw anchors. I bought 4 that are about 20" long with about 3" screw for the mega tree that stands 17' tall. Even with all of the wind and rain, it has not fallen over (yet). Hope I didnt just jinx myself.

Guess WHAT??  I just finished picking up the pieces of my 15'... 32 string Pixel tree this afternoon that blew over......Took every thing in to the basement and I'm afraid to go down and see what is broken.  

The reason for this post is where did you get the 20" screw anchors?  I used 8 of them ( got the kind that Christmas Light show sells & there approx. 8" long and I guess not worth a dam)   on my base ring and 3 on the guy wires I even welded 3pcs 4' re bar together and drove it into the ground over 2' and set the pole over it. thought I was good but guess I was wrong with all the wind and rain we have  had.

I was thinking of trying weld pieces to make mine longer but if I can get them that long why bother welding the existing ones and save all the extra work.

[PaulXmas]

Have BACK UPS!

My EDM Transmitter worked last season but did when I p;ugged it in this year.

It would have taken around 2 weeks to get another one.

Good thing I have a Whole House that works. 

[1983ss454]

I learned too late that I didn't have enough kid music in my playlist, so that will be my focal point this offseason. Can't outline the house in mini lights, it just doesn't end up having a neat enough look. On certain songs with a lot of different effects on my pixels I had lag when I didn't restart my computer daily. So learning S4 Should eliminate the S3 lag

 

I like the look of mini lights for outlines but I agree I hate the messy look of it. No matter how many gutter or shingle clips I use I can't fight the twist in the wire. Even zip tieing to PVC i can't keep them straight.

 

So what are you going to do? Are you going to C9 or RGB strips? Or do you have a better way to keep them straight? I've seen a few examples here in the forum on how to use wood or PVC and literally drill a hole for each individual light but WOW what a lot of work that would be.

The plan right now is C9 size technicolor pixels to outline the house, I'm thinking about Stapling them to 1x3" ferring strips to keep them straight on the peaks of the house. Won't know for certain till spring when I go to build them and try them out

[viennaxmas]

For the C9 technicolor pixels: use 1/2 inch aluminum and zip ties. Works perfect... I have almost 800 around my roof.

[viennaxmas]

1/2 inch aluminum spray painted black...

[ElectricCorn]

                Your light display affects people`s lives a lot more than you think, I had many comments this year about how the display has become a tradition to visit on xmas eve, day etc.

               

 

This, exactly. I mentioned this in another thread on the Newbies subforum but I'll put it here too.

 

It never occurred to me that my neighbors would think anything other than "nice lights" or "I hope the traffic doesn't get bad." But my neighbor directly across the street came over to tell us how much she enjoyed the lights and how they helped her through Christmas having lost her husband unexpectedly last Christmas. Both she and her sons watch the lights a lot, and wonder aloud what I'll do next year. I won't disappoint them! 

 

As for a lesson learned: I don't at all regret starting small. I want to expand next year but now I have a much better feeling for how much work such a thing will entail.

 

 

 

J

Edited December 30, 2015 by ElectricCorn

[LOR Staff]

1. Don't wait until September to send in your controller for repair.  You are already too late to get it back for that season.  Forget about it in October or November.
2. Test your equipment early.  If it is new, test as soon as you get it.  We test everything before shipping, but DOAs do happen.  There are more options within a few weeks of receipt than there are 7 months into a 12 month warranty.
3. Buy an extra USB adapter.  You WILL loose one.  And by that I don't mean it will blow up, I mean you won't be able to find it!
4. Backups are your friend!  That includes sequences you purchase from our sequence store.  Soon the first orders from customers will 'roll over', and they won't be available for re-download from the store (unless purchased again).

[Chris A]

I like the look of mini lights for outlines but I agree I hate the messy look of it. No matter how many gutter or shingle clips I use I can't fight the twist in the wire. Even zip tieing to PVC i can't keep them straight.

 

So what are you going to do? Are you going to C9 or RGB strips? Or do you have a better way to keep them straight? I've seen a few examples here in the forum on how to use wood or PVC and literally drill a hole for each individual light but WOW what a lot of work that would be.

I had some Aluminum drilled and simply sits on my rain gutters. It's built in 5' sections.

[jimswinder]

Label everything! 

 

I use a lot of "superstrings" (strings of Red, Green, Blue, and White tied together). When they are zip tied together it's hard to tell which end goes to which color. So i just use a black sharpie to write R, G, B, W on the ends. I also put the length of the string, 5 = 50, 6 = 60, 1 = 100, etc. So they are all marked 5W, 1B, etc. 

 

For extension cords I also mark the length. This helps in setting up and keeping things organized when tearing down. 

 

This year I felt like I wasted a lot of time connecting extension cords one at a time just so i could make sure I was connecting the right color. I'd connect to the controller, then walk to the prop, then back to the controller, then back to the prop. For next year I'm going to create "superstring" extension cords that are labeled with the color ahead of time. This way I just connect all 4 colors at the controller, then pull the 4 extension cords to the prop and connect all 4 at the same time.

 

 

I painted all my vampire plugs and light string plugs to match their respective color...Red, Blue and White...and of course left the green plugs green...saves a TON of time when you are plugging in 544 LOR channels...

 

Just plug the female and male vampire plugs together to protect the pins and spray paint them...

Edited December 30, 2015 by jimswinder

[k6ccc]

I learned too late that I didn't have enough kid music in my playlist, so that will be my focal point this offseason. Can't outline the house in mini lights, it just doesn't end up having a neat enough look. On certain songs with a lot of different effects on my pixels I had lag when I didn't restart my computer daily. So learning S4 Should eliminate the S3 lag

 

I like the look of mini lights for outlines but I agree I hate the messy look of it. No matter how many gutter or shingle clips I use I can't fight the twist in the wire. Even zip tieing to PVC i can't keep them straight.

 

So what are you going to do? Are you going to C9 or RGB strips? Or do you have a better way to keep them straight? I've seen a few examples here in the forum on how to use wood or PVC and literally drill a hole for each individual light but WOW what a lot of work that would be.

I have GE Color Effects lights on my eves. They come with a plastic clip that can hold one light above the clip or one below the clip. The clips are designed to clip over gutters. I cut off the part that holds onto the gutter leaving just an "L" shape. I screwed the clips to 1x2 wood strips. The 1x2s have eye bolts on top that hang from hooks mounted to my eves. At the joint between two 1x2s, I have waterproof connectors on the cable so I can disconnect the strips very quickly. Keeps the lights nice and straight and very fast to install and remove.

[zvacman]

Step away when the hobby becomes more like work than fun.  2015 beat the snot out of me with hardware and software gremlins right up until the start of the show season.  Pretty sure I'm going to take 2016 off and catch a breather.

@SparkDr. No you won't. I'd bet everything I've got you are already thinking about what to do next year to bullet proof your display. I've fought a visious battle with Mother Nature this year, and all I can think of is how to kick her butt next year.

P.S. If you do quit PM me and I'll buy your stuff.

Z

[Say watt??]

I learned that my dislike of Facebook(and social media in general) has merit.

January 1st I'm deleting our Christmas light FB page and my personal FB page so I can focus on old school real life again. Too much wasted time "commenting on comments"... "liking posts, pictures, and other crap"..."starting to type my opinion only to realize nobody really cares"... "realizing that people I thought were smart, sound pretty stupid fairly often"... "NOT realizing you have become one of them"... etc, etc.

Should be a banner year for actually getting stuff done!!!

Good for you JeffF!

I was on fakebook for about 4 months a few years back and that was enough for me. That [Foul Language Used] is for people who TALK about doing stuff, I prefer to get out there and actually do things. I guess this means my lesson learned for this year is that there are still people who can and will break from the norm and get on with it. Thank you JeffF!!

Edited January 2, 2016 by Say watt??

[dgrant]

I'll add another hint...label your controllers and/or cords for communications to them. The LOR controllers are RS485 whereas E1.31 controllers are TCPIP and both use the same cables. Do not dare cable incorrectly as it'll fry things in either the controllers or the computer or BOTH!

[k6ccc]

I use different color Cat-5 cables to avoid that problem. RS-485 cables are purple, E1.31 cables are green. Even different LANs are different colors. My normal home LAN uses blue cable and the WiFi is white.

[k6ccc]

I use different color Cat-5 cables to avoid that problem. RS-485 cables are purple, E1.31 cables are green. Even different LANs are different colors. My normal home LAN uses blue cable and the WiFi is white.

 

To expand a little on what I said now that I'm not trying to type on my phone.  Besides being a different cable color, I mark the purple LOR network cables with color marking tape to differentiate the different LOR networks.  Remember that I run LOR 365 days every year (yes, 366 this year), and all of the permanent wiring is in conduit.  I use three LOR networks for Christmas and two of those for year round.  In several locations more than one of the LOR networks is in the same location, so it's handy to be able to tell which one is which.  Although LOR calls the three networks I use "Normal", "AuxA", and "AuxB", I simplify it to networks 1, 2, & 3.  I mark cables for network 1 (Regular) with brown tape, network 2 (AuxA) with red tape, and network 3 (AuxB) with orange tape.  Any electronics technicians will recognize the color standard.  For those that don't, it's the first part of the resistor color code.

 

Just in case you're wondering why I need two networks year round, it's because I make extensive use of interactives, and you can't detect inputs on an enhanced network.  This year I have two old controllers that also can't use an enhanced network, so the two input devices and the two old controllers are on a non-enhanced network, and all the year round new controllers are on an enhanced network.  The third network that is used for Christmas only has three CCP controllers and is enhanced.  In the sales, I plan to replace the two old controllers with Gen3 controllers so I can control all the lights for Christmas as intensity files.  I will still run three networks, but only the two input devices will be on a non-enhanced network.

[zman]

I have 2 power grids, switched and unswitched. The switched is controlled via Smart Home technology to fire up the static items at 4:45, 15 minutes before my Show lights up. The unswitched is power that goes to all the controllers that stay powered 24x7 during the season. Over the years I acquired red and blue 14/3 or 12/3 colored cords. I make all my extension cords now. The blue cords are for my static power grid, the red cords are for my controller power grid.

 

It makes it easy to track things back. I also am using triple taps, or outlet bricks that give me one extra open spot on my controller power grid so that I can plug in an extension cord during the season for troubleshooting or maintenance work on the display during the Season. I always know that at the end of a red cord, I can plug in the extension cord.

 

To continue the color scheme, green, brown or black cords are all my connection cords.

 

In my Display Spreadsheet that is from Rick at Quartz Hills Christmas, I modified my version to add the extension cord length for the controller channels. While that vignette may move around the yard, the extension cord length remain pretty static. That way if someone is helping with connections, and you give them a controller page, they can go grab the cord lengths they need out of the appropriate rolling garbage can.

 

Last one. If you plug in light cords of the same color in close proximity to other colors, use a silver permanent marker to mark both the plug and female end with the letter of the color, R-G-B-W etc..... This drove me crazy as we were helping Mike Ziemkowski the weekend of his reveal taping and I had to get into a tree and backtrack some burnt out LED strings.

[LOR Staff]

 

  In the sales, I plan to replace the two old controllers with Gen3 controllers so I can control all the lights for Christmas as intensity files.  I will still run three networks, but only the two input devices will be on a non-enhanced network.

 

Why wait?  You of course do know about our Unconditional Lifetime Replacement Policy, right?  You can get a better deal now if you are looking to replace those (and don't mind sending the old ones to us for 'recycling' ).

 

https://youtu.be/lQKWn6oPj-c?t=2m47s

[plasmadrive]

Why wait?  You of course do know about our Unconditional Lifetime Replacement Policy, right?  You can get a better deal now if you are looking to replace those (and don't mind sending the old ones to us for 'recycling' ).

 

https://youtu.be/lQKWn6oPj-c?t=2m47s

Had to use that twice this year

[KStatefan]

I will purchase everything I need for planned future expansions at the same time. I went to purchase some more pixels that I had purchased last year and they are no longer available.

[dgrant]

When purchasing pixels, make sure you get all you need of a particular time, all at once, from the same batch.