Christmas 2013 - NEW! Super Snowflakes and Power Wreath! All on REN24SS

J

jukingeo

New member
UPDATE:

Snowflake, Wreath, and REN24SS construction details post #37



Hello all fellow forum DIY'ers:

GOOD NEWS! I have my videos up for my display this year.

This is the narration / preliminary testing video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWX4sXv84nQ

These are the first four songs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMGCYHi-U4g

These the last two songs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5WKUpY3vOU

(I will also post some pictures and might add some more videos too as time permits).

For 2013 I revamped the entire system using a new show computer with a new Renard controller. The previous years were using a REN16Xmus 16 channel controller, this year I am using a REN24SS 24 channel controller. All 24 channels were used this year. The first 12 channels were a repeat of last year's show, where as the last 12 channels were set to 3 multi-channel items. This was my first year using multi-channel decorations. I used two 42" snowflakes which were already 3 channels but I modified it to be used on the controller. The last 6 channels were used in a 30" wreath that hangs in the middle of the window. The 6 channels were evenly divided around the wreath using 25 LED bulbs each for a total of 150 bulbs in the wreath. Everything is ran through Vixen 2.1 Christmas light program.

Even though I have a REN48LSD with two DIYC-Floods which I had completed since October, I didn't end up using for my Christmas show this year. Reprogramming for the new REN24SS controller with the new snowflakes and wreath turned out to be more than enough work for this year. I really had a choice and either it was to program the songs for the DIYC-Floods or add a new song for this year. Since I didn't have a new song on my roster since 2010, I felt it was HIGH time to add a new song. My new song selection for this year is Run Run Rudolph by Kelly Clarkson. Since this song was programmed from the ground up with the new display it actually makes the best use of the new lights. The ending on this song turned out pretty spectacular if I do say so myself.

Well...sit back and enjoy! (Then come back and read below)

For next year I don't intend on adding new lights, since I have the DIYC-Floods and I can add them to the programming. I WILL add a couple more new songs though, but I do intend to remove some of the older ones too. As it stands I feel that 6 songs is more than enough for the display. It is over 15 mins worth of music and I doubt people would want to sit longer than that watching a single display. I intend to replace Carol of the Bells Sarajevo with Wizards In Winter for my TSO song (Gotta always have a TSO song in the lineup). Sleigh Ride will be replaced with a different version of Carol Of The Bells.

If I am going to add something new for next year, it would be a new 'Tune To' sign. Mine was a PAINTED OVER yellow coroplast sign and the white paint is now peeling off. What I would like to do is have some kind of back lit sign. I would like to use LED lights for that so I don't need to put out that 55watt Par 38 bulb anymore.

Another thing in the construction block would be a new FM transmitter. While the Ramsey FM-10c has served me well since 2009, it DOES drift...I usually have to double check it every week to make sure it still is on my set station. I don't want to deal with that any more, I need to get a transmitter that locks on to the station. It also overloads easily with today's over compressed music. So I need a transmitter with a more robust input.

Finally, I would like to know how to pipe the audio on my computer to my camcorder so I have better sound when I post to YouTube. The sound just doesn't sound that good recording the show from inside my car.

So that is it and my agenda for next year.

Thanx to all that have helped me both in the past and present to make this project possible. Happy Holidays!!

Geo
 
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That is some nice sequencing wrapped up in a nice tidy package. Very nice!! I really like the snowflakes- where are those from? Any details on the build? THX!!
 
I am in love with the wreath dude... very creative display, especially with only 24 ch... i have 48 this year, only used 16 last year... slowly getting up there. i like keeping the channel count small starting, it definately helps to sequence, not because u have less channels, but it makes u focus more on the beat, and following specific patterns, versus just having cool flashy stuff. keep it up man.
 
Geo,

Another great job sequencing. The snowflakes are GREAT!!! You will have to post some how to notes on how you did them.

By the way havent forgot about the video of the sequence I borrowed. Just have not been able to video the show yet for either weather related reasons or the last 2 times I started to cars pulled up in front of the house but I will let you know when I post the video. Great job and thanks again for letting me borrow that sequence.
 
Hello All,

Thanks all for the kind comments...it was a nice pick me up to finish my day off. I have some responses below...


CaptKirk said:
That is some nice sequencing wrapped up in a nice tidy package. Very nice!! I really like the snowflakes- where are those from? Any details on the build? THX!!
Click to expand...

Yeah, unfortunately I no longer have the space I used to have when I set up displays at my parents house. I live on the 1st floor of a duplex apartment and there is another family that lives above us. The house's short wall is towards the front so there is only that large window and the front door that face the street. In addition there isn't much of a lawn. To the right of the door there is another small section I can work with, but the trouble is that I park my car there and whatever I would set up there would be blocked. Sure I could move my car to the side of the house, but then I fear the upstairs neighbors would get the brass ba--s to park THEIR car in front of my display and I am not having that. So unfortunately that what you see is what I had to work with...a small garden area in front of the living room window. The good thing is that more than half of the 24 channels are situated indoors. There are only three exposed channels outside: One for the 'Tune To' sign, one for the lights in the bushes and one for the strobes. The snowflake's connections were covered. Given this situation, I am a little more confident in allowing my show to run in the rain. It already rained here AND snowed here (yesterday), and the show is running well. But in the event I get a downpour, then I WILL shut it down.

As for the snowflakes, in the video I did mentione that I didn't build the snowflakes, but I bought them at Big Lots. I just modified them to work with the Renard controller. Another fellow mentioned he wanted to know what I did below, so I will go into more detail there. Just scroll down.

4586shaggy said:
I am in love with the wreath dude... very creative display, especially with only 24 ch... i have 48 this year, only used 16 last year... slowly getting up there. i like keeping the channel count small starting, it definately helps to sequence, not because u have less channels, but it makes u focus more on the beat, and following specific patterns, versus just having cool flashy stuff. keep it up man.
Click to expand...

Thank you. I am glad you liked the wreath. Unlike the snowflakes the wreath I DID make myself. Well, the wreath itself was store bought, but I did put the lights in it. The light sets I started with were 3 Walmart 50ct Warm White LED strands which I cut in half to make 25ct strands. This yielded me with 6 channels and a total of 150 bulbs. I tried to set up each section evenly in an arc, much the way you would set up lawn arches. The programming is pretty much done in a similar manner as you would program a Mega Tree. As it was, I DID want to try to incorporate a small Mega Tree somehow into my display, but there were just too many obstacles (both figuratively and literally) in my way. The wreath came as an after thought as I STILL wanted to have some kind of rotating element in my display. As I mentioned in my preliminary video as well, this was the first year I used multi-channel decorations. In all the years prior, each channel had its own singular item. The only thing close to multi-channel I had were the bushes in which I have one channel colored lights and another are the strobes.

As for the low channel count...well it is because of the details as you mentioned, but the channel count also comes into play. The thing is that programming with Vixen 2 is very SLOW and a detailed song could easily take 2 to 3 weeks to do. Since I love putting details into the choreography of the lights I DO try to keep a limit on the channel numbers for now. But as others pointed out it is very easy to go overboard. As it stands I have increased my Renard controller stable from 1 since 2009 to now having 3. This year I built two controllers a REN24SS which you seen here and also a REN48LSD, of which I decided NOT to use this year for Christmas, but I have used it for my Halloween show. So if I put all three controllers together, I have a total of 88 channels at my disposal. Again, I seriously double I would program past 64, but I DO have the capability. But for now I am mainly going to work with the REN24SS and the REN48LSD. Next year I intend to have the same show, but with some new songs and also the DIYC-Floods I will add in too.

budude said:
Excellent sequencing - can't ask for more really!
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Thank You, it was quite a bit of work getting everything done on time as I had to redo my past 5 songs. It was a hard decision to NOT use the DIYC-Floods with the REN48LSD, but I just felt I needed a new song this year more. At least the floods did get use for Halloween.

jsheehan3 said:
Nice job Geo

You said those snowflakes are from big lots? did you use the frame and light yourself?

Joe
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I will detail that more below. Overall, I pretty much used the snowflakes as they came in the box. I just modified them to work with the Renard controller.

FIRECOP252 said:
Geo,

Another great job sequencing. The snowflakes are GREAT!!! You will have to post some how to notes on how you did them.
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Hay Hay! Lance! Thanks for the props on the snowflakes, they DID turn out great and between them and the wreath...they completely stole the show. The thing is now I fear they are overshadowing the candles which is the bulk of my programming as that is the 8 channel melody.

By the way havent forgot about the video of the sequence I borrowed. Just have not been able to video the show yet for either weather related reasons or the last 2 times I started to cars pulled up in front of the house but I will let you know when I post the video. Great job and thanks again for letting me borrow that sequence.
Click to expand...

Glad things worked out for you. Even though I am close to a main street, I have not noticed too many people stop, but last night I saw an SUV park out front for a little while...I figured they were listening in.


Ok, I know several of you mentioned what I did with the snowflakes. But first the back story...(as y'all know by now I LOVE to tell a story!)

As I initially planned the snowflakes, I was going to build the snowflakes on a wire frame and make each element (for a total of 6) each its own channel. I was initially going to put two colors on the snowflakes first red and white, but then I figured blue was more of a snowflake color than white AND it would go with my window. The snow flakes would by synchronized and run on 12 channels...6 white and 6 blue for each snowflake element. Early on I realized that having 300 lights on each snow flake would be over powering and revamped the idea to have 6 channels of white lights on each snowflake and then run them independently. But I ran into trouble with finding a good armature (support) to build the lights on. While trying to find something, I was already starting my programming.

Now, across the shopping plaza where I work, we have a Big Lots and I popped in there and saw that they had a huge 42" snowflake with lights already on it. It said it had a controller but the explanation was very poor and I thought it was just a single channel that faded in and out. I did think about stripping the snowflakes and putting my lights in there, but still I felt the wiring would be too heavy for the lightweight plastic frame.

While searching for ideas on how to build my snowflakes, I came across this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3HeWYrbhpk

In this video it clearly shows the Big Lots snowflake CHASING! I was like Whoa! It didn't mention that on the box! Well anyway after seeing this video, I did a Gru (from Despicable Me)...LIGHT BULB!! I right away ran out and bought one snowflake and did some preliminary testing and at first I got some weird voltage readings on the output of the controller but after much adu, I discovered that the channels do indeed run directly on 120 volts. Interfacing it would be easy as now each snowflake only needed three channels but the hard part was now I had to redo all of my programming. I planned for snowflakes that had movement around the 6 elements, not for movement in and out along the elements. So I ended up going back to program for this. There WAS a saving grace AND a silver lining to this task. 1) The Big Lots snowflakes were 3 channels each so my programing time would be cut in half as I didn't have to program 12 channels. THAT was the saving grace. 2) The silver lining was that I still wanted to have a rotational effect in my display and thus the idea for the 'Power Wreath' was born. So where's the silver lining? Well, instead of all that programming going to waste for the 6 channel snowflakes, I just used it directly on the wreath. So in essence the wreath is really the programming for one of the proposed 6 channel snowflakes. The other 6 channel snowflake programming is what I ended up splitting and redoing for the Big Lots snowflakes. Pretty cool how that worked out, huh? Once I had one snowflake worked out, I ran out and got a second one.

Now for the actual modification of the snowflakes:

After you open the box and set up the snowflake, the controller that came will get cut off, but just don't do it yet! You will need it to sort out the wires. You will see 6 wires going into the controller...two of the wires are easily identifiable as the plug. It is the other four that we have to figure out which is which and it DOES vary from snowflake to snowflake. So good thing I followed this procedure on BOTH and not took it for granted that each snowflake was wired the same. THEY ARE NOT!

Ok, so basically you set up the snowflake, plug it in and set it's controller to STEADY ON. Now you get an INSULATED (remember this is 120 volts here) wire cutter and cut ONLY ONE of the wires going to the snowflake. Make a note of which channel goes out. Label it accordingly. I marked my wires with a black dot for each channel using a Sharpie marker. The star portion is channel 1 hot, which I marked with one dot on the wire. The blue middle section is channel 2 hot, which I marked with two dots. The outermost section is channel 3 hot...so that was marked with three dots. Now in the event you cut the neutral wire before completing the task, just make a note of which wire it is (use four dots, or in my case I left the neutral wire blank). Pull the plug and splice the neutral wire BACK ON where it was. Now you know which is the neutral wire, so plug it back in and proceed to cutting the remaining wires and labeling them. Be careful at this stage as you don't want any of the wires (or yourself) touching the now exposed neutral spliced connection. You could also wrap the neutral with electrical tape...just to be on the safe side.

Ok, so now that you have your wires marked you can adapt it any way you like to your system. In my case I made the wires longer by splicing a 4 conductor cable on to the ends of the snowflake's wire. My wire color code is as follows:

White - Neutral
Black - Channel 1 (Star White)
Red - Channel 2 (Blue)
Green - Channel 3 (Outer White)

I followed this through for both snowflakes. I then put heat shrink tubing over each connection and then silicone to seal it. I ran the finished wire to my controller which has the same kind of wire coming from the main board to a 4 position Molex plug. I just put the mating connector on the end so this way I could easily disconnect each snowflake from the controller. I liked this method of connection so much that I used the same principle on the wreath on a 9 pin Molex connector (I am only using 8 of the 9 pins...six channels with two returns).

When I built my REN24SS, I planned it with multi-channel decorations in mind. The first 12 channels I used regular cut extention cord wires. The next three channels are the first 4 pin Molex that goes to the left snowflake. The three channels after that go to the 2nd 4 pin Molex that goes to the snowflake on the right. The final 6 channels go to the 9 pin Molex connector and that goes to the wreath. Overall I feel this system will allow a MUCH faster (and neater) setup and take down.

And there you have it. A quick tut on what I did with my snowflakes. I probably will take pictures of the snowflakes when I take them down and post it along with these directions in the TUT section of this forum so you get a clearer pictures (pun intended) of what I did.

Anyone can PM me if they need more details on modifying these snowflakes. I do have to say one thing though...I been to Big Lots today in my shopping center and they were already sold out of the snowflakes. More then likely they will not be getting anymore in. But if you do come across them, snatch them up for next year!

Have a good day and Happy Holidays!

Geo
 
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Geo,

All of the VAST units have PLL which is what you want to look for in your next transmitter. Phase Lock Loop technology eliminates the drift that can happen with non-PLL units. Non-PLL units drift because the coils change in physical shape as the temperature changes.

jukingeo said:
Another thing in the construction block would be a new FM transmitter. While the Ramsey FM-10c has served me well since 2009, it DOES drift...I usually have to double check it every week to make sure it still is on my set station. I don't want to deal with that any more, I need to get a transmitter that locks on to the station. It also overloads easily with today's over compressed music. So I need a transmitter with a more robust input.

Geo
Click to expand...
 
Macrosill said:
I like it! The snowflakes and wreath are way cool.
Click to expand...

Thank You.

ukewarrior said:
Geo,

All of the VAST units have PLL which is what you want to look for in your next transmitter. Phase Lock Loop technology eliminates the drift that can happen with non-PLL units. Non-PLL units drift because the coils change in physical shape as the temperature changes.
Click to expand...

Yes, I am familiar with the benefits of PLL. A decade or so ago I had two Ramsey transmitters one was the FM-10 (revision B at that time) and also an FM-25 which did have the PLL. While the FM-25 sounded good, for some reason it didn't broadcast in stereo below 100mhz. I mostly just played around with them as this was pre Vixen / Renard. Now like a fool, I ended up selling both of them off! A year later I found out about this website along with Vixen and Renard. So after repeatedly kicking myself in the butt for selling off my transmitters, I ended up buying an FM-10C as I couldn't afford anything larger.

The FM-10C has serve me very well, but it sounds horrible in stereo, so I adjusted it for mono playback only and it sounds decent that way. I am not sure if I should go with an FM-25 again as I would like something that broadcast decently in stereo this time around. While it does drift...it has been getting better in recent years. For example, this year I didn't have to adjust it much at all, it was already spot on when I took it out of it's box. But I remember the first two year, I had to adjust the unit constantly...weekly in fact. I think last year I only had to readjust it once for the whole Christmas season. Still I would prefer a PLL system.

What is VAST?

What I REALLY would like is an FM transmitter that could be installed in the computer case, this way I don't have to have a separate unit. Probably something that can be stuffed in a 5.25" bay. Do they make such an animal like that?

Thanx,

Geo
 
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This is an awesome display. I'm not sure HOW you got all this in 24 channels. And your sequences are top notch. The best I've seen so far this year.

-=Steve
 
szaske said:
This is an awesome display. I'm not sure HOW you got all this in 24 channels. And your sequences are top notch. The best I've seen so far this year.

-=Steve
Click to expand...

Thanks for the kind words. Gives one a nice warm fuzzy feeling inside...AND with temps going into the teens tonight, I'm going to need it!

Yes, it's true, no lies, I am running the entire display off a single REN24SS controller. This is my first year using that controller as well. From 2009 through 2012, I was only using a REN16Xmus controller, but since I wanted to start working with multi-channel decorations, I had to move up in channel count. Given that I am very short on space...more so than my earlier years, I have tried to make the most use of the controller through carefull choreography. Having a theater background does help here as I have programmed theatrical lighting prior to doing my own Christmas light shows. I had thought about for a long time back then, but since the only equipment that was available was expensive DMX 512, it was nearly impossible finacially to do something. But then I found out about this forum and the fellows here helped me get started. I also have an electronics background which did come in handy for building the boards.

If you (and others reading) are intersted the breakdown for my show this year is as follows:

Chans 1-8, Candles - Melody and chasing effects
Chan 9, Bow Ties - Misc counter melody, backing vocals
Chan 10, Window perimeter - highlighting
Chan 11, Bushes - highlighing
Chan 12, Strobes in bushes
Chan 13 - 15 Left Snowflake - Rhythm & Chases
Chan 16 - 18 Right Snowflake - Rhythm & Chases
Chan 19 - 24 Wreath - Rotating Effects and chases

About half the show was identical to last years show with the exception of the snowflakes and the wreath. All other lights and their associated parts were the same as last year...so building on past shows does help with the programming as well. One change I did was last year I had two candy canes, one on each side of the window where the snowflakes are now. The channel for those candy canes I put on the bow ties for this year. Another change was that I had three bow ties in the window which had their own channel each and this was my counter melody / rhythm. Those channels were nixed this year for the snowflake programming, but since I was still using two bow ties in the window and lost the candy canes due to putting the snowflakes in their spot, that prompted me to move that channel to the bow ties. The middle bow tie was replaced with the wreath.

They say a picture is worth 1000 words so here are links to my 2012 show:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlUkrZpJMtc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIItC_BbBWo

This show was done with the REN16Xmus. Furthermore, it is using 15 out of the 16 channels. A very modest setup, so I just learned to make the most out of it.

Thanx again for the kind words, I do appreciate it.

Geo
 
way to make A LOT out of so little !!! your timing is spot ON ! great work ! i personally have over 250 renard channels and over 40K lights and i am jelous of your display !
 
griffixdc said:
way to make A LOT out of so little !!! your timing is spot ON ! great work ! i personally have over 250 renard channels and over 40K lights and i am jelous of your display !
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Wow! There goes that warm fuzzy feeling again :). Once again, thanx for the kind words. I am happy that everyone is enjoying the display despite it's small size AND the fact that my camera has trouble keeping focus at night. (I have to figure out how to turn the autofocus off, as that should help. I did re-record the last 4 songs the other night and I am hoping the quality is better, if it is, I will post it).

250 channels is quite a bit. I certainly would like to see what you put together, I am sure it turned out very nice as well. What control setup are you using?

I will say my one advantage, as I mentioned in this thread before, was that I had done work on DMX lighting systems before I came across Vixen and the Renard controllers. So I did have experience with working with programmable lighting prior to doing Christmas light sychronization. I only have been doing synchonized Christmas lights since 2009...so I am still a novice at this. But it it is lots of fun to do and I enjoy it a lot. It is one of the few things that I built / bought that I have kept up with. In fact I enjoyed working with it so much that in 2010, I started to use the Vixen/Renard set up to control a set of singing pumpkins for Halloween.

I also have a pair of DIYC-Floods too which I used on this year's Halloween show, but for Christmas I got very much tied up in making the snowflakes and the wreath and instead of going back to program in the floods, I added a new song, which is Run Run Rudolph. Clearly that is the one song that makes the best use of the new setup.

Soon I am going to look into pixels as well. As it is my "Tune To" sign is falling apart and I read that pixel LEDs were originally created for signs. That seems to be a good way to get my feet wet with them. The thing is I need to learn Vixen 3 since that program can handle RGB and pixels better than Vixen 2.

Well, I am glad that you enjoyed my little show. There will be more to come in years to come!

Have a good night and Happy Holidays!

Geo
 
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Geo,

Thank you for posting the mod info on the snowflakes. I've been wanting to put a few snowflakes in my display and I ran down to the Big Lots and picked up the last 4 snowflakes they had. Time to play around with them!

Rich
 
JEEPGUY said:
Geo,

Thank you for posting the mod info on the snowflakes. I've been wanting to put a few snowflakes in my display and I ran down to the Big Lots and picked up the last 4 snowflakes they had. Time to play around with them!

Rich
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Oh, you're welcome. Unfortunately I didn't document too much when I put the snowflakes together as there really isn't to much to it. The hard part is to find out what channel is what, especially since the wires that come out of the controller are not necessarily in the same order going from one snowflake to the next. But if you follow that procedure and you are not too skittish about working with live 120volts, you should be able to find out what channel is what. Good that you managed to find some snowflakes left. Both of the Big Lots by me are all sold out of the snowflakes. They are also sold out of the 7' mega tree too...that is a bummer as I wanted to get one of those. They were only charging $40 for that. This year I really scored big with Big Lots as they have an excellent Christmas section, better than Walmart, better than Target, better than the home improvement stores. I bought quite a few things there. The wreath you see in my display also came from Big Lots. They also had some really nice Victorian Style blown glass ornaments that were really nice. I ended up buying a box of those. Granted you might find better deals at those stores, but I must say that Big Lots pricing was comparable. The big plus was that Big Lots had some really cool and different things. I hope they keep this up as I certainly will go back next year.

Just drop me a line if you need help doing the conversion. I HIGHLY recommend going the route of using 4 conductor wire and molex connectors...it really keeps things neat.

Enjoy and Happy Holidays!

Geo
 
I was able to pick up 5 of these snowflakes at a big lots here. Any chance you have a picture of how you've done the wiring in the box for these?
 
dsmjuggalo said:
I was able to pick up 5 of these snowflakes at a big lots here.
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Good on ya. That's a good score this late in the season.

Any chance you have a picture of how you've done the wiring in the box for these?
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Not as of yet, but I will take a picture of the snowflake wiring when I take them down. I DID create a rudimentary tutorial which I posted earlier. In that tutorial I posted the video I came across on You Tube in which a fellow explains how he modified the snowflakes for his LOR system. The main difference is that he hooked all of his channels together whereas I wanted to have each of the three sections to be able to be controlled separately. It worked out well with the four conductor cable I was using since the cable encompassed the three channels with the remaining wire being the neutral return for all three channels. I made the connections using Molex connectors and that did neaten things up quite a bit. But yeah, I will take some pictures when I take the display down and can lay the snowflakes back out on my dining room table to show the details of my wiring.

Thanx and Happy Holidays!

Geo
 
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