2nd year , things I have learned

[DLH lites]

First year, I learned 16 channels is just not enough, new controller built over labor day , works great, lit it up Sunday night and to my surprise it's still not enough channels, spring sale ???

I have invented the new way to decorate  the two very large stands of bougainvillea in our yard. I call it the Lash LaRoo method. I stand well away from that thorny thing and lasso it with three strings of 50 count led C9's. To remove them I bought elbow length leather welders cloves, and leather overall's, they were on sale!

At soon to be 69 years old ,getting on the roof to put seven very large led snowflakes is a bit of a chore, needles to say against my heart doc's advice.Plus this past week was in the high 80's

Always buy way more vampire plugs than you need, there are none to be had in south florida-NONE!   I will share more later,but now there is a very cold martini in the fridge !  All the best to every one.

David

[Cannonaz]

Lets see a picture - you peaked my interest. 

[Kapkirk]

"I have invented the new way to decorate  the two very large stands of bougainvillea in our yard. I call it the Lash LaRoo method. I stand well away from that thorny thing and lasso it with three strings of 50 count led C9's. To remove them I bought elbow length leather welders cloves, and leather overall's, they were on sale!"

 

I know just what you mean, the one in my front yard I swear can jump out of the ground every time I walk near it. I can't get within 10 feet of that dang thing without dripping blood on the way to the garage. I put net lights on it a couple weeks ago and know for sure my Dr tomorrow will ask what happened to my arms during my appointment.

[tlogan]

This is a great idea for a topic! This is my second year with LOR. I had one of those small 6 channel pre-programmed, tinny sounding things from Costco for years and did pretty well with it. You can put multiple props on the same channel (see I'm picking up the lingo already!) as long they are separated enough that you when you look at one, you can't really see the other one doing the same thing.

What I learned (so far):

1) I need more channels! So I started last year with a 32 channel set up...16 strand mega tree and 10 mini trees, then various lights on bushes and trees, all on the side of my house facing the main road. The front yard had static, always on props (deer, sleigh, candy canes, etc). This year stepping into RGB, Pixie II to be exact.

2) RGB is harder than it looks! I had a pretty good understanding of everything last year...controllers, sequencing, etc. but, MAN! RGB is like a jump to light speed. And I'm still on S4. Not even considering S5 until after this season.

3) If a ribbon is not responding to a Pixie, plug it in to a different, known working port and plug a known working ribbon into the port the "bad" one was plugged in to, to know if it's the ribbon or the port. I had a bad ribbon and it took about 2 weeks to figure out. I just assumed everything would work out of the box. And you know what happens when you assume. Everything worked great out of the box last year, so why not this year, right?

4) If you've updated firmware and things aren't working, go back to the previous firmware. If it's working, at least you can get by until you figure out what the firmware issue may be. Took me almost another 2 weeks AFTER getting the bad ribbon replaced to figure that one out.

5) Buy at least twice as much SPT as you THINK you'll need. You know, like ladders and hoses. And twice as many plugs. SPT is WAAAAAY lighter than standard 14 gauge outdoor extension cords. And cheaper. If you don't believe me, you can come over and take the tub of outdoor extension cords off the shelf for me. I went through 500ft on those 32 channels in no time, and my longest extension was probably 25ft. Ok, maybe 30. I should have learned from building my home theater and using RG6 to make component cables. Ran cables from front to back of room (about 35 ft.) and went through almost 1,000 feet pretty quick. Hey, it was free so I used it.

6) USE THIS FORUM! READ and ASK! As much as I like to figure out things for myself, read up, search the forums and ask. I've had great help so far, and GREATLY appreciate it.