Firework Light Simulation

[bhays]

I have been researching this project pretty heavily and I am coming to the conclusion that to build anything I will be satisfied with it is going to have a materials cost at least 2/3 of what I can buy the commercial units like Lightazmic used. I am very open to other ideas, though.

The smaller ones have 48 stalks and the larger ones have 60... sockets, bulbs and connectors alone will be big bucks. My source in China where I have purchased other items like my flame projectors and lasers can sell me the 20 foot model for under $800 and the 13 foot for $460. The shipping will be pricey and that's what I am trying to work out right now... it will have to be sea freight which I have done before, but trying to avoid the duties is key.

At any rate, I have the installation manual for these that gives a little more detail on how they work. There is a main circuit board at the base of the pole and several more in the head for the stalks...

I did run ac

 

[stanward]

Hi Bhays!

Thank you for the information. I would be interested in purchasing one if you can import it from China. I'm not sure if you're willing to do a group purchase or anything like that. But the cost of duties, shipping, etc. could be split amongs the participants.

What do you think?

 

[olingerjccj]

I think this is worth looking at. I love the 4th of July so why not. I am figuring 48 channels. 4 for the base 1 for the center then 4 zones at 10 chs each. May not be to the grand scale but it looks cool. Messed around with it in Vixen if you want to look at my 1st attempt here it is.

 

[bhays]

Hi Bhays!

Thank you for the information. I would be interested in purchasing one if you can import it from China. I'm not sure if you're willing to do a group purchase or anything like that. But the cost of duties, shipping, etc. could be split amongs the participants.

What do you think?

I am interested in doing something like that, but I am not sure we can make it work with the shipping. The duties are going to be due at the sea port (which for me is either Cincinnati or Indianapolis).. we would all have to pay those at our individual ports. If we were to get enough orders together to do a full container, we would still have to ship back out to the individuals. What I would love to do is figure out a way to just use my own pole... the shipping on the steel pole is the problem.

 

[kychristmas]

After reading this thread this morning, I remembered a place I pass on my way to a client North of Cincinnati. I was in the area this afternoon, so I decided to stop in. Unfortunately, the owner wasn't there, but I did talk with one of his guys as well as see the Fireworks and Palm trees up close.

http://www.lightedpalmparadise.com/

He has two different size Fireworks. It looks like he had a number of both sizes in stock. He's certainly a bit more than the direct from China route, but I'm guessing if a number of you guys were interested, he would give us even more of a discount.


Also,
He's an importer, so I was actually hoping to talk to him about Rope Light as well as LED Light Strands. He currently buys the Fireworks and Palms by the container. His employee said that he may be willing to do "partial" containers.

 

[bhays]

Yeah, I found his site online last night. He has 18' for $1295 and 24.5' for $1995. I am interested to hear what he would do on a group buy. Shipping will be $400-$500 from China I am sure.

 

[stanward]

Count me in either way!

If we actually got a hold of one complete unit, we could try and build one ourselves as well!

 

[bhays]

Actually, I just had email from my vendor in China who said he can ship without the poles (lampstandard as he calls it). Should save a lot. I will keep you posted.

 

[stanward]

I don't think we would need the poles, we could try and build that ourselves.

Thanks for doing all of this "legwork" for us.

Actually, I just had email from my vendor in China who said he can ship without the poles (lampstandard as he calls it). Should save a lot. I will keep you posted.

 

[kychristmas]

Count me in either way!

If we actually got a hold of one complete unit, we could try and build one ourselves as well!

I wish I would have known I was going before I left. I would have taken a Ton of pictures. Couple thoughts:

1. The pole was heavy gauge metal with a 4-hole bolt-down base.

2. The setup was very simple and quite frankly it looked like something we could certainly build. The spokes appeared to be fiberglass rods with LED Rope Light attached to them.

One of the things I was hoping to ask him is if we could purchase a parts kit without the main pole or controllers. Since we would likely control them with LOR, Vixen, or LSP.

bhays,
Please continue your efforts to check on pricing and availability. I didn't want to step on toes, but when I saw your picture, I realized that I had seen it before.

I will let you know as soon as I hear something

Kelly

 

[stanward]

bhays, I forgot to ask, I read the instructions manual you posted above (thank you for posting it), I think it said you cannot have the display operate in the rain because the controller boards (at the top) can't get wet.

Is this true?

 

[stanward]

Very good point! We wouldn't need the controller cards. Possibly cheaper, and more reliable, and we already have the controllers to do so.

I wish I would have known I was going before I left. I would have taken a Ton of pictures. Couple thoughts:

1. The pole was heavy gauge metal with a 4-hole bolt-down base.

2. The setup was very simple and quite frankly look like something we would build. The spokes appeared fiberglass rods with LED Rope Light attached to them.

One of the things I was hoping to ask him is if we could purcahse a parts kit without the main pole or controllers. Since we would likely control them with LOR, Vixen, or LSP.

bhays,
Please continue your efforts to check on pricing and availability. I didn't want to step on toes, but when I saw your picture, I realized that I had seen it before.

I will let you know as soon as I hear something

Kelly

 

[bhays]

No problem, Kelly. I really appreciate you checking these out in person. I was wondering if it was discrete bulbs or more of a rope light situation. Did he have both the incandescent and led types there? I know the LED is twice the expense. I am thinking that the pole shouldn't be a problem to source locally, probably for less than the shipping expense. From the instructions, it appeared there was an access plate at the bottom where the controller was stored... looked like a light pole you would see in a parking lot.

If you get by there again, please take some photos!!

 

[bhays]

They are fine in the rain. The head where the spokes attach is made of a sort of heavier gauge plumber's strap.

Then there are stainless steel cover pieces that go over it once the spokes are attached and the controllers inserted. The interesting thing is that there seem to be several controllers in the head and then another one at the base of the pole.

I am really starting to change my mind about paying thousands of dollars for these. Knowing that the lights on the spokes are rope light really opened my eyes. What's the shortest section of rope light that can be cut and still work?

I am becoming confident that I can fabricate the physical structure of these with driveway markers and a simple metal hub.. the electronics are where I will need help. Since all we really need is a simple sequential lighting of the sections, I hate to devote LOR channels to it.. can someone come up with a simple circuit board that would flash the sections out sequentially then flicker the last 'section' (which would be a white C7 or something on the end of the spoke).. Heck a controller from multi-function mini-lights does all we would need, it's just missing a few channels..

I have a new energy for this. I am going to Menards after work to day to pick up a couple of driveway marker poles to play with..

 

[kychristmas]

They are fine in the rain. The head where the spokes attach is made of a sort of heavier gauge plumber's strap.

Then there are stainless steel cover pieces that go over it once the spokes are attached and the controllers inserted. The interesting thing is that there seem to be several controllers in the head and then another one at the base of the pole.

I am really starting to change my mind about paying thousands of dollars for these. Knowing that the lights on the spokes are rope light really opened my eyes. What's the shortest section of rope light that can be cut and still work?

I am becoming confident that I can fabricate the physical structure of these with driveway markers and a simple metal hub.. the electronics are where I will need help. Since all we really need is a simple sequential lighting of the sections, I hate to devote LOR channels to it.. can someone come up with a simple circuit board that would flash the sections out sequentially then flicker the last 'section' (which would be a white C7 or something on the end of the spoke).. Heck a controller from multi-function mini-lights does all we would need, it's just missing a few channels..

I have a new energy for this. I am going to Menards after work to day to pick up a couple of driveway marker poles to play with..

Your pictures look much more substantial than what I saw.

I'm assuming the Rope Light on the ones I saw are LED because all the lighting products he sells are LED (Palm Trees and Rope Light) and he gets them from the same supplier, of course ours wouldn't haven't to be. I'm not sure how you can section LED Rope, but most of the regular incan rope light is can typically be cut into 18" or 36" sections.

The spokes on yours look like the lights are in the tube. On the ones I saw, the rope light was strapped to what appeared to be fiberglass poles. Very low-tech, but the effect was still great.

 

[kychristmas]

Ok, you got my A.D.D going. --Thanks a lot!

anyway, I started thinking about solutions and I remembered something I did when I had a sign shop many years ago.

We used 3/4 PVC (White) to create banner support to keep banner from drooping. The PVC by itself helped,but there wasn't enough support. Rather than switching to a heavier metal solution, we simply filled the PVC with Foam insulation. It wasn't as strong as metal conduit, but it was much lighter and provided enough additional suppport.

One nice thing would be being able to feed the wires to through to each section on the spoke and then fill it with insulation. I'm guessing this would make 1/2 conduit as sturdy as fiberglass. Of course it wouldn't be as resistant to failure as fiberglass poles.

 

[bhays]

It seems I have read threads in the past that people have had good luck painting rope light with either stained glass paint or Krylon X-Metals paint on wireframes. I think I would rather just buy clear rope light and paint it than deal with tons of different colors.

I was thinking about making just a flat 2-Dimensional 12 spoke affair with C7 sockets and was going to use emt conduit for that (may still make one of those, actually as well) so I would assume that would work for this as well. Would be easy to attach as you could just attach the end and tack weld it or use jb weld, then screw into the center hub as you would into an electrical box with a lock nut..

I really like the fiberglass idea for this, though, just due to being small.. painted black you would barely notice it was there.

 

[jrock64]

The shortest cut on most rope light is 18 inches.
Some may be 24 inches or longer.
If you went to 12v you can get down to 3 or 4 inches.

My plan has always been to have 32 4ft long spokes.

The first picture would be a top view showing where the 8 sub assemblies would attach.

The second would be a side view, and shows how an assembly would be made up of 4 spokes.
Aside from the hub i just need to store 8 sub assemblies that will hang flat against a wall.

I am folding my rope light in half so I would have 9 inches of gold, red, green, and 12 inches of blue, tipped with a CDI zenon strobe. I did not have any 3/8 inch blue and the sunbeam brand Menards carries in the lighting section is a 24inch cut.

The spokes will be 3/16 rod instead of 1/4 to save weight.
The hub was of course initially over engineered, but I thought of a much simpler idea as I was writing this.

I bought the blue rope light for $30, the other colors are on hand from other projects.
I bought a $2 package of finish nails and am using leftover wire from when I previously remanufactured mini strands to make the rope light power connectors, already half done.
$150 for strobes from CDI, but am already rethinking this, if a regular c9 that was faded out would look better.
I am guessing about $100 for all the steel and pipe for a new pole.
8 channels computer controlled lighting controller, I think i have a few of those somewhere.

No where near $1800 and I will have DIYed it.
That's more than half the fun.

Joel

 

[budude]

I posted this in another thread but these might be an easy way to start on a small scale. I'm guessing they would not hold a lot of weight but I was thinking maybe a c tube with rope light or a clear tube with a thin LED strip might make for a pretty good display. Maybe if they were beefed up a bit inside it might work.

 

[kychristmas]

I posted this in another thread but these might be an easy way to start on a small scale. I'm guessing they would not hold a lot of weight but I was thinking maybe a c tube with rope light or a clear tube with a thin LED strip might make for a pretty good display. Maybe if they were beefed up a bit inside it might work.

Wow, those are great. That would save some work. Probably worth a shot to see if they could hold the weight. We could start with shorter spokes and figure it from there.