Chase lights up a pole?

[Guest guest]

I want to run lights up a pole to chase. Is there an easy way to do this with minimum channels. Can I use a strand of chaser lights and just turn them on and off with the LOR controller. For instance start the strand at the bottom of the pole and when it is given power it will run up to the top of the pole. If the strand is set to chase when it is given power will it start at the beginning of the strand. Is something like this even possible?

[Guest guest]

Yes you can do this. A chaser set that when turned on would turn on when given a full on command from the LOR channel. Alternatively, you can take a chaser set with 3 or 4 channels and create your own chase sequence with the LOR control (4 channels gives a better effect I think). And you can make your own chaser strand with multiple strands of lights bundled together in order.

[Guest guest]

So if I plugged four chaser strands together and set the strands to chase when LOR tells it full on will it start chasing from the beginning of the strand and go to the end and then chase back until LOR tells it full off. Will it not start in the middle when it is told full on occasionally or will it always start at the beginning and run to the end? The thing I am trying to avoid is sometimes the chase starting halfway up the pole or a quarter of the way up the pole but always starting from the bottom.

[Guest guest]

The chaser sets are typically 3-4 light circuits. When they are turned on they rotate through circuit 1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4. At a fast rate they chase. Somewhere there was an illustration to show this. If you had a couple of strings plugged together you may not get the right effect. You may be able to splice three strings together to get the length required. The wiring should be able to handle this, but not sure if the standard control will work to control that many lights. If you spliced the three strings together and hooked up each circuit to LOR then you should have what you want.

[Guest guest]

Maybe I am missing something so bare with me, but if I used only one string would it cycle through the four circuits starting with circuit one everytime LOR tells it full on? What I am thinking I could use four strings all going up the pole and use four channels of LOR and when the four channels were told full on all four strings would chase up the pole. I guess the question is as long as only one strand is hooked up would it work everytime?

[Guest guest]

I believe if the chaser strand has memory it will start in the last position it stopped.. So you would have to find chaser strands without memory. Just a dial you turn to select function.

Yes if you just plug in the chaser strand and give it FULL ON with LOR Sequence it will do what you want

[Guest guest]

johnsonfool wrote:

I want to run lights up a pole to chase. Is there an easy way to do this with minimum channels. Can I use a strand of chaser lights and just turn them on and off with the LOR controller. For instance start the strand at the bottom of the pole and when it is given power it will run up to the top of the pole.

To chase from one end to the other (bottom of the pole to the top) you would have to have a channel for every bulb. A chasing set does NOT chase from one end to the other. As soon as you turn it on the whole thing starts "moving" in whatever direction it is set to chase. (Think of a marquee board.) If you remove the controller and use 3 or 4 LOR channels instead and turn all 4 channels "on full" then all the lights will be on and there will not be any chasing. I don't think that there is any way possible with only 3 or 4 channels to have the string chase from one end to the other.

TED

[Guest guest]

cvyvial wrote:

If you had a couple of strings plugged together you may not get the right effect.

That depends one the construction of the lights. If they are all running on the same controller then they will all work together. If they each have their own controller it would be nearly impossible to get them all synchronized.

TED

[Guest guest]

>I believe if the chaser strand has memory it will start in the last
>position it stopped.. So you would have to find chaser strands
>without memory. Just a dial you turn to select function.

I don't think any chaser strands have much in the way of memory. They certainly will not "remember" where the last chase stopped. The best you will get is that they may remember which sequence (out of the 8 or so that they can do) they are running.

> Yes if you just plug in the chaser strand and give it
>FULL ON with LOR Sequence it will do what you want

No it will not. He wants to chase from one end of the string to the other. This is not possible with only 3 or 4 channels.

TED

[Guest guest]

I agree with Ted, The only way to get a chase from top to bottom would be to assign a channel to each light or group of lights. I have wirframe deer- 52, and stars-30 that chase. Each with a dedicated channel.

Bill

[Guest guest]

Here is a link that has lights going up two palm trees. You have to watch it for about 65 seconds before you see the sequence. It is the fourth one from the left on the top row. It is Tim B's Christmas.

http://www.animatedlighting.com/showcase/customershows.asp

Michael B

[Guest guest]

To get a true chase up a pole you would need each light to have it's own channel. You are not going to be able to use mini's to do that since each bulb is only 2-3 volts.

Plugging in a couple of chase strings will not necessarily give you a chase from end to end. The type of chase these strings do is light every 3 or 4 light in the string in sequence. Each controller will start a little different so each string could be off a little bit. Sometimes they may be right. If you rewired them with one controller then there should not be any problems with them being out of sync.

Chris

[Guest guest]

I see the effect. It is a single lit light going up the tree with a fading trail that follows it. My suggestion would be absolutely NOT to try doing that with LOR. Sure, it is capable of doing it, but it is the wrong tool for the job. [it would be very possible to do with an LOR solution, just an excessively expensive waste of hardware, IMHO.]

Instead, you'll want to find something [somewhere] from some lighting place that will do the effect on power-on. Then just use the LOR to turn it on and off with a single channel.

EDIT: OR... track down the customer and then ask them!

[Guest guest]

EDIT: Nevermind. It's responding now.


animatedlighting.com seems to be down.

Michael B wrote:

http://www.animatedlighting.com/showcase/customershows.asp

[Guest guest]

Here is an article on how a chaser light strand works but I don't think it is going to perform the chase up the pole like you want. Just some extra reading for you with animated graphics.

http://www.kindlachristmas.com/HTChaserLight.asp

Bryce

[Guest guest]

Michael B wrote:

Here is a link that has lights going up two palm trees.

I've seen those palm trees for sale somewhere on the 'net.

Wish I could remember / find where

Martin

[Guest guest]

Hey, Grandad.

I couldn't help but notice your icon. I remember coming across a Smurf Christmas recording some time ago. I think the song was called "Christmas in Smurfland" ?

[Guest guest]

Well now jmc, would you be showing your age there Can't tell from your profile.

I believe we have, somewhere deep in the attic, some original VINYL Smurf records!

How's that for one-upmanship :laughing:

Martin