Display was mostly a failure for me in 2014

[danj]

Bummed out here.   I started probably a month later than I should have in building a megatree this year.  That led to me being late dealing with what seemed to be just issue after issue with finding an Ethernet switch that would cooperate with my E682s, intermittent problems with one of my E682s (cat5 won't stay plugged in consistently), etc.   The lesson here is to START EARLY.   One other item--I spent a lot of time with a software package that I thought would be good "bridge" between XL/NC and LOR--I figured I would put everything into that program, but that didn't work for me so I went all-in using XL/NC--which I plan to do next year again.   I thought I would share this with others so perhaps you won't make the same mistake.  I have spent a lot of time, effort, and money this year on this stuff and the only thing I have to show for it is some solid infrastructure for 2015 and future Christmases. 

[Steve Gase]

Good advice.

You are not alone...  My mega tree was a painful experience covering several years before I got it right this year.  The result was worth it for me...  but it sure was frustrating.

I suggest setting it up COMPLETELY months in advance.
There are a lot of other things that do you in... for me, they include:

1. waterproofing.  i lost SSCs and cables because I didn't properly cover this
2. light selection.  i lost 33% of my tree one year because of mixing IP66 pixels with my IP68
3. light selection.  i liked the Technicolor design (improved mounting, improved waterproofing, ability to use lens covers) and they failed for me big-time with no time to recover.  Went back to the IP68 bullets this year and have had only 2 pixels fail out of 5000.
4. software.  before Nutcracker it would have been impossible for me to do anything "interesting" with the tree.
5. suspension.  tried hanging bare strings and the stress caused some pixels to short and create fires.  tried zipties to paracord and wasn't happy with the look.  tried zip ties to metal conduit and the work involved to ziptie each pixel last minute only allowed 8 out of my planned 40 strings.  found plastic strips on DIYC and it worked!

anyway... plan to start early, give yourself time to try different things.  the controller selection and software selection might be the easiest choice.   save time for the other factors.

[danj]

Thanks for the input, Steve.  I actually plan to start really really early next year.   I am going to put my megatree together in Jan/Feb so that is a totally done deal come next fall; no building/soldering/etc in fall just setup.  I will go ahead and fire it up with its "designated" controller (which might be a combo FPD/hubs/microSSCs... or E682; haven't decided yet...).  I also goofed up some of my universe assignments at first--it all takes TIME that I ran out of...   Will capitalize on some of the yucky Jan/Feb weather (I am in Louisiana so not as bad as others...) and build/test my 2nd megatree really early in 2015.

[MrChristmas2000]

Keeping RJ45s plugged in.

The tabs on these connectors sometimes get pushed down and don't come back on their own.

I take a heat gun and gently warm up the connector. Then I will take a folded up piece of electrical tape, just enough to keep it up in locking position, push it in while the plastic is warm. Then when the plastic cools down the tab should stay up for proper locking.

If time is of the essence I will insert a RJ45 plug into a jack then take a smaller piece of folded up electrical tape and push it under the tab. As long as you don't pull on it too much or too hard the connector will stay in the jack.

Hope that helps.

[danj]

Thanks Mr Christmas!   I simply didn't have time to spend on the controller this weekend; too many previous engagements totally precluded that.  So, I pulled that controller out of the yard and I am not running any of my display--I would have had to reassign clusters, move wiring around, etc etc.   Just no time to do all that.  I appreciate your recommendations!  I should have some time after Christmas to really look at this sucker and see what's going on...  Not enough hours in the day right now.

[drlucas]

For the F16 hub, the rj45 jacks seem to stay in for me no problem. Might be the way I have the board mounted (vertical on a board) vs the DLA active hub that i have in a battery box lying flat horizontal. To keep the jacks in place I take a very small screw and push the jack all the way down, then use the screw between the tab and outside of the jack which seems to keep it in place ALOT better for me.

As for starting early, the last two years I have started in my garage in January planning what models/props I want to build. I do a little bit of prototyping and reading up on all the forums to see what items worked in others display. Last year similar to Steve (not exact same issue, but same outcome), I had bought 32 flex strips and had them all fail on me within 2 weeks of having them mounted on pvc pipes and a big sheet of plywood. Fortunately that was back in July, so by the time the replacements came in late September, I was able to take a week off work and put it back together along with starting to get things mounted outside.

I always try to get a halloween show up and running to force me to get most of the bugs out by the time November rolls around and then I can bring out the final models and get things working the way I want them too.

I have also suffered from MANY water damaged pigtails and SSCs and now completely encase them which seems to help a bit.

[danj]

Thanks for the info, DrLucas.   I am definitely going to start building my 2nd megatree in Jan/Feb timeframe, make sure BOTH controllers work correctly with BOTH megatrees, etc etc.  I like your idea of getting everything up and running for Halloween to assure you get a jump on Thanksgiving.  We don't celebrate Halloween so that is a moot point for me...   I really appreciate the insights in regards to RJ 45 connectors.

[tlh]

Dan-
I am sorry to hear that time ran out on you. It's a hard lesson, but starting early is critical. There is a lot of great advice in this post. I'll be happy to assist if you want. Thanks again for dropping by the display.
Terry Hight

[danj]

Thanks Terry.   This lesson will be etched deep in my memory.  It is frutstrating now but good to learn, even if sometimes you "learn the hard way"...

[davron12]

Don't be too bummed out. My (as well as many others) first couple of years were very frustrating and error prone. This is my fifth year, and by far was the easiest, thanks in part to Sean who continues to improve Nutcracker making pixel effect easy and David for designing the F16.

[danj]

Thanks for the input.  Now I just need to figure out how to remember all this setup/universe/voltage/etc stuff from one Christmas season to another!!!!

[MrChristmas2000]

Thanks for the input.  Now I just need to figure out how to remember all this setup/universe/voltage/etc stuff from one Christmas season to another!!!!

Label it! Use cheap electrical tape and label the cables where they are supposed to go.

Use an excel or similar spread sheet to organize your layout. Use tabs to organize information on each element.

I have all my channels laid out in a spread sheet as well.

Document it. Make a backup of your documentation as well.

These small steps will save you hours of frustration next time.

It also helps when things go wrong, you can print out connection sheets and go out and check that it is connected the way you intended.

[jnealand]

+1 to Tom's post

All my ethernet cables have labels at both ends.

I have all my channels laid out in an excel spreadsheet.  I have the sheets going back several years so I can always go back and look at the way things were setup in the past.

My excel spreadsheet has several tabs
- a channels summary that show all my DMX channels and all my pixelnet elements with their channel count, nodes, and type of node used
- a controller summary that lists all my controllers and what is connected to them along with the channels that will be coming off them
- a pixelnet channel layout that shows by universe all elements, node count, controller 1st channel, last channel, pixel forward or backward, and show 1st channel which is not the same as controller 1st channel because of different universes.
- a dmx channel layout that shows by channel, (for me it's LEs), the unit number, the channel number within that unit which is labeled on the end of the 120v cord, the use, the bulb count, the amps used, etc
- and some other tabs used to build vixen channel labels

You can also take a lot of pictures of how you have things setup which will help in remembering how you did it in the past

This year I also started a sequence planning spreadsheet that has a list of songs I have an interest in, the artist name, the source of the music, whether I have completed an audacity timing file, and the status of that sequence.  I use version numbers on the sequence name and update the version everytime I redo it or make major revisions to it.

It all helps.

[MrChristmas2000]

I would also add that a walk around video in addition to the pictures that Jim suggested. I take lots of pictures, digital pictures give us the flexibility of have pictures of almost any angle of a setup you can think of. Many times I go back and look at last year, year before last etc to figure out where I placed something. That is where a walk around video describing what you have connected where also is a good refresher as to how to put it all back together. Actually that is a good idea for any similar type of decorating or anything you take apart.

I usually even take photos of cables as I assemble them just to remind me how I did it.

I do the same with my sequences. I have a time line down the sheet breaking down each action into 50ms per row. That way I can tell at a glance what else is being turned on or has an effect in play at that point.

Right now would be an excellent time to get started for next year. In the middle of the summer don't find yourself saying I'll just do it later. You will come to regret that conversation with yourself as the season approaches. I speak from experience in the National Procrastination Society. LOL. It is never too early to get it done.

[danj]

Thank you thank you thank you.  I have actually started a really basic channel layout spreadsheet; thought I was overkilling it but now I see I have started doing what I should be doing!!   I really appreciate all your ideas and recommendations.  Tell you the truth I have been so frustrated with the whole thing I have been tempted to just go out into the yard and pull stuff up and put it away.  Fortunately haven't had time to do that, so I can still video (what a great simple idea), etc.  I do have my cat5's labeled on the RGB strip ends but I agree with Jim--I will label at both ends...  Thanks so much.  I may have said it in an earlier post, but I do plan to go ahead and start building my 2nd megatree while my first "build" is still fresh in my mind...