WELCOME!!!!!!!

Hi folks,
My name Danny from Winslow, AZ. I work on rails as a freight conductor and was turned on to this since I saw a video of Johnsons family xmas lights a few years back. I figured it was time to pull the trigger and placed my first order of 1000 - 12V WS2811 / IP68 / Bullet Pixels /18 gauge BLACK wire / 4 inch spacing / 100 Count / XConnect Pigtails. I'm not sure what my first build will be, but I believe that this site is good place to start and to to get some ideas.
The wife and I have always decorated the house during the holidays (especially Halloween), and would like to incorporate our older blow molds into a show that we could add on to each year. I'm hoping to create a few shows with 1 or 2 projectors, cut scenes with Charlie Brown, the original Grinch, Frosty and Rudolph(with of course, Heat Miser/Snow Miser), being synchronized with the lights(smart/dumb pixels).
I see that I've got a lot more research to do with controllers as well as other components. I think I'm leaning towards using my laptop during my downtime away from home (about 8-10 hours a week for sequencing, research, planning). I’ve looked over the wiki, falcon looks interesting and hope it has enough room for expansion.
Some other future ideas for builds would include house outline, arches, upgrade the spotlights, and possibly a 10' mega tree.
Apologies for being all over the place on my first post. I just got finished with a 14+ hour shift, yuck!
Thanks for the site, Happy New Year and cheers!
 
wontonz87 said:
Hi folks,
My name Danny from Winslow, AZ. I work on rails as a freight conductor and was turned on to this since I saw a video of Johnsons family xmas lights a few years back. I figured it was time to pull the trigger and placed my first order of 1000 - 12V WS2811 / IP68 / Bullet Pixels /18 gauge BLACK wire / 4 inch spacing / 100 Count / XConnect Pigtails. I'm not sure what my first build will be, but I believe that this site is good place to start and to to get some ideas.
The wife and I have always decorated the house during the holidays (especially Halloween), and would like to incorporate our older blow molds into a show that we could add on to each year. I'm hoping to create a few shows with 1 or 2 projectors, cut scenes with Charlie Brown, the original Grinch, Frosty and Rudolph(with of course, Heat Miser/Snow Miser), being synchronized with the lights(smart/dumb pixels).
I see that I've got a lot more research to do with controllers as well as other components. I think I'm leaning towards using my laptop during my downtime away from home (about 8-10 hours a week for sequencing, research, planning). I’ve looked over the wiki, falcon looks interesting and hope it has enough room for expansion.
Some other future ideas for builds would include house outline, arches, upgrade the spotlights, and possibly a 10' mega tree.
Apologies for being all over the place on my first post. I just got finished with a 14+ hour shift, yuck!
Thanks for the site, Happy New Year and cheers!
Click to expand...

Welcome ! no worries I’m all over the place and somewhat of a newbie too too many ideas and projects going at once
55b6af059f7e95217cf403873ba82a8b.jpg



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Hello. My name is Jarrod. For the past 2 years I have glanced over this forum but have never taken the step. Have not really been a fan of decorating but I think that needs to change because my kids really like doing it. Hoping to reuse my old light strands and hopefully put together a Renard SS24 board. Already have a few ideas for tomato cage trees and maybe some corrugated plastic stars but now that I have joined I am sure there are so many ideas here it will be mind blowing. Not looking at going too crazy this first go around. No plans for DMX or Pixels but I hear this hobby is addicting and once you start you just go bigger and bolder.
 
toasterboy1 said:
Hello. My name is Jarrod.
Click to expand...

Hi Jarrod and welcome to both the site and the hobby.

Yes, it addictive. Make plan with a timeline and don't take on more than you can complete. It can be overwhelming to take on too much and disappointing when you discover too late that you can't complete a working display.

There are ton of things that you can copy, we also welcome ideas that new fanatics invent too. Sometimes a new need, inspires a new way or idea.

It's exciting, stressful and joyful! Welcome to your new addition! [emoji23]

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Hello guys
My name is Graziano and I’m Italian, sorry but my english is not perfect.
I’m a technical employee and nothing to do with programming and electronics but I have always managed to do everything looking here and there.
Christmas lights are my passion and, for years, I have seen many masterpieces on youtube.
I’m not at that level but for this Christmas I have already prepared a small show with Vixen, Elego Mega2560 r3 and 48 relays; for next year (2021) i have already got 5 MCP23017 and i would like to add some WS2811 led strips.
Surely with you I will be able to learn this technology …. to best.
Thanks a lot to everyone
Good day
Graziano
 
Welcome Graziano. Dont worry about English grammar. We have a lot of people here for whom English is not their primary language. As for using the MCP23017, the timing needed for pixels may be too tight for these devices.
 
Hello, my name is Antonio and I am from Spain. 2 years ago, I have seen a program on Spanish TV that shows the spectacular shows you do on America. I'm in love with Christmas, lighting and do decorations for this season. This year my proyect is do a little mega tree with 150 leds. I'm looking several videos, post of this forum, etc... The height is 1,60m, round of 60cm on the base an 30 on top. I'm making with hard wire, and the electric components is ws2811 rgb leds, ts1000 controller and a raspberry or an arduino one. (I don't know what I'm going to use).
I will show how I'm doing, and when I need help I will ask you.
Thanks

Salu2

Antonio
 
What's happening folks? My name is Tony and I am from Maryland. Found the site last week in searching/researching my move from RGB LED strips (controlled by Raspberry Pi) to WS2811 pixels (also controlled by Pi, work in progress on the design and install). Look forward to learning from the group!
 
Welcome Tony! enjoy the madness. Let us know what projects you are working on and if you have any questions! What part of MD are you from?
 
How’s it going, everyone!?

I'm Eric and live in Southeast Texas. My wife and I bought our first home a little over a year ago and now that we've settled in, we're ready to start decorating the house for holidays. We have four kids who recently discovered the wonderful world of automated/programmed lighting displays and are now expecting me to be able to pull off something similar one-day.

As much as I'd like to "go big," I've done enough research to know it'll take some time (years) to build up to the point I'm meeting my kids expectations; and ya know what, I'm okay with that! lol

So, I think I've settled on my first project: adding year-round RGBs to the roof line on the front of the house.

I've still got plenty of research to do before I make any purchases, so I figured this forum would be a great resource to have as I take on this and any future projects. This seems like a great community and I look forward to digging into all of the content soon!


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Welcome Eric. I suggest you read the auschristmas sites 101 on pixels. It is a great starting point. Then start asking questions. Lots of smart people here willing to lend an opinion anytime you need one.
 
Hello Everybody,
I am Ols, new in the light show world under SW2811s. I discovered this world 2 weeks ago and already trying to do a small show this year...
Let’s see...your forum is a knowledge mine for me, love it.
Hello from France,

Ols
 
Hi Everyone,

My name is Brett. I'm from Durban, South Africa. Very excited to be part of this community. I was meant to do my first show this year but Covid-19... I will still be doing 16x50 Mega tree and maybe some props just to gain some experience for next years show. Should be up and going by end of this week. There's no rush though. Will be using EsPixelStick on Wemos D1 Mini pro for now and running/testing the show directly from xLights.

Here in South Africa, there are quite a few houses with Christmas lighting but they are all static. I have not been able to find any house, forum or online shop involved with sequenced lighting here in SA. So at least with you guys, I'm not completely on my own.:) If there are any users on here from South Africa, Lets talk!

Here is my canvas:

ACtC-3fEL_0lBspiaNNOXsqx58qM-U4xInd7KZK0a93XZvrntgoxom49kHOEygZN9_vQU-3t9jWD8EEnfBfeM4ZGXc2CHMlp26VtKBA-3LtGNUA9pPIPz2HSKoM53QdWUejluBe34jHsEwu4trjqN8bJcofL=w1182-h834-no
 

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Hi everyone my name is christopher from lithia florida. I joined this forum to learn more about light displays and easy ways to hang the lights on rooflines and any other ideas that i might come up with that everyone here might be able to answer.
 
Hi -

I've been lurking for a little bit. I've run an animated show since 2013 or so when I got a 6 Channel Panasonic singing Christmas light thing for AC lights (https://youtu.be/tZHNaGjrunI). It was super easy to set up and people love the dancing lights. I've wanted to take the next step for a while now and plan to put up my first pixel show in 2021. So far I've used xLights to build my layout and I've adapted a few songs from the community to my layout. I've written a little sequence adapter tool that makes it really quick and easy to see someone else's show on your layout in just a couple minutes without doing any work in xLights (but I really love that app - amazing what you can do with it!). Here's the utility: https://youtu.be/csBCWmtBTrU

Anyway - I'm trying to get up to speed on all the hardware that I'll need and options for building custom props and ideas for mounting window frames and verticals on brick, etc. I'm sure I'll be posting my plans and hoping to tap into all of the expertise here for suggestions, guidance, tips, etc. I'm excited to be joining you!
 
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Hey Everyone,
I'm Mike from Germany.
I love your Christmas and Halloween Holidays.
Now i thought its Time to bring a little US to Germany. Hope i learn a lot to do a pretty little Christmas Light Display.
I'm glad to be here.

Greetz Mike
 
Hello All,

My name is Dave and my wife and I have recently made a short move from rural America to her home town of Gnadenhutten, OH. Our new home is on a short, dead end, quiet little street with about eight or ten houses on either side. We know every family by their surname. The street seems to be festive in their decorating. This year my hurried Christmas decoration consist of icicle lights and a Leg Lamp (which I plan to keep). I had made the decision that next year I would outline the house with lights, I stumbled upon this forum while searching for control options to vary the display . My neighbors have no idea what is about to happen to them.

Regards,
Dave
 
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