johnm160 Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 Hi gang,I just bought my first two controllers so now I guess it's time to do something....I just am not sure what. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnm160 Posted July 7, 2009 Author Share Posted July 7, 2009 Enclosures, metal vs plastic Plastic seems to be much cheaper is there any benifit to metal? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bisquit476 Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 First off, welcome to the insanity. How do I know it's insane, because it's July and I was almost sweating waiting over the weekend for the LOR sale to start. To your question, this is the box I use, it is plastic, made for sprinkler timers, and fits the controller quite well, in my opinion. Attached files Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnm160 Posted July 7, 2009 Author Share Posted July 7, 2009 bisquit476 wrote: First off, welcome to the insanity. How do I know it's insane, because it's July and I was almost sweating waiting over the weekend for the LOR sale to start. To your question, this is the box I use, it is plastic, made for sprinkler timers, and fits the controller quite well, in my opinion.Hi Neighbor!I am in Orlando, i know it is insanity, I have been reading the PC boards for 2 years before jumping in. Is that sprinkler box an item that can be picked up local or online? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bisquit476 Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 I picked them up off ebay and craigslist. But, I think lowes or homedepot has a similar style for sale, check in the plumbing dept. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Stevens Posted July 8, 2009 Share Posted July 8, 2009 I looked at what I could get from both Home Depot and Lowes; they both have "J-Boxes" that will fit the controller card. However, by the time you add up the cost of the box (about $20, unless you can get them on sale, not often for these) plus mounting hardware, and some type of strain relief, I just went with the LOR plastic boxes, thinking something designed for the controllers would have less chance of moisture leaking in, etc. At the time I wanted to buy them, I didn't see any on eBay or my local Craigslist. I wanted to spend what little spare time I have doing sequencing, not mounting hardware. I got enough of mounting hardware being a field service tech in cash registers/computers for 20+ years. It was really nice to have something fit the first time for once Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LENNY RUEL Posted July 8, 2009 Share Posted July 8, 2009 Welcome John !!My sister in Law and her family live in Orlando. They're actually up visiting for a few days here in Wisconsin. They actually live in Ocooe. She tells me as much as I am in to lighting up at the holidays we need to come down there sometime for them. Tough to do with a display to monitor up here, but who knows. I think we are coming down in January for 8 or 10 days again so maybe one year we'll come down just after Christmas and hope to see some of them. Both her and my Niece work Disney and my future Nephew is admissions director at Universal and all have said it's a must do to see the lights and what extent it's taken to down there.Anyway have fun with this, it's as expensive and time consuming as you want to have it be. It's all fun and after my first year in under my belt make sure to start right away with sequencing. It's very time consuming even IF you borrow or modify others work to fit your configuration. Last year as usual I put lights up in November with the day after Thanksgiving as my target. Once we loaded up LOR and saw exactly how invlolved this is thankfully I found a member that let me use a bunch of his old 16 channel sequences. I ended up with a couple of 6 songs groups that looped from 5 to 10 pm. This year I started sequencing in February and am over halfway to my planned 25 for this year. Much less stressful !! And I bumped up to 64 channels and plan to add another 32-48 next year. There are still plenty of sales going on for wire, lights, etc. Not quite as good as the preorders but better than full price. Also, don't hesitate to get on the Planet Christmas gruop as well. Not as helpful with LOR as of course this site is going to be, but lots of vendors have automatic discounts if you are a PC member. And it's at no cost to join up. Good Luck.Lenny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnm160 Posted July 8, 2009 Author Share Posted July 8, 2009 Do you happen to have a link? I can't seem to find them on their websites. My order from lor already shipped so I am looking to find something local. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnm160 Posted July 8, 2009 Author Share Posted July 8, 2009 Thanks Lenny,I am already a member over at PC. I have already arranged to borrow a few sequences, the only problem is they are for many more channels then I have so there will still be extensive rework. I already feel under the gun, i figure I will work out some details doing a halloween display as a trial run.I would appreciate any links to these deals you are talking about, I stocked up on white lights after xmas last year but the stores were out of colors except multi so I am in need of lights.John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LENNY RUEL Posted July 9, 2009 Share Posted July 9, 2009 John:On PC just go into the threads about PLUS getting cancelled and there are links to most of the vendors through out that planned to attend it extending the discounts or specials they planned to run during it. Most of the lights are going to be LED (and the good ones at that) Very few incandescent minis, and none for even close to what we all can get them for after christmas. I picked up about 12000 each Green, Red, and Clear at about .50 per box on average.But places like Action Electric (Travis), CDI (Paul) etc still have some decent pricing on wire and plugs etc. And Darrell at Christmas Light Show is constantly sending me e-mails on sale stuff. Just go there and sign up for the email nofifcations. Still has pretty good pricing on his strobes at I think $6.50. And alot of these guys have that discount if you are a PC member. I know Gary and Valerie at Suprtec Novelties is an automatic 20 off for PC members and they have a big Christmas in July sale usually that is more off yet on LED's. Thye are in Wisconsin here so I like to plug them.Web site is Christmas-LEDs.comSequence borrowing is easy, just add your channels above the downloaded sequence, import your channel config and cut and paste what you want to use. For me it takes more time going through and watching what the different channels are doing and deciding on the ones to use than it does to do the cut and paste work. When I save it then I'll take the title, like Christmas Canon Rock.lms and add LER (my initials) in front of it so I know it's one I did or modifiedLenny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnm160 Posted July 9, 2009 Author Share Posted July 9, 2009 Lenny,As much as I would love to jump in with LED's there is no way I can pull that off on year one along with controller purchases. I did pick up a lot of white lights after xmas last year but they had no other single color. And of course I can't wait till after xmas this year.Do you happen to remember what 100ct minis go for at walmart during the season?Thanks for the tip on sequencing, I did not think about doing it that way.John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LENNY RUEL Posted July 9, 2009 Share Posted July 9, 2009 John:IIRC... Walmart's mini 100's, which is where I picked up mine after season where like $2.00 or there abouts during the season, maybe $2.19. The first batch I got for like .66 and then went back later and they where like .44 cents. Target threw theirs out and they had shelves of my colors, R-G-W in the Phillips brand which is a brighter light that NEVER went below $2.50. And of course no dumpster diving as they have compactors. A waste !!I hope LEDs come down in the future the way other newer stuff does as I'll need to use some for my power consumption limits. I have 100 amps on outside circuits. luckily with the arches and mega tree there is only a couple strings plugged in to each channel so it's minimal. But on a couple of the controllers they are maxed out. I like my Minis but the LEDs are getting better color wise, just tough to put out upwards of $10 a string when you might be buying a couple hundred. Even in chunks, my mega tree this year to start is 32 strings, one color, 2 strings per channel and I want to upgrade that to three colors next year. But If I wanted to go LEDs and leave it alone for another year it's at least $350. All those minis I bought after XMAS last year cost half that... for 360 strings.Lenny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnm160 Posted July 9, 2009 Author Share Posted July 9, 2009 LENNY RUEL wrote: John:IIRC... Walmart's mini 100's, which is where I picked up mine after season where like $2.00 or there abouts during the season, maybe $2.19. The first batch I got for like .66 and then went back later and they where like .44 cents. Target threw theirs out and they had shelves of my colors, R-G-W in the Phillips brand which is a brighter light that NEVER went below $2.50. And of course no dumpster diving as they have compactors. A waste !!I hope LEDs come down in the future the way other newer stuff does as I'll need to use some for my power consumption limits. I have 100 amps on outside circuits. luckily with the arches and mega tree there is only a couple strings plugged in to each channel so it's minimal. But on a couple of the controllers they are maxed out. I like my Minis but the LEDs are getting better color wise, just tough to put out upwards of $10 a string when you might be buying a couple hundred. Even in chunks, my mega tree this year to start is 32 strings, one color, 2 strings per channel and I want to upgrade that to three colors next year. But If I wanted to go LEDs and leave it alone for another year it's at least $350. All those minis I bought after XMAS last year cost half that... for 360 strings.LennyI am hoping to have some spare cash to get in on the LED Pre order next year.For now I will have to wait for the lights to hit the shelves and hop I can afford enough lights or I will have to consider cutting back on what I am planning.My plans are probably too abmitious for year one and not starting till July anyay...LOL.John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HowardShank Posted July 9, 2009 Share Posted July 9, 2009 Have faith John,I completed my LOR ordering, delivery, light purchases, misc purchases, etc. which included wiping out extension cord supplies wherever I could. I did the sequencing over about 3 weeks and physical setup in 3 days. The entire thing, start to finish, took me about 6 weeks last October/November!http://www.fredericksburglights.comHoward Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnm160 Posted July 9, 2009 Author Share Posted July 9, 2009 Wow that is an accomplishment Howard! My main limiting factor is how much money I can devote this year, but hey we all have to start somewhere.John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huskernut Posted July 9, 2009 Share Posted July 9, 2009 Lenny, Can you supply links to these places? Thanks a bunch. This is going to be my first year, kinda scary... will i get it right, will I have a traffic jam, will the neighbors complain, will somone steal everything??? Yikes, better get to programming.Rick Columbus, NE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huskernut Posted July 9, 2009 Share Posted July 9, 2009 Oops, I found the big list at PC. Guess I just wanted to see my name on the board.Rick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mnkyboy Posted July 9, 2009 Share Posted July 9, 2009 LENNY RUEL wrote: John:But places like Action Electric (Travis), CDI (Paul) etc still have some decent pricing on wire and plugs etc.LennyActually Travis' site is http://www.ledholidaylighting.com Not Action Electric. There is an Action Lighting http://www.actionlighting.com/and I saw some ask for links..... the link to CDI ( Paul Sessel) is http://www.creativedisplays.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LENNY RUEL Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 Yep.My Mistake. I can't remember the guy at Action but knew Travis was at ledholidaylighting. Only thing I have left to come is my C-9 sockets for my strobes and I have that on the brain apparently.Lenny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerrymac Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 Sorry unrelated but how or where do I get the LOR signature graphic? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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