NickT
New elf
Hi all, I briefly outlined my setup in my welcome thread last year and I'm now thinking about what I want to do for 2021 and how to achieve it, and I'd love some advice.
Here's what I currently look like:
I currently run some custom software a friend wrote but it's really limited and laggy at the amount of LEDs I'm running. I'd like to move to xlights with my current setup, and add a mega tree in the grass area on the right hand side, props around the place (probably on the grass and where my poorly made arches are) and possibly even a pixel grid for the garage (is that what it's called?).
Currently my roughly 80 metres of strips are powered via 3x 12v power supplies and I have built a little box for each of them which has an ESP32 and a buck converter to convert the 12v to 5v. This means with 15 light strips I have 15 of these little boxes outside (still out there actually.. I really should take the lights down between christmases..)
I'm trying to understand the setup required to convert this to xlights so I'd love any links to videos or simple descriptions of how I would set it all up properly. I believe I'd need 2 or 3 F16V3's, maybe some more PSU's, my brother has a laser cutter so I can probably make my own props really easily. I'll also look at getting string lights (instead of strips that I've used so far) for the mega tree.
My main questions currently just so I don't leave them randomly throughout my post:
1) I currently run power to each strip box and the box has the ESP32 which connects to my controller via wifi, I assume with xlights you also send data with the cable that is being run. Does this mean I can switch to cat5/6 or is something else used?
2) Are there any suggested guides on how you would build and mount a pixel grid to a garage door that is in use? or do I have to stop using my garage for a month?
3) Are there any suggested guides on building a mega tree? I assume I'll have to get welding, and I'm going to remove a tree so I can have a pole in the ground to hold the tree centre.
or should I just watch Canispater Christmas's entire youtube channel? ;-)
I'm technically competent (Linux SysAdmin for 20 years), have a good home network and dedicated servers to run software, and have a licensed electrician friend who can help out, so hopefully the conversion to xlights isn't too difficult.
Thanks!
Here's what I currently look like:
I currently run some custom software a friend wrote but it's really limited and laggy at the amount of LEDs I'm running. I'd like to move to xlights with my current setup, and add a mega tree in the grass area on the right hand side, props around the place (probably on the grass and where my poorly made arches are) and possibly even a pixel grid for the garage (is that what it's called?).
Currently my roughly 80 metres of strips are powered via 3x 12v power supplies and I have built a little box for each of them which has an ESP32 and a buck converter to convert the 12v to 5v. This means with 15 light strips I have 15 of these little boxes outside (still out there actually.. I really should take the lights down between christmases..)
I'm trying to understand the setup required to convert this to xlights so I'd love any links to videos or simple descriptions of how I would set it all up properly. I believe I'd need 2 or 3 F16V3's, maybe some more PSU's, my brother has a laser cutter so I can probably make my own props really easily. I'll also look at getting string lights (instead of strips that I've used so far) for the mega tree.
My main questions currently just so I don't leave them randomly throughout my post:
1) I currently run power to each strip box and the box has the ESP32 which connects to my controller via wifi, I assume with xlights you also send data with the cable that is being run. Does this mean I can switch to cat5/6 or is something else used?
2) Are there any suggested guides on how you would build and mount a pixel grid to a garage door that is in use? or do I have to stop using my garage for a month?
3) Are there any suggested guides on building a mega tree? I assume I'll have to get welding, and I'm going to remove a tree so I can have a pole in the ground to hold the tree centre.
or should I just watch Canispater Christmas's entire youtube channel? ;-)
I'm technically competent (Linux SysAdmin for 20 years), have a good home network and dedicated servers to run software, and have a licensed electrician friend who can help out, so hopefully the conversion to xlights isn't too difficult.
Thanks!