Newbie Guide to Do It Yourself Christmas (DIYC)

kingofkya said:
^ he is not kidding. unless you ignore the words smart pixels and rgb.
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Those words are not in my vocabulary. I'm just happy to have "dimming" along with "blinking" - I'm pretty easy to please. (for now - lol)

I'm still trying to figure out whether I want to go with LED lights because they just don't put out the lumens like the old school miniature incandescents.
 
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arceeguy said:
Those words are not in my vocabulary. I'm just happy to have "dimming" along with "blinking" - I'm pretty easy to please. (for now - lol)

I'm still trying to figure out whether I want to go with LED lights because they just don't put out the lumens like the old school miniature incandescents.
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Welcome arceeguy to the hobby that never ends. As for the LED's not putting out enough light, I have changed all of my lighting over to LED's and it is very very bright. The really nice part is the electric bill at the end of the month. I ran over 40,000 lights last year and the bill went up only $15 for the six weeks they were on. I truly would give the LED strings another chance. They really do work nicely.

As for your controllers, the REN's are a great way to go. Not only do you get dimming, but you can now run them wireless all over the place. Depending on which REN board you go with, you can attach a REN-W to it or some of the boards already have the receivers built in. It sure cuts down on the setup time and the wires running all over the yard.

Have a great time with the hobby. Just remember, it will suck you in.
 
Hey tweist, thanks for the welcome. Just clicked the youtube link in your signature - 13 synchronized houses is absolutely awesome!

When I was working with Dasher, it was for my friends house; my place was too small at the time. Now I'm on about 1/2 acre and have enough room to put some displays in the yard.

While wireless is a cool option, I'm just thrilled the controllers can be daisy chained with cat 5 - that saves a lot of wires right there. With the old skool Dasher and a digital I/O card, I had to break out each circuit individually from a 50 pin header and wire the control signal to the optoisolator in the modded dimmer. 24 channels was quite enough using that method! You can put on a pretty good show with only 24 channels too, although it won't be as technical and intricate as with dozens of channels.

At least for this first year, I may purchase over 100 channels of REN hardware, but only utilize a third or so.

My sour experience with LED lighting is with rope lights. Very dim compared to conventional. I guess I should get samples from suppliers before I go buying a 150 ft. spool. Cost is a factor too, with LED rope lighting going for three times the cost of conventional.

Is there a particular vendor you guys use for commercial grade rope and string lights?
 
arceeguy said:
Hey tweist, thanks for the welcome. Just clicked the youtube link in your signature - 13 synchronized houses is absolutely awesome!

When I was working with Dasher, it was for my friends house; my place was too small at the time. Now I'm on about 1/2 acre and have enough room to put some displays in the yard.

While wireless is a cool option, I'm just thrilled the controllers can be daisy chained with cat 5 - that saves a lot of wires right there. With the old skool Dasher and a digital I/O card, I had to break out each circuit individually from a 50 pin header and wire the control signal to the optoisolator in the modded dimmer. 24 channels was quite enough using that method! You can put on a pretty good show with only 24 channels too, although it won't be as technical and intricate as with dozens of channels.

At least for this first year, I may purchase over 100 channels of REN hardware, but only utilize a third or so.

My sour experience with LED lighting is with rope lights. Very dim compared to conventional. I guess I should get samples from suppliers before I go buying a 150 ft. spool. Cost is a factor too, with LED rope lighting going for three times the cost of conventional.

Is there a particular vendor you guys use for commercial grade rope and string lights?
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1/2 acre is a lot of display area. You can have a lot of fun with that.
Regarding wireless connections, I have found that once you switch over, it is really hard to get away from it. My leaping arches are setup as one piece. I put the rebar in the ground, set the arch on it and plug it in. The controller is attached to the end of the arch so it is all one unit. Setup time, about 2 min. But again, there is a cost factor and for my first year, we did run cat5 cable to everything. At a $100 a box for cat5, (and we needed 9 boxes for the first year), switching over to REN-W was a very cost effective way to go. Since you will only have a couple of controller units out in the yard, it may be a lot more cost effective for you to run the cat5. If I were you, for my first year, I would run the wire.

As to LED suppliers, I use CDI.
http://www.creativedisplays.com/siteresources/modules/webstore/scripts/prodList.asp?idCategory=37
They are now the cheapest, but the quality is excellent. I have never had a problem with any of there product. And if you let them know you are with DIYC they will give you an additional 10% off. Just remember when you see the prices, that is for a box of 12 strings, not just one. As for rope light, I have never had any luck with them and I would recommend not using it if you can. You are correct, they just are not bright enough and I had way to many failures within the rope to make it worth using. I went mostly with the 70 count C6 string lights. They have held up great for the last few years and have never missed a beat. Oh and they are Full Wave, not the cheaper Half Wave power that flicker a lot.

Good luck with your display and let us know if you have any other questions.
 
I have an unlimited supply of cat 5 cable from work, so the cost is not an issue. For this first year, the controller wiring shouldn't be too much of a hassle.

Incandescent rope lighting does have that annoying trait of "one goes out, a whole section goes out" because of the lack of shunts. It is pretty bright compared to the LED stuff, and way less expensive. I want to build a bunch of wire frame displays and the rope lighting is easier and faster to work with than strings of lights. LED technology will only get better and cheaper. I can see a few years in the future where tri-color LED rope lighting will be bright and affordable. The long life is a plus too.

Thanks again. I'll ask any future questions in the appropriate sub forum, so thread hijack over. :)
 
Is the newsletter still active??

Thanks,

KYLITES

deplanche said:
6 - Newsletter

Much like the Wiki, there is a link to the Newsletter in the toolbar at the top, but it often gets overlooked. There is lots of good information on a wide variety of topics in them. Definitely a good read. And we are always looking for more people to contribute to it.
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I'm new. I've been searching for awhile to even start a thread with my needs. I want to do the 12 Days of Christmas with 12 trees and accompanying/appropriate lighting. Any direction to send me? Thanks! Molly
 
Mollybday said:
I'm new. I've been searching for awhile to even start a thread with my needs. I want to do the 12 Days of Christmas with 12 trees and accompanying/appropriate lighting. Any direction to send me? Thanks! Molly
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Hello Molly,

I know others have already gave you some info on your thread but I would suggest going to the WIKI and reading up on the "getting started" section.

We are here to help feel free to PM or ask questions if you have any. I along with others here will help you get started down the road of blinky flashy.
 
Welcome Molly. One thing that might help it to put your location in your profile. Many times there is a member in your general area that can give you help.
Terry
 
I must say, this is an awesome thread. I have found all the info I was looking for. I came on to DIYC 2 days ago and feel completely confidant in building my own system. I still have a few questions but am sure ill get them answered with a little more reading. Thanks for putting this together
 
Hi all my name is Ray i Live in the UK and I'm interested in using light controller to operate my lights what is the best way to start there isn't a lot of controllers in the UK I found one company called syncolight which is selling a ethernet pixel controller I appreciate any good tips and advice many thanks Ray


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Raymondo690 you mentioned pixels so I'm going to mention the two most common ones used on this forum. The E682 by San Devices is a long tried and true controller that can be bought as a kit or assembled. Second is the newer Falcon F16v2r controller has more bells and whistles and comes fully assembled. Both of these vendors may or may not ship to the UK, but there are several reshippers that will get it over the pond for you. Second best option would be Ray Wu, lots of people buy pixels from him but not so much on controllers, he does ship worldwide.
 
Look up Barnabybear, he is in the UK and very active. There is also a United Kingdom group. You can reach out to them for ideas of where/how to purchase controllers and pixels.

Also update your profile w/ your location. as precise or vague as you want
 
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