"Let It Go" @ Bentonville Heart Lites

[sebjsan]

Did u use ray?

Sent from my SM-G925V using Tapatalk

[mararunr]

Nope, I pay him.  Using him would be getting the lights without paying for them.     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).

[Gilrock]

Nope, I pay him.  Using him would be getting the lights without paying for them.     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.

[mararunr]

Nope, I pay him.  Using him would be getting the lights without paying for them.     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.

[Gilrock]

I thought I've been doing good.  You should see the posts where I hit cancel instead of send.

[mararunr]

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.   

[sebjsan]

Mararunr, what length and height did you get per icicle as per diagram?

[mararunr]

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).

[sebjsan]

Thanks for all the quick info

[needbrew]

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. 

[mararunr]

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

[HanksGT]

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!

[tmeyermn]

Nice work, looks great!!!

[mararunr]

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.

[bravado67]

Very nice storytelling with your sequence. Unfortunately, I now must have two mega trees. LOL