32 Unexpected Channels - What Should I Do With Them?

[Push Eject]

Hi, guys. Our (13 year-old) display is 96 old-school channels (details on existing controllers below for context). A friend retiring from the hobby gave me 2 more LOR 16ch controllers!

 

My question to you is, what would you do with 32 more channels? All ideas welcome!

 

Cheers,

Charlie

[DLH lites]

Easy , buy more lites,  there always has to be a good reason ,and a place to put them ,just ask my husband, he lets me buy all the led lites I can hide !

David L Hardin   DLH LITES

[Push Eject]

David LOL! Well, OF COURSE there shall be more lights. MOAR LIGHTS!!!! Muwahahaha.

 

What I mean is: in what form?? Another mega tree? Spirals on the current one? More arches, firesticks, mini trees... more granularity on the things I have now, maybe? What would you do?

 

Cheers,

c

[Orville]

6 hours ago, Push Eject said:

David LOL! Well, OF COURSE there shall be more lights. MOAR LIGHTS!!!! Muwahahaha.

 

What I mean is: in what form?? Another mega tree? Spirals on the current one? More arches, firesticks, mini trees... more granularity on the things I have now, maybe? What would you do?

 

Cheers,

c

How about Blow Molds?   They can be costly at times depending on what or where you can find them.

I have a Waving Santa, Mrs. Clause, a Santa Mouse{very small character too}, a small snow woman, 2 Large Red Noel Candles {2 channels each} and 2 Smaller Gold Noel Candles {also 2 channels each} in my display.  Only use 8 Channels for the Blow Molds,  but I also have a few wall mounted type characters, items and a Merry Christmas sign that use up another 8 channels.   So that fills up one 16 channel controller for my AC powered items.

So I keep my 2nd CTB16PC Controller for a spare in case the main one has any issues like losing a channel due to a triac failure.

 

[Push Eject]

10 hours ago, Orville said:

I keep my 2nd CTB16PC Controller for a spare in case the main one has any issues like losing a channel due to a triac failure.

 

That may just be the most mature idea I've ever heard. I might have to consider that!  Love the blow mold idea; I don't have any of those, but some are so charming!

[k6ccc]

There is a lot of truth to that one.  Most of us who have been doing this a while have a pretty good spare parts collection.  This may be your golden opportunity to having a spare controller.  Much nicer when you discover two hours before all your friends are scheduled to come over to watch your show, if you have a spare for whatever failed rather than a panic order and wait a week.  And soon on your "spare parts to have" list is a spare USB to RS-485 adapter.  If that dies, your entire show dies..  Also (like a lot of the spare parts) is handy for testing.

 

[Push Eject]

49 minutes ago, k6ccc said:

And soon on your "spare parts to have" list is a spare USB to RS-485 adapter.  If that dies, your entire show dies..  Also (like a lot of the spare parts) is handy for testing.

 

Serial to RJ45 here, but a good point well taken!

[k6ccc]

1 hour ago, Push Eject said:

Serial to RJ45 here, but a good point well taken!

If you ever buy one (either a second network or a spare), buy the red high speed USB adapter.  If for no other reason than the speed capability.

 

[Push Eject]

10 minutes ago, k6ccc said:

If you ever buy one (either a second network or a spare), buy the red high speed USB adapter.  If for no other reason than the speed capability.

 

You are assuming my show computer has usb - LOL. It's an old Windows XP relic running S3.

[Orville]

1 hour ago, Push Eject said:

You are assuming my show computer has usb - LOL. It's an old Windows XP relic running S3.

Then you'd need to do what I did in that case, as my first system didn't have USB ports either.  Easy fix, think at the time it cost me around $25.00, might be able to buy one cheaper now.  What is it?   An internal USB card that fits one of the white slots in the computer, if your computer has these type and at least one unused one to install the card.

You can usually find these at most computer repair/refurbishment/used centers.   Not sure what they may charge for one of them today, but know I purchased mine new from Wal-Mart at the time for around $25.00.   If your computer has these type slots in it, you should be able to buy one that'll fit.

The one I bought had 4 external USB High Speed ports and 1 internal USB High Speed port.   And when I finally got a computer that did have USB ports built in, 4 of them, this gave me an additional 5 more.   For me that was plenty at the time, now I need a new computer that has at least 20 or more USB ports for all the USB devices I've acquired and can't use at the same time. LOL

But that's how I handled that option with a system that didn't have any USB ports in it.

Really does depend on just how old the computer is if it can use the USB card.   Best bet, check with one of the computer repair shops and talk to them, they're a great wealth of info on getting information and even things for older systems at times.   And they'll let you know if there isn't anything for your system as well.

 

Edited November 13, 2020 by Orville

[Orville]

5 hours ago, Push Eject said:

That may just be the most mature idea I've ever heard. I might have to consider that!  Love the blow mold idea; I don't have any of those, but some are so charming!

I found many of my blow molds at places like K-Mart{if any are still around}, Garden Ridge {think in some areas they now call them "At Home" or something like that}.  Just know they changed their name in my area.  Also found them at times at places like Big Lots.  Some of my Blow Molds were purchased through forums such as this one, Planet Christmas and eBay and sometimes through On-Line Retailers.

When I'm seeking something specific in a blow mold I just do an on-line search and see who has what I'm looking for, may not be exact, bit something close is satisfactory for me, as well as price.

Good Luck!

Edited November 13, 2020 by Orville