Mark Sanctuary Posted December 15, 2007 Posted December 15, 2007 Ok guys, I think I have gone crazy about Christmas. I did one of those Light-O-Rama houses. It is an absolute blast to work on and the excitement from my two boys (4 and 6 years old 2009) just makes it all the more worth it. This picture has about only half of the lights shown. Red bows are the wife's touch. 2007 Picture If you want to check it out here is my 2009 video of all three songs. The video really does not do the show justice but you get the idea. 2009 Video 2009 Show Current Bulb Count: 18,150 Extension Cords: 2,155 feet Show Length: 7 minutes Intermission Length: 3 minutes Radio Station: 100.1 FM Max Current: 60.3 amps Max Power: 7,237 watts Average Power (20%): 1,447 watts Estimated Electric Costs: $60 Total Circuits: 4 (GFI 20 amp) Controller Channels: 48 Setup Time: 1 week Tear-down Time: 1 day First Animated Show: 2007 Songs: Wizards in Winter (TSO) Carol of the Bells (Patty Loveless) Jingle Bells (Master Tone) Sleigh Ride 2008 Bulb Count: 13,950 2007 Bulb Count: 13,250 2006 Bulb Count: 4,000 Links Sanctuary Christmas Lights Facebook Page Lights of the Valley Listing
sloop Posted December 15, 2007 Posted December 15, 2007 fantastic job - great memories for your little men
Mark Sanctuary Posted December 15, 2007 Author Posted December 15, 2007 Thanks! My 4 year old helps me program the songs, stands in front of me (makes it a trick to type on the keyboard) in the computer chair and points. Those bushes are the drums Daddy, those are the piano, the house needs to blink faster, etc. Good times.
Sub-Routine Posted December 15, 2007 Posted December 15, 2007 I dug out our lights this morning with the intention of putting them up. Then I saw this thread and I think I might have to buy a second and perhaps even a third string Great show Mark! Rand
yardman 49 Posted January 4, 2008 Posted January 4, 2008 Hello Mark.....Wow! Very nice choreography! I'm assuming that you had the music playing outside your house for all to hear. What do the neighbors think? I've never attempted anything like this. What kind of hardware for the controllers? And how do you synchronize the sound tracks with the lights?? Best wishes,
MikeB Posted January 4, 2008 Posted January 4, 2008 I'm assuming that you had the music playing outside your house for all to hear. What do the neighbors think? One of my neighbors had a small light show going on, and he was using an FM transmitter. He had a sign up saying "tune to 97.5" or whatever...
Mark Sanctuary Posted January 5, 2008 Author Posted January 5, 2008 This was my first year doing this, here are the stats: [*:1zg6egb1]2 Light-O-Rama 16 channel controllers (pre-soldered, had to assemble housing)[*:1zg6egb1]1 Ramsey FM25B transmitter (3 weeks soldering, transmits 3 house down from mine)[*:1zg6egb1]1 Merry Christmas sign (with radio station info on it, tune to 100.1FM)[*:1zg6egb1]1 Light-O-Rama Sequencing software package[*:1zg6egb1]130 strings of lights (white, blue, red, green, already owned 35 strings before starting)[*:1zg6egb1]1 wire frame train (with lights already on it)[*:1zg6egb1]1500 feet of 18-guage zip lamp cord[*:1zg6egb1]60 vampire plug ends (to create custom cords with the zip lamp cord)[*:1zg6egb1]2 rolls of green electrical tape (to gather zip lamp cord into multi channel snakes)[*:1zg6egb1]200 feet of cat 5e wire (added my own RJ-45 jack ends)[*:1zg6egb1]10 heavy duty green extension cords (already owned these)[*:1zg6egb1]100 plastic gutter hooks[*:1zg6egb1]1 package of brass hooks[*:1zg6egb1]4 conduit pipes (to anchor the train to the roof)[*:1zg6egb1]2 existing outside 20 amp GFI circuits (next year I will install new ones at panel)[*:1zg6egb1]2 songs sequenced (30 to 40 hours per song, but this is the fun part)[*:1zg6egb1]1 detailed planning Excel spreadsheet (to plan power and channel distribution)[*:1zg6egb1]2 nights video taping it (from across the street)[*:1zg6egb1]5 helper people (during the week before Thanksgiving hanging lights)[*:1zg6egb1]2 sons (wanting to watch it every night we came home)[*:1zg6egb1]1 wife (to tolerate my crazy Christmas ideas)[*:1zg6egb1]lots of people driving by (some with applause or good words)[*:1zg6egb1]TOO MUCH MONEY (about a $1000)Humm…did I miss something? This is very much a DIY hobby, but that’s me, I love to tinker with gadgets. Hello Mark.....Wow! Very nice choreography! I'm assuming that you had the music playing outside your house for all to hear. What do the neighbors think? I've never attempted anything like this. What kind of hardware for the controllers? And how do you synchronize the sound tracks with the lights?? Best wishes,
yardman 49 Posted January 5, 2008 Posted January 5, 2008 Mark: Whew! All I can say again is...Wow! Just the still photo of the house with the lights on looked great. I think that if the video camera had a greater aperature the lights would have looked even better in motion. Very nice job! PS: what's with the "Leaning Tower of Tree" in your front yard? There must be a story behind it....I also saw it in some other photos that you've posted of your yard.
Mark Sanctuary Posted January 5, 2008 Author Posted January 5, 2008 I don't use profanity but that thing makes me want to. It fell over years ago in a windy rain storm. So I had a tree guy come out and stand it back up. He used rubber tires, rope, stakes, muscle, etc, to stand it back up and give it some wiggle room. Well it wiggled itself back to a nice 30-40 degree angle or so. I tried to pull it back upright a couple months later but the roots had already started mending and it was not going to move again. SO...we have a...lets say...special tree. At lease it gives us more shade on the driveway at the new angle. Gurr.
Mark Sanctuary Posted January 5, 2008 Author Posted January 5, 2008 As for the video, I have reshot it at dusk with manually adjusting the exposure and it looks much better, but I can't get the whole thing. So I ordered a wide angle lenses for my camcorder and will reshoot when it comes.
Mark Sanctuary Posted January 5, 2008 Author Posted January 5, 2008 Next year my plan is to add a mega tree as they are called. About 15 feet tall or so. With 48 channels, 48 lines of lights in 3 colors white red green, strobes lights for star like twinkle, and a star on top.
yardman 49 Posted January 5, 2008 Posted January 5, 2008 Simply amazing! And I thought that I was doing pretty good automating my brass window candelabras, Christmas tree, inside decorations, and a couple of shrubs outside via Insteon and the ISY. I even had the window candelabras "dim down" late at night so they wouldn't shine too much light into the bedrooms. I guess I'll just go slink away and hide now with my tail between my legs.................... We'll probably see you on the HGTV Christmas special next year! Are you taking stuff down now? Best wishes,
Mark Sanctuary Posted January 5, 2008 Author Posted January 5, 2008 I do Christmas lights for myself and family and you enjoy it, I am sure you do the same for yourself, so don't compare your lighting to anyone else. Also my setup is ranked in the smallest catagory on the Light-O-rama site. There is a ton of users running 192 channels or greater with 800 strings of lights or greater. Check out one of my favoites; the Holdman family setup, he has about 450 strings of lights this year. I will never go that crazy!
Zellarman Posted January 5, 2008 Posted January 5, 2008 WAY cool Mark! Some of us are just happy about being able to turn our Christmas tree on/off by remote, while you're busy turning home automation into an art!
MikeB Posted January 5, 2008 Posted January 5, 2008 he has about 450 strings of lights this year. I will never go that crazy! Quoted for reference next year when Mark has 600 strings of lights...
sfhutchi Posted January 5, 2008 Posted January 5, 2008 Simply amazing! And I thought that I was doing pretty good automating my brass window candelabras, Christmas tree, inside decorations, and a couple of shrubs outside via Insteon and the ISY. Sounds amazing to me with Insteon. I tried something simple for Halloween and it was less than 100% reliable. I also played a bit with Light Show Master and it seems near impossible to get Insteon to keep up with some basic sequences. I am truly shocked by the YouTube video highlighted in this thread. I can't imagine how he got the changes this quickly AND in sync with the song.
AnthemAVM Posted January 5, 2008 Posted January 5, 2008 Next year my plan is to add a mega tree as they are called. About 15 feet tall or so. With 48 channels, 48 lines of lights in 3 colors white red green, strobes lights for star like twinkle, and a star on top. Do you have a link to the mega tree? Thanks
Mark Sanctuary Posted January 5, 2008 Author Posted January 5, 2008 The mega-tree comes from Home Depot and Lowes in the form of PVC pipe, Christmas lights, zip-ties, etc, and some good old fashion DIY work. I have not found any plans other than a couple of How To Videos. Do you have a link to the mega tree?
Mark Sanctuary Posted January 5, 2008 Author Posted January 5, 2008 I tried something simple for Halloween and it was less than 100% reliable. I also played a bit with Light Show Master and it seems near impossible to get Insteon to keep up with some basic sequences. I am truly shocked by the YouTube video highlighted in this thread. I can't imagine how he got the changes this quickly AND in sync with the song. Light-O-Rama, Light Show Master, and a couple other product brands are of the same speed as pro lighting stuff used for TV and Theater. The Insteon network is not built for this kind of speed so you will not get the quickness from it. With the Light-O-Rama timing can do down to divisions much smaller than what will even activate a string of lights, you might see the lights faintly whimper and that is about it. With Insteon I am guessing but I think the smallest division of time is 1/4 a second. Personally I would not use Insteon for animated lighting, other than turning on the FM Radio transmitter and Christmas Sign. Plus if you by 32 Insteon dimmers for, what is it now, $40 bucks, would be $1280. If you get two 16 channel Light-O-Rama controllers its $400. In the same right I would not use Light-O-Rama for home automation, the dancing lights would drive the wife nuts.
Mark Sanctuary Posted May 1, 2008 Author Posted May 1, 2008 I found a better location for Mega Tree plans. http://www.nevadachristmas.com/Megatree.htm The mega-tree comes from Home Depot and Lowes in the form of PVC pipe, Christmas lights, zip-ties, etc, and some good old fashion DIY work. I have not found any plans other than a couple of How To Videos. Do you have a link to the mega tree?
Brignolo Posted October 29, 2008 Posted October 29, 2008 To All: I've just purchased a Light-O-Rama 16 channel controller and will be programing Sleigh Bells by Jonny Mathis (no comments please...it REALLY is one of my favorite Christmas songs.) Does anyone have any suggestions for a newbie? Joe
G W Posted October 29, 2008 Posted October 29, 2008 Dang you people. Stop this madness. Now I have to buy more crap. Atually, this is exactly what I have been looking for. I am glad this post was updated, otherwise I might never have seen it. I know what I will be ordering and building this year. Thanks to all of you that offered input. I feel like a kid again.
Brignolo Posted October 29, 2008 Posted October 29, 2008 Hmmm....a Mega Tree. I have a 75' ham radio tower in the back yard which is visible for miles. (I have pre-installed a pulley system on it...) The Mega Tree is the PERFECT Christmas Project. Joe
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