Sean Meighan
General => My Show Setup => Topic started by: mararunr on December 09, 2015, 07:17:39 AM
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ca5tFbE5yn4 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ca5tFbE5yn4)
99% 5v pixels - 100% pixels/floods/power supplies from Ray Wu
100% xLights sequencing
100% Falcon F16v2 Controllers
100% Falcon Player on Raspberry Pi show computers
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That is very nice. Can you provide specifics on your set-up? Number of controllers, types of lights, number of lights?
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That is very nice. Can you provide specifics on your set-up? Number of controllers, types of lights, number of lights?
2 20 foot 360 degree mega trees - 32 strands of 50 pixels with 50 additional pixels on the tree pole and a dual-sided star toppers with 45 pixels on each side of the star.
Various other elements including 4 foot, 3 foot, and 2 foot snowflakes, a 200 pixel bethlehem star with 50 strobe pixels, several strobes (made by wrapping 7 strobe pixels into one element at controller level), HDPE pipe arches.
Everything is mounted/made from pvc, wood, and/or coroplast (no metal/welding involved).
99% 5v pixels of various types (bullets, squares, strips). The 1% is 24v floods and some 12v rectangle modules.
I don't know the total count but I know I'm north of 10,000 at this point. (I don't keep track.)
I run 4 Raspberry Pis with FPP on them. 1 is the master and used only for audio. The other 3 are for each of the 3 F16v2 controllers. My whole show is wireless from a networking perspective (no cat 5/6 network cables running across my yard/walkways).
I don't need to run 3 controllers, I just do for convenience sake. I have one for the right side (garage face and right mega tree), one for the yard space (small trees, nativity and left mega tree), and one in the entryway for everything else (house front not garage and roof).
My farthest data run is 50' to the roof peak. I do not use pixel extenders/uamps or anything of the like because the F16v2 controllers can easily carry data 50' on twisted pair wires. My largest number of pixels on one data run is 600 pixels. (Each F16v2 output can control up to 680 pixels)
I run data separately from power on everything using a 2-wire method. I run data on 2 wire with the data line and a negative line. I run power from PSUs in various locations on 2 wire with positive and negative lines.
Hope this helps.
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Afternoon I'm new to this so I read all the post learning things. I have a question about your setup. Your wiring, I understand keeping the data seperate from the power but is it helpful to run a ground with your data lines. With data is it better to run bigger gauge wire, or does it hurt.
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Wow that is awesome! Would you be willing to share your xml file?
Very impressive!
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Afternoon I'm new to this so I read all the post learning things. I have a question about your setup. Your wiring, I understand keeping the data seperate from the power but is it helpful to run a ground with your data lines. With data is it better to run bigger gauge wire, or does it hurt.
I run 18 gauge 2 conductor wire everywhere. Yes, for my setup, it is important to run ground with data to ensure grounds across different devices (controller, powers supplies, Raspberry Pis, everything) are all grounded together.
For example if I only ran data from my F16v2 in the entry way up to the roof, and then my snowflake arches get power from a power supply on the roof - the grounds between the two systems wouldn't be connected which is a big no, no as I understand it. So yes, I run negative with data along with running negative with data. Again, all 2 conductor 18 gauge wire everywhere (allows me to buy in bulk by not using different gauges).
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Wow that is awesome! Would you be willing to share your xml file?
Very impressive!
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yes I will post at some point....trying to finish up filming tonight and still have a couple songs to add to the show before done.
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That is awesome. Thank you so much for sharing your set-up. I am looking to get into this and was curious what a set-up like yours takes.
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What lights are you running for the outline on the house?
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What lights are you running for the outline on the house?
Ws2811 square base pixels zip tied to half inch pvc.
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Files attached as promised (included rgbeffects for those that want to see models in layout - set up two hundred 510 universes to cover the channel spread).
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thanks for sharing!!
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thanks for sharing!!
You're welcome and sorry for the delay.
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Can u share a link to those icicles lights?
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Can u share a link to those icicles lights?
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Yes, attached. Pick vendor of your choice and negotiate a price. zip tie it together to make the drops look nice and voila - icicles. (I paid $11 or $12 a string I think.)
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Did u use ray?
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Nope, I pay him. Using him would be getting the lights without paying for them. ;D Sorry, feeling ornery today (been reading too many Gil posts). Yes, Ray made these for me early last year (February/March). Since these are custom, you will need to allow extra time for them to be made and get to you (think it was about 6 weeks).
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Nope, I pay him. Using him would be getting the lights without paying for them. ;D Sorry, feeling ornery today (been reading too many Gil posts). Yes, Ray made these for me early last year (February/March). Since these are custom, you will need to allow extra time for them to be made and get to you (think it was about 6 weeks).
Oh yeah what did I say now that bothered someone. I could just ignore the forum.
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Nope, I pay him. Using him would be getting the lights without paying for them. ;D Sorry, feeling ornery today (been reading too many Gil posts). Yes, Ray made these for me early last year (February/March). Since these are custom, you will need to allow extra time for them to be made and get to you (think it was about 6 weeks).
Oh yeah what did I say now that bothered someone. I could just ignore the forum.
Nothing...nothing at all...was just playing around. Your posts are always the best. Sorry Gil.
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I thought I've been doing good. You should see the posts where I hit cancel instead of send. :)
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I thought I've been doing good. You should see the posts where I hit cancel instead of send. :)
:-) I would love to see those my friend. All meant in good jest. Maybe I'm taking your place now - I got reported to an admin this past weekend for a FB post about pre-sales. :D
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Mararunr, what length and height did you get per icicle as per diagram?
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length is about 4 feet per string when doing 4" spacing. Not sure on longest drop (height). Remind me after I've taken them down this weekend (hopefully).
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Thanks for all the quick info :)
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How do you have your power distribution set-up. I would be interested to learn how you have it set-up. I.E. number of power supplies, wattage, number of pixels per supply.
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2 PSUs under each tree (both 5v). 1 PSU immediately behind the nativity (5v). 2 PSUs under Rudolph (one 5v and 1 12v for the soundbars). 2 PSUs in the entryway/front door (one 5v and one 24v for the floods). 1 PSU on the roof (5v). 1 PSU under the Bethlehem Star (5v). 3 in the garage (two 5v, one 12v for the candles).
Because it's all low voltage I run off just 4 outlets. My electric bill only goes up about $20-$25.
As I wrote earlier, I run data separately from power on everything using a 2-wire method. I run data on 2 wire with the data line and a negative line. I run power from PSUs in various locations on 2 wire with positive and negative lines
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Great show! Can you share more details on the megatrees? What pixels and mounting system did you use? This will be my second year in holiday Lighting and want to try a 20 foot tree. Thanks!
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Nice work, looks great!!!
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Great show! Can you share more details on the megatrees? What pixels and mounting system did you use? This will be my second year in holiday Lighting and want to try a 20 foot tree. Thanks!
The megatree is a 32 strand by 50 pixels 360 tree with 4 inch pixel spacing mounted on 1/2" PVC. The "topper" is a custom made 32 cog wooden wheel shape with a screw in cog indention/slot. The PVC has a hole opposite the top pixel so that the PVC slides onto the screw in the cog slot and then gravity does the rest. There is a bottom ring made of 3 10' PVC sections formed into a circle and a second ring about half way up the tree made of of 1.5 1'0 PVC sections to help maintain the uniformity of the shape. I use 5v pixels so it only takes 2 PSUs for the tree strands, trunk strand, and double-sided star on top (1745 pixels total). The double sided star is 45 pixels on each side (mirror image on back) stapled on to poplar wood strips painted black. Star is attached to PVC that slides down into middle of tree topper. Tree is staked to the ground at 4 points around the bottom circle using rebar stuck into the ground in an X formation. Having the rebar at opposing angles makes an extremely strong anchor point with minimal effort. Guy wires run from the topper and middle of the trunk to the anchor points (all inside the shape of the tree/bottom ring to make sure there is no tripping hazard). This year the tree withstood sustained winds in excess of 40 mph and gusts to 60mp (we had a few very windy days this winter). The 2.5" thick PVC tree trunk goes four feet into the ground inside a 3" PVC sleeve that is concreted into the ground with 240 lbs of concrete (top of sleeve is just below ground level and has a cap for off season, concrete starts another 6 inches below sleep top so that whole thing is hidden when not in use). I use a Falcon F16v2 controller that is hidden behind the manger scene (left tree) or in the garage (right tree) and ran off 4 data ports using Cat5 wire from the controller to the tree (about 40 feet in both cases). The tree strands are on 3 ports and the 4th port is for the trunk and star.
Hope this helps. Let me know if you have more questions.
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Very nice storytelling with your sequence. Unfortunately, I now must have two mega trees. LOL