General Arch Light Density Suggestions?

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swampgator352

New member
I am planning to build a large driveway arch for Christmas 2022 providing at least an 11 foot vertical clearance...somewhat similar to what is shown in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVVJKcAOc8w

Can anyone give me a general idea of the typical density of LED lights one might typically use for a project like this? I am trying to take advantage of some post-Christmas light sales and have no clue how many to even think about ordering. For reference, I would like to use the 50mm wide angle led lights. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!
 
I don't think you need to worry about the density much. You can't use PEX et. al. for this, so you have to wrap around. I don't think you will need more than 3 30-foot strands of store bought strings. Or whatever the equivalent is in pixel strands...I don't think LED strips are right for this for Christmas. For Halloween, you can use PVC and stick red or white store-boughts inside to get a dull glow, but the look is just not right for Christmas.

Personally, the look I like best is if you mix 3 different strands. Ie. do 1 of minis, 1 of C9, and 1 of pixels so it will still dance and twinkle. You can also mix single-color strands and control them AC-style, so it can be red one second, blue the next, RGB the third. RGB is the prettiest, though, so mostly-all-on is a good scheme.
 
I prefer close spacing when the lights are close to the viewer. That means for such arches I would use no more than 2" on center.
 
There's a couple reasons I don't like to go all-in on pixels. First, I think all-pixel shows just look a bit monotonic. I like a mix; it's richer. If you want to do pinwheels & stuff, you can always just turn off the AC's. But second, you're really selling the pixels short if you just wrap the m around. Some people try drilling holes in PVC to set the bullets in place. I'm not opposed to that, but you can also wraparound AC's as well.
 
Planning to just start with one arch to see how it looks with the AC LED lights wrapped. I may do a second with a few RGB Pixel snowflakes, etc. though
 
1pet2_9 said:
There's a couple reasons I don't like to go all-in on pixels. First, I think all-pixel shows just look a bit monotonic. I like a mix; it's richer. If you want to do pinwheels & stuff, you can always just turn off the AC's. But second, you're really selling the pixels short if you just wrap the m around. Some people try drilling holes in PVC to set the bullets in place. I'm not opposed to that, but you can also wraparound AC's as well.
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I took boscoyo strips and point the pixels straight up they looked pretty good.
 
swampgator352 said:
Planning to just start with one arch to see how it looks with the AC LED lights wrapped. I may do a second with a few RGB Pixel snowflakes, etc. though
Click to expand...

Snowflakes, or hanging ornaments of any kind off the arch, will catch in the wind. Make sure you have the structural integrity to eat the wind. Also, you have to allow for extra vertical or horizontal clearance for the ornaments. You might be able to affix them directly to the arch; then you won't need that much clearance. But there is still the wind issue.



MartinMueller2003 said:
I took boscoyo strips and point the pixels straight up they looked pretty good.
Click to expand...

I don't doubt it.
 
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