2nd year newbie seeking advice

[blazing lights]

Good Day All from Edmonton Alberta Canada, last year I purchased 4 controllers, the show time central starter package with fm modulator, and sd card, I also purchased from wow lights a singing santa, and there yard tree, I was not happy with my display last year as nothing worked to the pre purchased sequences. Most likely because I had no organization to my lights. I am going to enclose my house and if there is someone who can point me in the right direction to make my house look awesome I will be very grateful. I want to use all 3 levels of my house, the column in the front and the yard. I have made 2 arches and 12 small trees for the front. my real problem is I dont know how to coordinate my lights so they actually move to the sequences...by Christmas time we usually have 1 to 2 feet of snow,  I would gladly presnt my house on video but the file is to large, and I dont know how to srink it or where to put it so people can view, pls respond soon as winter is quickly approaching, I can be reached at 780 909 1955 or you can email me directly at blazinglights70@gmail.com, thanks all, 

[Mega Arch]

Blazing lights,

Welcome to the forum. There are many of us that started with Wowlights - I did. What I can tell you is to get the best bang outta their sequence buck, you need to stick close to their layout suggestions.

For starters - you said you made (12) small trees. Put (2) in the garage for backups and only use (10) of them. Tie them to controller #1, circuits 6 thru 15, with 15 being closest to your driveway. Keep them in order by placement. 6, 7, 8, 9...etc.Those channels bounce & chase. When they chase, they're sequenced to look best left to right and must be in order.

Controller #2, the 16 channels for your "mega tree" must be in order as well. Also, you must have circuit #1 be in the back closest to your house. Then if looking straight down on your tree, move clockwise around the tree ending #16 next to the #1 you started with. It will sweep and chase in sequence with your (10) trees and if not positioned as directed - well, discombobulated at best...

Controller #3 is for your (2) 8-channel arches. Again, keeping in order from left to right.

 

For the rest of your house, tell us what lights you plan to use - example: all are strings multi-color strings. Or, have 3 different string colors working; red, green and blue. Or what? You can do this - but you need to get after it. With that snow you had a few weeks ago - yeah - it's coming. (I'm sorry to say - hanging my house lights today with fear of a sunburn - Oklahoma City will be 85deg f today...)

Here's a "Wowlights" I used a few years ago with only 48-channels.

Watch how the cans in the front, the arches and the tree all move together. My front cans are the same circuits as your trees. I just tied (4) groups of (10) together, still keeping them left to right...

Good luck,

Daniel

[ClarkGriswold69]

Welcome aboard!  Well, my friend, you and I were in the same place.  I'm in my second year and getting better at creative designs.  First things first.  In order for me to fully understand how to sync the lights I watched all of the LOR video tutorials on sequencing.  Then I started watching other posted videos to get ideas. Now to give some helpful suggestions.  Like you, my house has many slants, curves and levels.  And we also have to deal with snow in the winter, albeit not as much as you.  This has worked for me.  I separate my house into sections:  Roof line, windows and outline of the house.  I use three controllers and have two CCRs.  I used Showtime Central last year but will forgo it this year in lieu of running the show on my computer.  When I hook up my lights I make sure each section is set to a specific controller.  For instance, my outline of the house (channels 1-6) and windows (7-16) are set on Controller 1.  My roof (1-3) and yard decorations (4-16) are set on Controller 2.  I also have 16 trees I made and are set to controller 3 (channels 1-16). Doing this allows me to sync each section.  For instance, since all my window channels are in one cluster it allows me to create a smooth chase sequence without having to go find the channels and cherry pick em with hopes of a smooth transition.  This way, I can actually watch the flow while I'm programming the lights. So, put all your windows, yard decorations, etc. in clusters on your controllers so they are all next to each other.  Sometimes you may run out of space.  For instance, lets say you have five windows you want to do on Controller 1 but you only have four channels left.  Put the windows on channels13-16 and then use channel 1 on controller 2 for your fifth window.  This way they all are in clusters even though they are on two separate controllers.  It will show up in the sequencing editor as one group.  As you do this you will find it much easier to manage your show and be more creative.  My best advice is to plan out how you want to yours lights to be hooked up to your controller BEFORE you hook 'em up.  I personally take a walk around my house, plan where the lights will go and then write it down on a note pad.  This way when I go to set up the sequencing I can use the notepad to help put the lights in the proper order when I beging using the sequence editor.  I also plan where to place the controllers based on weather, length of extension cords (I make my own) needed how many sections will be going to that controller.  For instance, I have one controller in my yard to deal with the Christmas trees since they are all going to controller 3.  No sense of putting controller 3 near the back of my house and having to make mega lenght extension cords to reach it.  This way it saves on money and clutter.  I hope this helps.  Good luck.

[Ebuechner]

Okay, here's my advice.

 

 

 

Turn back now before you get in too deep. I'm sitting here amongst a pile of wires and pixels and don't know if I can get out

[dgrant]

Sequencing is always the hardest part of this hobby so don't feel like you are the only one out there. My show is somewhat large with 176 AC channels, 32 DC channels and multiple pixel controllers. What I do is start with either the beat wizard or tapper wizard in hopes of establishing a beat. From there, due to the number of controllers/areas, I'll sequence a group or track of channels to the music, all the way through the song. Then I'll come back to the start and sequence another group or track of channels. I use the visualizer extensively. Its very, very late to start sequencing now but you can do it.

[k6ccc]

I'm with dgrant - sequencing is the hard part. I can technically make the software do what I want it to do. I lack the artistic creativity to know what i want it to do. The centerpiece of my display is a 12 string pixel tree. For almost all of my sequences, I purchase the pixel tree portion and then fill in the rest of the yard around the tree. That also takes care of timing since the purchased sequence is properly timed.

Sent from my Droid Turbo via Tapatalk, so blame any typos or spelling errors on Android

[blazing lights]

Quick question all..in the 4x4 pattern...do you connect all lights to make a full run...or is it 4 separate strands each..pls reply thanks

[k6ccc]

Four channels per element. Example: four channels for bushes, four channels for mini trees, four channels on Windows, etc

Sent from my Droid Turbo via Tapatalk, so blame any typos or spelling errors on Android

[sticks4legs]

Hello fromt Sherwood Park.  Lots of good advice above, if you have any questions don't hesitate to PM me.