2017 rambling thoughts so far ........

Goliath

Full time elf
Joined
Dec 31, 2014
Messages
166
Location
Gracemere
1. The Bunnings deer, though looking nice, I suspect will not be long lived. Every time you touch one, more of the clear, brittle plastic breaks of. Also the antlers mount is as weak as my Aunt Sally's tea. They do twinkle nicely connected to a Ray Wu dmx controller.
2. The Lyteworx 2.4 metre blossom trees from two years ago are looking a bit sad in daylight. These buggers fall over in any sort of breeze - I have two 400 x 200 mm concrete pavers sitting on the base, and it still isn't enough. Where the trunks screw together is starting to strip the threads too, so a PVC "splint" may become needed. These also twinkle nicely through the Ray Wu dmx controller.
3. The old two channel Big W icicles are also a bit sad, with a couple of sections deciding to fail, but I have three layers of them along a garden bed, so they still look ok. These also run through the Ray Wu dmx controller.
4. I was in a hurry and stopped checking Ray's pigtails when making leads. Lost half a day fault finding. One two core male was open circuit between the plug and the tails on both cores.
5. My spiral trees that worked happily testing on one controller, wouldn't work when placed in their final position on another controller. Another half day lost until I worked out the signal wasn't carrying thru the 3 metre connecting cable. A null pixel inserted fixed this.
6. AAH's DMX2-18's are bloody brilliant, although I couldn't manage to set the start address on them. Sorry David_AVD da_start just would not do it for me, no matter how many bad words the neighbours heard.
7. Soldering irons are bloody hot .......... I have a very cool brand on one knee to prove it.
8. I am not going to be all set up by 1st December. *Shame*
9. The $10 battery stars from Bunnings are spectacular with pixels inserted. I tried one with strip, and one with holes drilled in the back and nodes shoved in. I liked the nodes better, and did them all like that. 26 nodes in that little star may have been overkill .....
10. I am getting quite a bucket full of cut off transformers, and may remove them from the inflatables as well, using spare 12V power injection leads to power them from the 350W transformers.
11. The air seeder arches I made last year were in the weather all year, and no sign of yellowing.
12. Merry Christmas everyone!
 

djgra79

My name is Graham & I love flashing lights!
Global moderator
Generous elf
Joined
Dec 27, 2011
Messages
2,161
Location
Cranbourne West
Permission to add my ramblings too?
1. I was glad I made up new elements in the middle of the year to save time.
2. I regret not making power/data leads for said new elements at the same time (not knowing exactly where in the yard they would go) as I have run into some issues last night installing in the dark (could be reversed polarity on new batch of ray Wu plugs, TBC.)
3. Glad I started sequencing all year including the new elements.
4. Wish I had sequenced DMX during the year as these actually take longer to do as not all effects work the same and can be quite manual.
5. Should have mowed the lawn again as the grass is already getting long in parts, and I haven't officially switched on yet...
6. We're expected to get 1 month's worth of rain starting tomorrow, so I now doubt very much I will be switching on this weekend.
7. I need to buy a better mic for Zoom sessions...
 

marmalade

cats & pixels
Joined
Dec 1, 2015
Messages
284
Location
newcastle
My personal observations.

1. There will be one pigtail wired up in reverse polarity which will only be found when put out of reach.
2. Props which work on the bench horizontally will mostly never work when mounted vertically.
3. Ground stakes easily pushed in during installation will require a hammer and crowbar to remove a few weeks later.
4. The one power supply to blow a fuse is the one for which you don't have a fuse available.
5. When whipper snipping around props, only the most difficult cable to fix will wrap itself around the head.
6. It will absolutely rain on the day you need to place the props in the yard.
7. A emergency trip to bunnings 30 mins before closing time will cause bunnings to close 30 mins early.
8. When booting up the xlights PC for the nights show, windows will install an update which takes 20 mins to complete.
9. When switching off the display for the night, half a dozen cars will show up and want to watch it all the way through.
10.You will get up at 4am to get to the pre-christmas day 50% off lights sales,only to find there is nothing left when you get there.

Best time of the year!
 

the grinch

I guess I could use a little social interaction
Joined
Jun 23, 2013
Messages
464
Location
angle vale s.a.
Having a good friend around too help put display up and in eagerness turns power off and on multiple times without you realizing and spikes your raspberry pi s! Wich of course information not backed up ! And one pi in particular smelt burnt out ! And causing bad and missing sectors on sd cards ! then the card readers you put in special spot for this purpose only for xmas light stuff magically dissappear! Spend many hours searching and asking all family members in house nobody knows ! Finally find a card reader but after trying too format many many many many times and reinstalling fpp constant error message fats dont match !
After 3 days of trying and searching for original card readers unsuccessfully I stumble across an old digital camera in a drawer open the flap and a different card reader so try and is successful ! Finally and thankfully was able to reinstall fpp players and setup once more !
Arrrrrgggghhhh
 

QLDKing(Brad)

Senior elf
Joined
Dec 28, 2016
Messages
561
Location
Albany Creek
My personal observations.
1. There will be one pigtail wired up in reverse polarity which will only be found when put out of reach.
2. Props which work on the bench horizontally will mostly never work when mounted vertically.
3. Ground stakes easily pushed in during installation will require a hammer and crowbar to remove a few weeks later.
4. The one power supply to blow a fuse is the one for which you don't have a fuse available.
5. When whipper snipping around props, only the most difficult cable to fix will wrap itself around the head.
6. It will absolutely rain on the day you need to place the props in the yard.
7. A emergency trip to bunnings 30 mins before closing time will cause bunnings to close 30 mins early.
8. When booting up the xlights PC for the nights show, windows will install an update which takes 20 mins to complete.
9. When switching off the display for the night, half a dozen cars will show up and want to watch it all the way through.
10.You will get up at 4am to get to the pre-christmas day 50% off lights sales,only to find there is nothing left when you get there.

:laugh:
 

djgra79

My name is Graham & I love flashing lights!
Global moderator
Generous elf
Joined
Dec 27, 2011
Messages
2,161
Location
Cranbourne West
Having a good friend around too help put display up and in eagerness turns power off and on multiple times without you realizing and spikes your raspberry pi s! Wich of course information not backed up ! And one pi in particular smelt burnt out ! And causing bad and missing sectors on sd cards ! then the card readers you put in special spot for this purpose only for xmas light stuff magically dissappear! Spend many hours searching and asking all family members in house nobody knows ! Finally find a card reader but after trying too format many many many many times and reinstalling fpp constant error message fats dont match !
After 3 days of trying and searching for original card readers unsuccessfully I stumble across an old digital camera in a drawer open the flap and a different card reader so try and is successful ! Finally and thankfully was able to reinstall fpp players and setup once more !
Arrrrrgggghhhh
My Pi and network switch are constantly powered 24/7 during Nov/Dec. Only the PSUs and controllers are on AC timers. Maybe give that a go as I have had solid performance from my Pi so far :)
 

the grinch

I guess I could use a little social interaction
Joined
Jun 23, 2013
Messages
464
Location
angle vale s.a.
My Pi and network switch are constantly powered 24/7 during Nov/Dec. Only the PSUs and controllers are on AC timers. Maybe give that a go as I have had solid performance from my Pi so far :)

Yes i agree dj just very awkward at moment as they are in enclosures out in the yard with modems wouldnt like them running allday in heat ! Need morethanks dj ethernet cables etc to get them inside . May be next years job for certain just need to be careful until new years eve ! Definetly a problem as i have done it previously also.they certainly dont like being turned off and on during boot up
thanks dj
 

Goliath

Full time elf
Joined
Dec 31, 2014
Messages
166
Location
Gracemere
A couple of additions. Those stars, to quote that upstart crow, Will Shakespeare, were absolute HoHoHoingtons to drill. Belatedly, I bought a step-drill which made it a breeze to drill the 4 extra stars, the 4 reindeer, and 4 christmas trees of the same type that found their way into my cart. I'll be at least a week late getting everything up. *sigh*
Having difficulty driving the flimsy tent pegs into the lawn to anchor the inflatables etc. Purchased some 130mm coach screws that drive in quite nicely, and WAY more secure than tent pegs. Bit expensive though at 90 cents each. Wait to see if I miss any come pack up time, and find them with the mower .......
 

BundyRoy

Dedicated elf
Joined
Apr 9, 2014
Messages
1,026
Never use electrical tape on connections. It doesn't seal very well and the residual sticky gums up your wire strippers if you ever need to do repairs.
 

Goliath

Full time elf
Joined
Dec 31, 2014
Messages
166
Location
Gracemere
Two inflatables turned up dead. The lil blower fan just won't do it's job. Should I channel Tim the Toolman Taylor - there's that old jumping castle blower in the shed ....
 

OzAz

Senior elf
Global moderator
Joined
Dec 29, 2015
Messages
997
Location
Newcastle
If anyone does find suitable replacement inflatable fans, I'd like to know. I've got a dead one, and it's partners favourite one.
 

Nuzzy

Apprentice elf
Joined
Aug 6, 2017
Messages
75
Location
Denmark
We used the $5 starts from the reject shop, they just popped open and managed to get 5 pixels in each.
 

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