Hello everyone!
I’ve been reading the forums for a little while now and have read the entire 101 guide a couple times. I thought it might be a good idea to just post what I was planning or wanted to achieve and get some input and advice from the experts before doing anything. I work in IT/Engineering and have plenty of networking experience and have soldered quite a bit over the years. I feel confident I can pull this off.
I’d like to get something done for Halloween this year, then have some additional stuff for X-mas (Mega tree?). I am in Ohio and we definitely get snow so keep that in mind. I plan on keeping everything on the facing of the house and things in the yard and not on top of the roof otherwise it could get buried in snow and you’ll never see it. See my attached pic for where I plan to do a house outline. I’m missing a couple measurements, but you can probably make a decent guess. I am open to suggestions though and willing to make changes.
I want pixels for sure. I was thinking of strips for the house outline. Then nodes for decorations in the yard or if I do anything else like snowflakes, talking faces, etc. on the house.
My house is 2 stories so keep that in mind as well. I have a decent amount of area to cover so I’ll have some longer runs if everything is coming from 1 location. I was planning on mounting the strips to pvc pipe or similar so they’d be easy to put up and down. Along my roofline I do have access to the attic space behind where these would be mounted so I’m hoping to run wiring there and have it come out where these would connect. You would see no wiring and I could leave the wiring in place all year. Hopefully.
So after all my reading here are some initial questions I have.
Thanks so much!
Bill
Ps – I’ll try and get photos of the house posted soon.
I’ve been reading the forums for a little while now and have read the entire 101 guide a couple times. I thought it might be a good idea to just post what I was planning or wanted to achieve and get some input and advice from the experts before doing anything. I work in IT/Engineering and have plenty of networking experience and have soldered quite a bit over the years. I feel confident I can pull this off.
I’d like to get something done for Halloween this year, then have some additional stuff for X-mas (Mega tree?). I am in Ohio and we definitely get snow so keep that in mind. I plan on keeping everything on the facing of the house and things in the yard and not on top of the roof otherwise it could get buried in snow and you’ll never see it. See my attached pic for where I plan to do a house outline. I’m missing a couple measurements, but you can probably make a decent guess. I am open to suggestions though and willing to make changes.
I want pixels for sure. I was thinking of strips for the house outline. Then nodes for decorations in the yard or if I do anything else like snowflakes, talking faces, etc. on the house.
My house is 2 stories so keep that in mind as well. I have a decent amount of area to cover so I’ll have some longer runs if everything is coming from 1 location. I was planning on mounting the strips to pvc pipe or similar so they’d be easy to put up and down. Along my roofline I do have access to the attic space behind where these would be mounted so I’m hoping to run wiring there and have it come out where these would connect. You would see no wiring and I could leave the wiring in place all year. Hopefully.
So after all my reading here are some initial questions I have.
- Are strips the way to go for my outline? Opinions seem to vary.
- Do I want 12v or 5v lights? I’m guessing 12v since it would be better for distance.
- I was looking at these from RayWu. LINK
- How many power supplies would I need?
- Since my house is 2 stories would I need additional to avoid longer power runs?
- Do I want the Falcon controller or maybe a Advatek Pixlite?
- Which model?
- Is xLights the way to go for software?
Thanks so much!
Bill
Ps – I’ll try and get photos of the house posted soon.