So I have been a christmas light enthusiast for years and years. Howeve, never had taken the plunge into the world of RGB/Pixel and lighting controllers. This year, I have > 10,000 LED and incandescent lights on 3 sides of property that are getting raves... with only animation being the LED light show strings I have bought on christmas clearance every year. Last year, i started researching light shows and was very intimated by the process, options and DIY nature of the hobby. So, I did my normal yard setup - maxed out my outdoor amperage (again!) and made a cool yard that most of the village says is awesome. Had it all ready to turn on by Thanksgiving. Was a solid 100 hours of light hanging to get it done. Then I got bored and dug back into the forums. Then I bought my first Falcon F16v3. then I bought a bunch of Ray Wu pixels to play with and downloaded Xlights. Then I played for ~20 hours making stuff and sequencing. So.... here is the question. Is Holiday Light DIY totally addictive like Crack? I have never tried Crack, but man this is fun. I am kind of mad at myself for waiting til AFTER this years lights were done and now I have 11.5 months to go until I can get a real light show up and running.
I want to thank all of the youtubers and forum posters for encouraging the process. I am so ready to dig in. Sleep be damned.
Attached, video of from my yard this year. And a quick video of what I have cobbled together in the last 4 days in my office playing with new toys. Note, I did build a bunch of stuff for my yard (arches, window frames, trees) anticipating future orchestrated light shows, I just wish I dived in sooner!
Wish me luck, I might be posting asking for some help as I plan this out along the way. The interesting goal will be to figure out how to leverage as much of my dumb LEDs and incandescents with light shows as possible so as to not end up in the poor house for next year!!
-Brett --- total newbie. 2017-- 10,000+ dumb lights + almost 0 orchestrated
