jerry72 Posted January 7, 2016 Share Posted January 7, 2016 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.This is what i need to do next year, make a schematic of how all my cords will run. And at least label them, With all the new elements this year i had 3 times as many cords on the yard.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=2m47sDoes this apply for wives as well? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plasmadrive Posted January 7, 2016 Share Posted January 7, 2016 This is what i need to do next year, make a schematic of how all my cords will run. And at least label them, With all the new elements this year i had 3 times as many cords on the yard.Does this apply for wives as well?ROFLMAO!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
debtoews Posted January 7, 2016 Share Posted January 7, 2016 I learned that my neighbors (who are part of my show too) have bigger personal issues that I do....and I wish I didnt know! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamills706 Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 I learned that I need to make my props in smaller sections that are assembled at their respective sites. I made a half-tree out of PVC and it is damn near impossible to move! Gonna try cutting it in half this year so that the sections are more manageable!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DisneyMatt10 Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 My lesson I learned for 2015 was that I have much more of a passion for light shows than I thought I did. I am so glad to have come across a hobby that fits my creativity. Currently programming our first "real" show for this coming Christmas, and it's a blast. Another lesson that I learned is that since we do have 22 songs this year, it get's to be a bit over whelming at times. When it becomes overwhelming I just take a few days off, and that seems to give me the drive to get right back in there and start programming again! Now it would be great if I could learn how to make up my mind on channels, and stop changing them every weekend, which causes me to have to reprogram everything!~Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zvacman Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 Matt:This past Christmas was my first year, so I am a newbie as well. I started with 32 channels and ended up with 80. I can't stress this enough, take a lot of time setting up your property in the visualizer and assign channels especially with 22 songs to sequence. I found that setting up a dummie sequence and playing around with different effects on props and saving things I liked I could copy and paste them into real sequences. You will see the effects that repeat in different songs but trust me the viewers will never notice. I also jumped from song to song. When I got hung up or frustrated I would just switch songs and the creative juices would just start flowing, it was a blast! I do have to say that 22 songs might be a bit much unless you are planning on having different songs throughout the week. That many songs will be over an hour, which will create quite a log jam out in front of your house. Again keep in mind that I am a newbie, but I did 4 songs this year that went 14:25 minutes. It ran every half hour and the traffic flowed just about right for us, I might add one more song this year to reduce the wait time. By the way I am going with a ton of rgb's and pixels this year in addition to the 80 channels and nearly 100,000 leds I had last year! This hobby can spin totally out of control. Always have fun and welcome to the madness!Z Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bravado67 Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 It's great hearing from the guys that have been doing this a long time as well as the newbies getting in to it. I am your typical newbie jumping in with both feet. I bought a 1,000 ft SPT1 and nice C9 LEDs along with the sockets and cut to length for my roof. Next year I may not even use them since I want to get in to RGB. I have neighbors that will buy them so no worries. I made the mistake of running long lengths to my trees and arches because I was afraid someone might steam my controllers. Now I know ways to protect them. I am now more informed on the pros and cons of DMX and where to find cool props. I am now a member of PlanetChristmas. I've had email dialog with Brian at SuperStar. I am going back and forth in Pixel Editor and Visualizer in an effort to design my layout. There is so much to learn. I am considering my workflow as follows: Pixel Editor for RGB on eaves, windows, mini trees, and arches, SuperStar for Mega Tree, and Sequence Editor for snowflakes and other standalone props. (reindeer, snowman, etc...) I am considering CCBs for rooflines, CCRs for windows and arches, CCPs for Mega Tree and mini trees. If I can sell my car this will all happen. LOLWhat a ride! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zvacman Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 Watch YouTube and make your own props. I hate to say it but I think your cheese has slid off your cracker ( and landed next to mine) again, welcome to the madness. I pound or thread stakes into the ground and padlock the controllers to them with steel cables.Z 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zman Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 As you grow, think about how you will store things at the end of the Season. It is always nice to add that new feature, and that first year, it is usually up WAY early, but it has to stay somewhere for anywhere from 8-10 months in the off season. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted September 25, 2016 Share Posted September 25, 2016 On 12/29/2015 at 4:29 PM, gmac said: The reason for this post is where did you get the 20" screw anchors? I know this post was 9 months ago, but Home Depot has heavy duty ones. I could not find them on-line, but have seen them in store. Likely just not searching by the term that they use... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plasmadrive Posted September 25, 2016 Share Posted September 25, 2016 I learned that I have one asshat neighbor that said he "would do anything to stop my display" I learned the GCLF can be more about the "story" than the lights regardless of what they tell you. I learned that Lawn moth grubs love warm controllers. I learned that a close enough lightning strike can take out a lot of stuff, especially if you leave everything powered up during the storm. I learned that by taking off the 2016 season I will be just fine mentally..... The uncontrolled head jerks are annoying though.. I learned that vertical strip lights need a way to drain even if they are "sealed" I learned that 3 night a week is plenty for a synchronized display and the other 4 nights static works just fine. I learned that if it were true that you "learn from your mistakes", I should be a stinking genius.. but that isn't the case unfortunately. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyD Posted September 25, 2016 Share Posted September 25, 2016 5 hours ago, plasmadrive said: I learned that I have one asshat neighbor that said he "would do anything to stop my display" I learned the GCLF can be more about the "story" than the lights regardless of what they tell you. I learned that Lawn moth grubs love warm controllers. I learned that a close enough lightning strike can take out a lot of stuff, especially if you leave everything powered up during the storm. I learned that by taking off the 2016 season I will be just fine mentally..... The uncontrolled head jerks are annoying though.. I learned that vertical strip lights need a way to drain even if they are "sealed" I learned that 3 night a week is plenty for a synchronized display and the other 4 nights static works just fine. I learned that if it were true that you "learn from your mistakes", I should be a stinking genius.. but that isn't the case unfortunately. So if I were to distill these statements down to the most important one... ...the best one.... ...the one that resonates with me personally... I guess i'd have to say that it would be that you obviously have time to come help me this year! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plasmadrive Posted September 26, 2016 Share Posted September 26, 2016 LOL.. so far I have about 20 of those requests.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plasmadrive Posted September 26, 2016 Share Posted September 26, 2016 Oh yeah.. I learned one more thing.. That not I am retired I have no clue how I ever had time for a job... phew.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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