Who would believe

[Lights On Fifth]

I said to my wife that I am going to sell my Lor controllers, she said why not just build another pixel tree and make your arches with pixels, the controllers are paid for so why waste time selling them, I haven't got the heart to tell her that I am going to need 2 more E682's and another power supply. Now start sending me your pics of your arches with pixels on them, I need to start building ASAP so she doesn't change her mind.

[Steve Gase]

tell her that the old controllers will fetch enough money to buy 2-3 times the replacements.

[jnealand]

There is a whole current thread on DLA regarding pixel arch suggestions.  I think it may be in the porch, but can't remember for sure.

[msiebri]

I built 24 arches last year with pixel strips inside 2" HDPE tubing, and I absolutely love the look of them.  Here is a video of one of my sequences from last year.  Ignore the ugly megatree in the middle, that is first on the list to upgrade next year.  In my opinion, the video doesn't do them justice.  The only problem is that they are incredibly bright.  All my effects are done at 50% intensity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW5dprUQrTc

Martin

[drlucas]

If only I had the real estate.  That is so cool.

[Lights On Fifth]

Nice look to the arches

[JonB256]

I built 24 arches last year with pixel strips inside 2" HDPE tubing, and I absolutely love the look of them.  Here is a video of one of my sequences from last year.  Ignore the ugly megatree in the middle, that is first on the list to upgrade next year.  In my opinion, the video doesn't do them justice.  The only problem is that they are incredibly bright.  All my effects are done at 50% intensity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW5dprUQrTc

Martin

Martin, what kind of pixel strips did you use?  CCRs? WS2811, TM1809, 5v, 12v ?

Those do look very nice.  And controllers?  Distance from controller to string can be a problem.

[msiebri]

I built 24 arches last year with pixel strips inside 2" HDPE tubing, and I absolutely love the look of them.  Here is a video of one of my sequences from last year.  Ignore the ugly megatree in the middle, that is first on the list to upgrade next year.  In my opinion, the video doesn't do them justice.  The only problem is that they are incredibly bright.  All my effects are done at 50% intensity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW5dprUQrTc

Martin

Martin, what kind of pixel strips did you use?  CCRs? WS2811, TM1809, 5v, 12v ?

Those do look very nice.  And controllers?  Distance from controller to string can be a problem.

I used these strips from Ray:

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/5m-DC12V-60leds-m-20pcs-ws2811-ic-meter-20pixels-led-digital-strip-IP68-waterproof-in-silicon/701799_1142314497.html

They worked perfectly the first year, but when I pulled them out this year, a number of the pixels toward the ends of the strips wouldn't light red.  It was good enough that i can get by for this year without it being a distraction, but I will need to replace them for next year, so I'm on the lookout for something better.  I don't think it had to do with water intrusion, so I'm not sure what went wrong with them.

There are 12 strips total, 1 strip does 2 arches.  They are driven by 3 separate E6804s.  One at the base of the megatree, and one towards each end of the oval.  I have about 15' of lead cable on each strip, and have had no issues with the data signal.

If you want to see a few more details on that build, you can look here.  This is my family website, I have all the various things I have built documented there.

http://barsix.net/?page_id=105

Martin

[JonB256]

Thanks for the information. That is definitely one use for the 3 LEDs per pixel strips that would be just fine.

[jnealand]

Very nice look.  I switched my arches from WS2811 last year to using TM1804 nodes and the Blue Hawk landscaping edging from Lowes.  I like the look much better and they were really easy to build.  There is a thread on them in the display items section of Falcon Christmas
http://falconchristmas.com/forum/index.php/topic,979.0.html

[msiebri]

I've never seen that edging at my Lowe's, I'll have to look for it next time I'm there.

I went the HDPE route mainly because I needed them to be visible from both sides, and I thought the tubing would help protect the strips from the elements.

The 3 LEDs per pixel on these strips is enough granularity for the effects I run.  Most of the movements are pretty fast,  I could probably even get by with less than 50 pixels per arch.

Any suggestions for different strips that might last longer would be welcomed.

Martin

[rando1957]

Jim
do you know the height yours ended up and the length they covered?  I want to replace some rope light I have between north poles, but I have my north Poles 10' apart. I think I would need to bring them tighter for the arches.
Randy

[jnealand]

I use 48 nodes so they could be grouped in 6 or 8 if you wanted, but I just use no grouping and with nutcracker taking care of everything they work fine.  At 48 nodes, the lawn edging is a little more than 9ft.  I push a 1/2"pvc thru the end and cut a little of the excess off.  The pvc makes them stiff enough to stand up good.  I put a pvc t on the end and put a small screw into but not all the way in.  I then tie a loop in a piece of paracord and hook it around the T with screw keeping the end loop from slipping up.  I put the cord up until it looks good to me and SWMBO.  The a created another loop and slip it over the pvc at the other end.  I you leave some slack you can go back to loosen one end up and lower the arch or you can shorten the cord up and make it higher.  Your choice.  Mine are probably about 30 to 36" high at the peak.  Here are two photos.  In one you can see the paracord caught on the small screw.  In the other you can see the that the base is not at right angles to the arch.  This works great since I have a sloping yard.  By twisting the footer slightly in one direction or the other I can make the arch stand straight up.  Nothing is glued, just press fit.  Even the caps on the end of the legs.  Everything can be taken apart if needed.  A strong press fit works fine.

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[rando1957]

Thanks Jim - I may go buy be a set of the landscape stuff and try out some lights.
Curious the lights you use are 12v? Run by falcon controller, I think.

[jnealand]

I had them on a Falcon Controller, right now they are running with a msc on each arch.  You could hook two together for a total of 96 nodes on one controller, but I have kept them separate.  I have excess hubs, SSCs, mSC, etc.  I play with them all.  I have a lot of stuff as backups for my show equipment which give me lots to play with if I want to try something new.  The arches used inexpensive material and I had nodes available so it has worked out good.  The only critical item that is not backed up is my FM transmitter.  I keep looking at getting another one, but so far have not seen one that I like enough to order.