What are you changing for 2024? Elements you are building, modifying or installing

Some unexpected additions:

First is a Showstopper spinner. (Thanks chatroom for talking me into a HD prop!)



Second is this candle I saw at Bunnings today. It's got a couple of warm white leds and flicker controller (AA operated), but I have this 9-led round module which I will figure out how to fit into it.

BluePat said:

At the mini I also got some seed pixels, and they seem to fit pretty good into the Diamond pattern that is cut into my driveway, so have measured that up and am about to place an order with Paul.

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Is the plan that you will be able to drive over them because they fit in the cracks? That's an awesome use of seeds if you can pull it off.

I have added a pixel tree forest from Christmas Props Australia with a Baldrick 8 port controller from Hason Electronics
Got the 18 tree kit first but once set up realised I needed to add more tree to fill up the lawn and get a bit more depth to the display so orderd another ten trees which have just arrived today

im impatiently waiting for my corro wings , and a new steel base for my mega tree

thewanderingpine said:

Is the plan that you will be able to drive over them because they fit in the cracks? That's an awesome use of seeds if you can pull it off.

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yes yes it is!! and once Paul reads this there goes my warranty! Seriously though Paul has been great with any issues, he has promptly replaced the couple of dodgy batches from couple years ago, and the stuff I got from him for last year has been solid (touch wood). of course have never driven over any of it!

RolyT said:

I am starting to think I have bitten off more than I can chew as planning to go from a single run of pixels across roofline to:

• replacing roofline with strip lighting
• repurposing roof pixels into 4 vertical outlines
• 4 leaping arches
• 3 spiral trees
• 4 snowflakes about 150 pixels each
• rebuild/new controller in non Tupperware enclosure...

Looking at this list by itself wasn't so scary but when I listed out all the sub-tasks required to get them done it has become overwhelming and I also realise I have got some busy weekends coming up which limits the time available. Spent most of the weekend doing the spiral trees but have decided they look crap so starting again with those. I need to try and knock off something easy to get the confidence back..

I still have loads of inflatables and Bunnings rope lights so will gets something out and that's all that matters..

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Thanks in large part to the generosity of @Domestos who initially offered to help me out but then ended up donating 3 unused arches and the materials to build a 4th and sold me on seed pixels for spiral trees I am not looking too bad now. Hopefully finish controller and roofline by end of September and then dedicate some time to importing free sequences..

Hope everybody else is having their plans come together also

Figured out how to mount it today.
7x 20mm dia conduit clips screwed into the house - all found timber frame ( I was only expecting and planned for 3 of them to!) -> marked in green
5x make-a-bracket "box" sections I made attached to the coro using a flat section of the M-A-B as a big washer on the front -> marked in red
5x conduit clips mounted onto those brackets.
1x 550mm length of conduit clipped vertically into 3 clips on the house, and 3 clips on the prop. This takes the majority of the weight. -> marked in orange
2x 200mm lengths of conduit clipped horizontally into 2 pairs of clips on the house, and to 1 clip each on the prop. These are to stop it sliding down and stop the edges flapping about. -> marked in orange

Seems to be holding up pretty well in the last hour it's been up, and it's pretty windy here today

And now thanks to @djgra79 he pointed out it's very "CourtHouse/Town Hall Clock" style, so I think I might figure out if I can make it sequence a countdown until show start

Skymaster said:

And now thanks to @djgra79 he pointed out it's very "CourtHouse/Town Hall Clock" style, so I think I might figure out if I can make it sequence a countdown until show start

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Cool idea. Now we know how you'll be sequencing New Years Eve

ryanschristmaslights said:

Cool idea. Now we know how you'll be sequencing New Years Eve

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Ahhh I didn't even think of NYE!!!!
More homework! But a very good thought

Part 1: Halloween Chnages
Well, I waited a bit to at least have some things finished before doing some posting.

Halloween additions:
1. Jack
2. Sally
These are larger then I expected.

3. Add two more poor man pixel poles
4. Add 4 Spiders to the top of 4 pmpp
5. Add 5 bats to the top of 4 pmpp
6. Replace zombie flakes with spider Webs and add 2 more

7. Add in 2 small fans

8. Add in 4 new ghosts.
9. Add in two new P5 Tombstones

10. Trying to put the Spooky Tree out this year for the first time.
11. Remove pumpkins from show this year.

If things go well it will look almost like this. There will be NO pumpkins on the roof, I'm not using them but just moved them there to sequence just in case I need to put them out somewhere.


I'll make a part 2 for Christmas.

Part 2: Christmas

To be honest my Christmas show has come close to being filled out. There are a lot less adjustments for this year.

1. Adding in 2 GE King Diamonds
2. Adding in 5 small fans to fill in under triple arches
3. Adding 2 more poor man pixel poles. (Also used during Halloween)

Optional: If I get energetic enough. A little more time to finalize though.

Possibly add items to top of poor man pixel poles.
Adding in 2 column matrixes (Been thinking of this for 2 years now)
Adding in a second smaller Megatree (Most likely wait until next year)

Tomorrow marks the 3rd anniversary of my first pixel show order. (Yes, I did start show orders on Sept 26, 2021, and yes, by Dec 19 I had a fine show going, but also, no, I don't think you should do that if you were considering it.)

Now I do a Halloween show too. It may seem crazy that it is September already, but if you do a Halloween show you feel it twice as bad!

The first BTS change is in the networking. I had been using 3 10/100 networks, these were driven by USB dongles that headed out of the show laptop in 3 different directions (toward the attic, toward the porch, and toward the yard).

This year I wanted to be prepared for Colorlight cards (spoiler - I don't have them working yet), so I put in 1Gbps... actually it's a 2.5Gbps switch off the PC that heads at 1Gbps or 2.5Gbps in the original 3 directions. So it is cleaner, let's hope it works. The second change is that I'm improving the controllers a bit, upgrading smart receivers to BBB-based 16-port controllers, putting in some 32-port controllers where there were 16-port, that sort of thing. I have 2 additional brands, Experience and Baldrick, joining the existing menagerie of Hinks, Kulp, Falcon, Wally's, Alphapix, and RPi. Some of the Hinks are getting upgraded to V3 boards to see if they go a little faster, especially for the ones used in a 48-port configuration.

So, what's going to be new that people see?

I'm trying to branch out a bit in props, toward some stuff that isn't just bullets in coro.
I'm excited about:
The ChromaGlow stones from Boscoyo
The P5 tombs from Boscoyo/Wired Watts
Big mini lights (see pic above, the 3D printer that printed them is new this year also)
Some seed pixel projects - 1600 pixel mini trees and a replacement large web
A few things from Mattos, Kraken something or the other and some RGB Decor, but I have forgotten the details and we'll have to see what's in the box when it shows up (later today?).

That said, I did pick up a few plain coro items. From EFL I have lamp posts, a snow globe, showstopper mini trees, Spiral-X trees, a Tune To Radio, and some large NSR canes. From GE I got flying bat (junior), rosa tombs, and some Flake Ns. I got a bit tired of the zombie flakes and picked up some spiders and small webs from CCC to take their place, then ended up adding instead of replacing. Then, because that left a spot in the Christmas layout, I ordered a couple Sarah Diamond and 24" EFLakes.

I have a few new sequences (as is the case most years). The ones I am personally excited about (vs ones I'm excited to be adding for other people / crowd pleasers):
The Shower Scene - BF Light shows
I Don’t Wanna Wait - Blinky Sequences
What a Wonderful World - Fairy Pixel Dust
Puppini Sisters - Jolly Jingle Sequences
Gasoline - Livermore Lights
White Rabbit - LoE Sequences
Harder to Breathe - Magical Light Shows
Love Potion Number Nine - Pixel Pro Displays
It's No Good - Pixels Sequence Pros
I'll Kill You That Way - Pixel Perfect Sequences
Abracadabra - RGB Displays
Bon Jovi - Have A Nice Day - RGB Sequences
Werewolves of London - Sequence Solutions
I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas - Showstopper (2024 Update, w/ storyline tree + matrix from elsewhere)
The Twelve Pains of Christmas - Spectacle of Light
Runnin' With The Devil - Visionary
Ghostbusters and Bad Peach - Vivid
Burning Down The House - xTreme Sequences

There's a wildcard here, I think the EZRGB "Jingle Bells Batman Smells" is cute and the idea is neat, but it might take some work to get it to do well on my layout. Hopefully that project comes a long a bit before the season really starts, could be a real time-saver.

Last year I used Remote Falcon for the time between Christmas and New Years, but I think I'll leave it on all season this time, people liked it.

Last year I gave away a few things for Halloween (candy, small toys, RF wands) and Christmas (candy canes, RF wands). I'd like to mix it up a bit this year but haven't settled on a plan.

As for things I still didn't get around to:
Panels to replace the strip matrix
Using the pile of seed pixels I got for a mega tree or a cube
So long live 2025...

How is everyone's show going, did you make or install anything over the weekend?

Setup is under way over here, with three pencil pines decorated with bullet pixels. Despite carefully storing them away after last Christmas they got into a bit of a tangle during installation. Who knows, maybe for next year I'll change these to use mega tree mounting strips to simplify setup (or not, we'll see - the current method looks nicer in the day time).

Well, my weekend is over and I did not get as far as I wanted. The first floor is setup and I turned on lights last night for fun. The second floor is 75-80% done and only need to put up my 5 window frames and then plug everything in so that will be Monday for sure. I hope by t he end of the week that I have most of the rest of it out and working. For the lawn I will set my center props first, hide the main controller behind them and then start hooking everything else up and see where we finish.

And we have our first pixel casualty! MY lower eaves goes right to left and it seems like only the first 10 want to work now. I have a test image that shows them all working when I first installed them. Oh well.