General

Back into the swing – Christmas 2017

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We missed last year for the show.  There was a lot going on and work was a full 80 hour a week job due to some major releases.  Since I spent zero time on the stuff during the rest of the year, sadly that meant the show would not take place.

This year thing are even more odd since I was laid off in the fall.  I didn’t spend any time on the show when I should have been, choosing to catch up on TV shows, movies, some interviews, family life, and other stuff.  Fast forward to last week and I realized I was going to miss another year if I didn’t do something quick.

So, we got going and I will be updating the blog over the next couple days.  I can say I am very glad that I put a lot of my thoughts in the blog here as I was able to read over it and my bill of materials list to piece together why I bought certain things and how I could move forward.  Without the blog I would have been waaaayyyy behind where I am now.

Where are we now?  Well, I have a PI running with FPP over wifi, connected to a Falcon 16v2-R controller on a local network via ethernet.  A test strip of bullets was connected and validated via the controller to make sure everything worked from my phone and PC.  We are also working on the mega tree strips… but more on all that to come.  I will try to remember and document all that has been done although I may back date it so it represents when it was done.

Thanks for following the journey!

Pre-Sales

I fell asleep and missed the sale end

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Ok, obviously I was procrastinating or this would not have happened.  Holidaycoro ended the second pre-sale on Feb 14th at midnight CST and I kept putting it off as I needed to do the layout in xLights first for the last few things I wanted this year.  Of course, it was a long day and even at about 10pm EST I thought… “no problem, I will take care of it shortly”.  After all, zombies were everywhere (playing on the Tivo) from The Walking Dead episode that had just finished airing.  After that I just had to watch Talking Dead, as “I still have time”.

Next thing I knew, it was 4am and I was on the couch with no order having been made.  Oh well.  I will do the layout this week and look for another sale in the future.

Research

Sub-forums dedicated to elements

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I do not know how I missed it all this time, but apparently doityourselfchristmas.com has sub-forums dedicated to specific elements and most have a lot of posts showing what methods people are trying to accomplish similar elements.  This is really amazing.  Unlike websites or blogs where you see how one person made something (like Matt’s youtube walk-throughs), you get to see a myriad of approaches to the same task.  It really does open your eyes to different materials or designs that could be used, which might fit in your budget over other designs.

The display items forum page can be found here.  Everything from people working with coro (corrugated plastic not dissimilar from cardboard box structure) to mega trees, arches, wireframes, matrices, and even motorized elements (which it likely not something I will tackle).

Continue reading Sub-forums dedicated to elements →

Group Buys, Show Gear

Power Distro Board, yes please!

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Well, I didn’t miss this falcon christmas forum group buy from Andy (harrison0550) before it ended, so that is certainly good news.  In fact, this is going to be running until Feb 21st and has already gone over the 500 board break point to drop each unit by $0.50.  This still means $11.50 per assembled board, but this would be one of those times where spending some cash can save hassle and time down the road.  I have always believed in spending the cash to have the right tool for the job as trying to open a paint can with a hammer can be messy!

powerdistro1As you can see it is a single power input board with 6 fused outputs.  Most people might say… “why don’t I just run my own wire and save the money?”  In my opinion it would depend on how far away the psu is from the points you have to power inject.  If you have a ways to go (like the top of a megatree), wouldn’t you rather run one pair of wires up instead of 6 pairs?  I would, especially if I am looking at injection numbers that would require more than one of these boards.  I think the same would apply to running across the yard to a location where you have several elements but no good place to put a larger psu.

Continue reading Power Distro Board, yes please! →

Group Buys, Show Gear

Buffer/line driver board group buy?

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Another group buy that i find interesting?  Thank you ma’am, may I have another?

bufferThis time the group buy is for a device that I am not actually sure how much use I would get…  a buffer/line driver from RobG  on diychristmas.org, along with other items (flood drivers).  I have heard that with the right wire setup on the Falcon F16v2, some pretty long distances can be had to the first pixel.  Fair notice, there are other boards like this (uAmp for example) that do something similar.

The premise is pretty basic.  If you run your data too long before your first pixel, the signal degrades (drops voltage) and stuff doesn’t work.  You may ask why just the first pixel?  That is because each
pixel repeats the data down the line to the next.  Without any devices like this in a long run, people can resort to just splicing in a normal pixel to act as a repeater (referred to as a null pixel).  Obviously you would not want that lighting up so you can just make sure it is excluded in sequencing or you can set this up in the controller (if supported, which most are now) by telling the controller the first pixel is a null and it will leave it off.  So this board is a tiny guy that you would use in place of a null pixel and the board will use the incoming power to boost the data headed down the line.  A quick solder and heat shrink, done.

Continue reading Buffer/line driver board group buy? →

Group Buys, Show Gear

Pixel Splice/Tap, why not?

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Pixel Splice-TapI will first say that I apparently missed the original Jon (jchuchla) group buy on diychristmas.org, probably because I didn’t know I would be going rgb in 2016.  The original thread discussing the item can be found here and it will explain that it is a tiny PCB used to splice or power tap/inject.  They come in a panel of 50 for $5!

So what would I use it for and do I need it?  That is a tough question honestly and for the price I do not really care, if I can come up with at least one possible use.  Luckily, I do not think it is that difficult to realize that if I have a pixel go out, I have to perform some minor surgery where I cut it out and splice in a good one by using a bunch of solder and heat shrink.  Why a bunch of heat shrink?  Well, to make sure the wires do not touch and cause fuses to pop or fires to start… although I do like a good fire when it is cold.

Continue reading Pixel Splice/Tap, why not? →

Pre-Sales, Show Gear

More pre-sale from holidaycoro

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Time for the second pre-sale purchase from Holidaycoro.com.  I was looking to pick up remaining items for the megatree as I missed out on the square pixels during the last pre-sale.  I also needed a topper mounting system and some strain relief clips for the PixNode strips that will be possibly anchored to the ground with huge nails.  Not sure if I will use it, but I also grabbed a center post load spreader, although I will likely drill through the middle and drive a piece of rebar down to stop any movement if it lifts at all.

Order is below:

Continue reading More pre-sale from holidaycoro →

Tools

Labels? Labels? More labels?

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Well, since I am installing an alarm at the house (pre-wired) and nothing was labelled, I figured I needed something to label the wires properly.  I have an old brother label maker but it is something I would use for putting labels on a plastic drawer bins in my garage when I have screws or zip ties in them, not for wires.

I need something better…

Continue reading Labels? Labels? More labels? →

General, Tools

Soldering needs, can’t find my old stuff

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Like most things after a move, I have no idea where my old soldering iron has ended up.  That said, it is not like I had a nice one or even most of the extra stuff I would need to setup a soldering station in the garage.  I barely did any soldering in the past and most of that was like 15-20 years ago.  So, it is time to do some shopping and prepare myself for the presales items that will require this gear.  Hoping to keep my cost around $50 to $60 for everything but not skimp on items that make my life easier vs harder but cheaper. Continue reading Soldering needs, can’t find my old stuff →

General, Tools

Video from the sky?

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Video from the street looks ok, as long as you pull focus properly and set your F stop correctly on your DSLR.  Obviously I did not this year as I was in a hurry and years past have been hit and miss based on drive by traffic and other stuff going on.  Why not use something that rises above it all?

DJI is having a 10 year anniversary sale on the Phantom 3 quadcopters and both the standard and advanced models are $200 off.  This means $499 for the std and $799 for the advanced.  This price is being replicated across most retailers, including Amazon.  Unfortunately I missed (by a couple hours) where Newegg messed up the pricing during the start of the sale and had a bundle with the Advanced, an extra battery, and the hardshell case for the same price.  Many people got in on the deal, but not me.

Despite missing out on the great deal, I have received my Phantom from Amazon and hope to use it like I have seen others do with filming their shows.  I actually bought a small indoor Hubsan X4 back in the summer and flew that around a bit before upgrading to a Syma X5C-1 before Christmas, which has a cheap camera and can be flown outside.  Both were great trainers and I hope to enjoy the P3 as a video/photo platform… since the other 2 were more for fun/stunts.

A journey into sight and sound (with RGB now)