Monthly Archives: January 2016

Sequencing, xLights

Doing a layout in xLights

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I want to keep myself in check for this 1st year and if I go down the pixel path I need to see how much this might cost.  To that end, there is nothing better than getting a visual representation of what you want on your property.  This gives you a reasonable set of materials that would be required and that can be turned into a shopping list.

My initial plan is to keep this basic and not really touch the house roof line (as mentioned before since it might as well be a skyscraper to me).  This means a few window items (Coro snowflakes), a smallish megatree (10 ft or so), 2 mini trees (4 ft or so), and 6 arches (similar to Matt Johnson’s arches).  I will likely add some “connection lines” between the ground elements as I have a picture in my head on how it could look and how it could enhance the show with proper sequencing.  Otherwise, this should give me a fair estimate.

Mocked up in xLights, this is what I get (yes, the image is stretched sideways):
layout1

Now, to setup a list of materials I would need to purchase… to price this out on presales and make the final “go” or “no go” decision”.

Pre-Sales, Research

RGB Pixel Cost for 2016

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I have created a shopping list for the items to make the proposed display for 2016.  I have left out the coro snowflakes and a couple other things that I do not expect to see in a pre-sale, plus I may want to construct some stuff myself instead of purchasing prefab items.

This setup should include most items to make a shorter Megatree, six arches built similar to Matt Johnson’s arches, two  4 foot trees, and the pixels for the snowflakes.

The preliminary list for holidaycoro.com is:
Megatree (9 outputs) – ~240 degree – (18x) 36w / 3a
900 Pixel – 8mm/12mm Square 12V – 50 per (18 units @ 17.49)
9 Extensions – 3 conductor – 10 ft – male/female (10 units @ 3.19 – min is 10)
Pixel Strips & mount gear
Megatree topper QT2

Mini Trees (4 outputs) – 270 degree – (8x) 27w / 2.268
400 pixel – 8mm/12mm bullet 12V – 50 per – 3″ black (8 units @ 16.75)
Coro Flakes (3 outputs) – (3x) 36w / 3a
150 pixel – 8mm/12mm Square 12V – 50 per (3 units @ 17.49)

Continue reading RGB Pixel Cost for 2016 →

Research

Which controller for rgb pixels?

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There are actually quite a few options for controllers when it comes to this hobby.  Being new to the topic of running rgb pixels in a show, I did a bunch of reading on the different aspects that may affect which one I choose.   The only thing I do know is that I do not care for using light-o-rama products as I feel they put me into that ecosystem that seems to cost more to do what I want, versus some other options.

That pretty much leaves me with the common options that someone was nice enough to put into a table on a site for easier comparison – http://nutcracker123.com/nutcracker/rgb_controllers/.

Rather than focus on price first, I should look for a controller that covers my basic needs (as I understand them).  Below are some of the main things I am thinking about in my decision making and why they matter.

Note: Keep in mind that I am a complete noob at this stuff and I could be completely wrong about anything I write.

Warning: This post will be long as I work through all this.

Continue reading Which controller for rgb pixels? →

General, Pre-Sales, Show Gear

Finally, to RGB or not to RGB? That is the question!

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After giving this some thought and talking with the family (more than I have been about this for the last few weeks), I think we are looking at well under $2000 in costs.  More likely in the $1600 range.  It would be $1400 but I am looking to have a backup controller.

With selling off old equipment (2 LOR residential units and a mp3 director), that should take a decent chunk out of the total.  Add on dumping all the incan and led strings for maybe $1 each to locals and I think the net cost would be just over $1000.

So, with all that said, I ordered 2 Falcon F16v2 Pixel Controllers w/ mounting plates for about $425 and we are “doing this”!

Off to read more forums and wait for the holidaycoro pre-sale to pick up most of the other stuff!

General, Show Gear

Raspberry Pi 2, a late gift to myself.

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I told my wife thanks tonight, for purchasing the item I had been looking at for many months now.  She said “you are welcome” and asked what I just bought myself.

Truth is that I had been looking at the last version for many months to use in several projects but never cared enough to pull the trigger.  In most cases, I found an alternate solution to handle the task at hand or realized I just didn’t care that much about the task to spend time playing with the Pi.

Now that I am moving away from LOR and my MP3 show director, I have no desire to go back to using a pc or laptop to run shows.  I did that my first year and honestly it was a pain because I had moments where I wanted to use the laptop but was tethered to the FM transmitter and the 1st controller.  Plus, I can swap sd cards and use it for other stuff the rest of the year.

So, with no further delay… I picked up a complete starter kit on amazon and it will be here in 2 days thanks to prime.  If you want to take a look, here is the link for it on Amazon.

Research

Pixels – 12v or 5v?

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I have done a bunch of research on the topic of 12 volt vs 5 volt pixels as this will obviously affect both what pixels I buy as well as which PSU (power supply units) I will need.  Having said that, I sense it is all based on what you plan to do with them and how comfortable you feel with doing power injection.  I even saw someone on a forum mention it is like the age old Ford vs Chevy discussion, which seems very appropriate.

From research I have gathered that 5v and 12v pixels are pretty much the same when it comes to what power they need to run properly.  If they do not have enough power they will apparently look red or pink when you try to make them full white.  Being colorblind, I may not notice if the pink is really light.  I will have to depend on my family to point this out.  Anyways, the pixels from both sets need around 5 volts to run at full white… but the 12v pixels use buck converters/resistors to step down the power.  This would mean that power is being “wasted” and I suspect some level of heat is generated as a byproduct.   The positive is that power loss over a lot of pixels/wire would be less of an impact for 12v given you have a lot of overhead to lose… where 5v dropping just a volt is not good for anyone.

Continue reading Pixels – 12v or 5v? →

Pre-Sales, Show Gear

Time for the holidaycoro pre-sale order!

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I have used my shopping list to order $565.11 worth of items from holidaycoro.com.  This is their pre-sale #1 that should be shipping out in February.

I picked up:

  • Pixel strips for the arches (5 meters each, to be cut in 1/2, so 3 for 6 arches)
  • Two 350w 12v power supplies (with cords)
  • 25 pixnode stripes (so I have some extra for splicing and playing)
  • 2 enclosures, one for inside and one for outside
  • A ton of waterproof connectors (although I needed 20 of one type and they only had 19 left)
  • Only 10 sets of bullet pixels (I waited too long and the square nodes for the megatree sold out… gotta wait for another presale)
  • 200 feet of 3 conductor cable (checked on amazon and didn’t really see a better deal) – although I may not need it with the rolls of SPT1 i have in the garage.
  • Waterproof labels, 2 sets, because why not…
  • EasyPix Controller – was unplanned but I thought it would be nice to have a quick way to test pixels without firing up more stuff on the bench and I saw someone else mention using it for this purpose.

I was trying to get this order in a quickly as possible before something else ran out of stock (like the waterproof connectors and the square pixels).  I will have to wait for the next presale to grab more pixels and the tree topper 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.

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 →

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? →