Where do I even begin?

[RickMosher]

mwilliams wrote:

Did I mention that you'll need extension cords?

Oh, and by the way... you'll need extension cords...

[Robbo]

well this has certainly been a morning/day of learning for me, after seeing a light show on the news recently and googling light shows on youtube and alike I have become fascinated and determined to join the technically challenged and enter the realm of computerized light shows.



Not even having done a static display before light shows will be my entry into christmas lights lol. This thread has been a great starting point, but I would like to clarify a couple questions being the follwoing:

1. Using the controllers etc in a starter package from LOR I assume the lights are plugged into the controllers but myself being from Australia are these compatible with our plugs or is there a need to buy adapters etc?



2. Regarding lights plugged into controllers are these specific lights or any light imaginable, ie light sets with built in controllers (blinking, musical etc) do these work on LOR controllers and the built in controller gets over riden? or are they just not compatible?

[beeiilll]

Kim Campbell wrote:

Thanks!

Well...I have one inflatable snowman and a couple of stings of minis....how's that for a display! LOL I really want to do something much more exciting. We live in a small town and to the best of my knowledge, no one else has an animated display....I would be the first one so it has to look good! I have no local yocals to get advice from so you guys will be my lifeline....be prepared for lots of questions! Thanks for the calculator link...I have a look at it.

Thanks again and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Kim

I too am in a very small town (approx 900 full-time residents) and no one here has more than just a few static lights strung up on their house, although the occasional
inflatable has started to show up in the last couple of years.

I only put up a couple of strings of lights and a star that I have built when I was a kid (that is longer ago than I care to reference :shock:) and I decided to jump into things this year with animated lighting to try and put some Christmas spirit back into the area and I guess renew my own faith in the season.

I was only going to go with maybe 16 or 32 channels of LOR and a few hundred LED lights since I needed all new lights anyway. Once I got into this and saw what it could do, I was hooked!

I am currently running 96 channels of LOR and approx. 14,000 LED's and have just ordered 4 more controllers and another 10,000 LED's !!!

Not to say that you will need anything like this, but when you get going it can really take off fast. I have only had my display running since the 8th of December and now I have a dozen or more cars a night coming by to see the lights. There are people coming from towns 30 miles away just to see this and the response I have gotten from the people who have seen it and the local ones has been nothing short of amazing.

I had a little girl who ran up and gave me a hug and told me"I love your lighty show". That alone has made this more than worth it to me. This has also gotten the people in town to put up more lights this year than in the last 5 years combined so far.

It is a great deal of fun to see what this form of control and animation can do as well as the sense of accomplishment you will get when you turn it on and see it yourself and think "WOW, I did this".

On the down side (not really, but needs to be considered) this can take a great deal of time to set up and get running as well as figure out everything such as the controllers, FM transmitter, power needs, and mounting the lights.

Definitely do your homework and research things out. Start small and grow as your budget and time allow. I never could resist the "go for broke" thing myself and that is partly why I have so much going now .

From my standpoint I will say that Light-O-Rama equiptment is tops. It is easy to set up and figure out and they have probably the best tech support I have seen.

As far as LED's the Holiday Creations brand have been the best ones I have found so far for reliability. Not cheap, but very dependable and well made.

The other folks point about extension cords is one to take to heart as well. I have over 8,000 feet of cords so far and just got another 2 - 1000 foot rolls of spt1 to make up some leaping arches and more mini trees. It is amazing how much wire can go into this and will surprise anyone who starts out.

I think that I have done a fairly nice display for a starter year, but also once I got it up I see things that I know I want to change for next year and things that I wish I had done differently to make them better.

Everybody who has spoken to me about my display can't believe what this can do and how beautiful it looks. I just tell them "Thank You, but wait till you see what I do next year" and they just give me a "Can you really top this?" kind of look.

I have already started planning next years display and looking at ordering things for it as well as the items that I will need to build for it.

Also the sequencing of the songs is what will take most of the time to get done since I am going to have so many channels to deal with and a multitude of things going on at once.

Above all do what you think you can handle to start out and have fun. Don't get discouraged when things seem like they will never work out (I almost did not get this going due to health issues, but that is another story) and hang in there. Take a break when you get frustrated with it and come back later and you will find that the answer has come to you most times.

Above all do it because you want too and that it will bring happiness and a sense of accomplishment to you.
For others to enjoy it is really just a by-product of things (but it doesn't hurt your feelings when they praise you either ).

Good luck with your display and remember that there are a lot of people out here in the same boat as you that can help with things when you need it.

Bill Ellick