Pixel lights or current lights

[Jefft0825]

I’m thinking about starting this big project up and was wondering what I should do.   I currently have custom cut lights on my house all wired to one outlet.   Is there anyway to reuse that and change just the bulbs?   

 

Also, how Do you know what to plug into the 16 different channels?    Does each section need to be plugged into a different channel?    If I buy the pixel lights, do I need to separate all those out?    Can I cut the lengths of those so I don’t have extra bulbs lighting up for different parts of the roof?

[caniac]

9 hours ago, Jefft0825 said:

I’m thinking about starting this big project up and was wondering what I should do.   I currently have custom cut lights on my house all wired to one outlet.   Is there anyway to reuse that and change just the bulbs?   

 

Also, how Do you know what to plug into the 16 different channels?    Does each section need to be plugged into a different channel?    If I buy the pixel lights, do I need to separate all those out?    Can I cut the lengths of those so I don’t have extra bulbs lighting up for different parts of the roof?

really depends on what kind of lights you are using, what you plug into where is up to you BUT icans have a higher amp load than LED's/Pixels.  where you might only be able to plug in one to two ican strands into one channel, you could probably plug in 10-15.  There are no set layouts, that part is up to you BUT you do have to be cautious as to the type of lights you use.

[DisneyMatt10]

9 hours ago, Jefft0825 said:

how Do you know what to plug into the 16 different channels?    Does each section need to be plugged into a different channel?

So pretty much, yes. Every channel is it's on set of lights. Say you want just your roof line to be it's own "set" you would plug all your roof lights into one of the 16 channels. If you had one big star you wanted to do it's own thing you would plug that into a different one of the 16 channels. If you had 5 bushes, and you wanted each bush to do it's own thing you would plug each bush into a different output on the controller. So If you did the simple set up above, roof, star, and 5 bushes it would take 7 of your 16 channels. 

(I sure hope that makes sense)

 

9 hours ago, Jefft0825 said:

If I buy the pixel lights, do I need to separate all those out?    Can I cut the lengths of those so I don’t have extra bulbs lighting up for different parts of the roof?

Yes. All of our pixels we use are custom cut to the perfect length for where we need them so we don't end up with any bulbs where we don't want them to be. Just MAKE SURE TO WATERPROOF THE END YOU CUT!!! I know it sounds dumb, but just try to remember that!!!
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If I were to make a suggestion I would say go with pixels! When I started this I swore I would NEVER buy pixels and put them in my show... and well, next year the entire show will finished being transitioned over to pixels. You just get so much more bang for your buck. So many more options, and colors, and effects. They are for sure the way to go.

[PhilMassey]

Cutting regular or LED light strings is not recommended unless you know what you are doing.

Edited December 3, 2017 by PhilMassey

[TheDucks]

Only 120V (each) bulb (there are retrofit LED bulbs. they cost more) strings are easy to cut.

Mini lights or LED are series circuit. each bulb drops a bit of voltage, the total being 120 (may include a dropping resistor). To cut, you need to know what each bulb voltage and CURRENT rating is, to calculate a resistor value.

IMHO 12V RGB (dumb) or monochrome, are easy to cut. Why? They are 12V wired parallel They are available in multiple form factors. A CMB24D can drive up to 24 monochrome channels or 8 RGB ones or some combination