Need info Help on Starting up a New Lighting Display

Hi All, i and looking for info on what i need and cost wise on setting up a lighting display i want the best and am going to go big but start small at first i want to know on were to buy all the led sprip lights and more ?
thank you rob,

Hey Robert

Welcome to the world of christmas lighting. A great place to start is the AusChristmasLighting 101 Manual
Thats where i started. I great way to get idea of the basics

hi szoka thanks i know all about setting up everything i just want to buy the right boxs and led strip light LOL

lights can be brought from china Ray Wu - https://www.aliexpress.com/store/701799, the buisness i use , but there are several others with good reputations
Control Boards are a personal choice here is link to spreadsheet with all the info http://nutcracker123.com/nutcracker/rgb_controllers/
IF starting up ,m y suggestion would be 12 volt lights and ws2811 lights and iNK 1003 in a matrix, as well as P10 panels, I run these and minimal problems- some over 4 years old.
I use advatek pixlite 16 boards- and have worked exceptionally well,
Peruse and discuss here or on the chat - always happy to help out.
cheers Boof63

thank you Boof63

hi, presently, the two boards that are the most popular for smart pixel control would be the Falcons and the pixlites. Falcons are sourced from the US usually by a bulk buy arrangement which has already occurred for this year. You can get them from the US directly but you need to use a shipto service as they don't ship to Aus directly.
Pixlites are in Melbourne and are a quality board although they lack some of the fancy stuff the the falcons will do. Both have great after sales service. ( i would avoid the Alpha pix as they appear to be a chinese clone of the pixlites and users are reporting mixed experiences with them). I can't speak about other boards like the LOR as I have no experiences with them.
Ray Wu is a good dealer, who seems to cater for our market well. Just remember to keep your orders under $1000Au or $uffer the customs wrath. any order from him will take a period of time (weeks ) to get here and he gets busy around the end of the year. always order extra for spares and sometime they vary from batch to batch.
You'll also need power supplies, a lot of people use the Ray Wu ones with no problems. I prefer to use quality, genuine Meanwell PSU's but I'm funny that way and am prepared to pay the extra. Avoid anything from ebay.

Read the 101 and jump into chat, always someone there to help

Cheers
Fing.

Hi robert as many have said ask in chat, read manual , watch videos , and just plain googling stuff is extremely important tool these days . Great too hear you want to start small very wise ! As we all see a mega tree or matrix or similar and we want. Im guilty ! I personally use ebay stuff power supplies lights everything always trying too save so far really no problem s have also bought from raywu but for larger order . I use all 12v and ws2811 strip and single nodes and thats seems enough too keep my crazy light lady happy . I always try to recommend to anyone starting out buy yourself a controller a power supply and 1 or more strips of lights you dont need to spend all your hard earn cash at once . Then wire them plug them in and start trying to control them ! I find it the best way to learn for me anyway I get lost listening too people . you can simply make a set of spiral trees using tomato planters from bunnings and pixel strip or leaping arches using electrical conduit and pixel strip reasonably cheap . As you may already know most of us use xlights or vixen software both certainly do the job myself am technology impaired lol even I can do it . Although struggle with vixen have used but am comfortable and confident with xlights . I feel anyone starting out now is a great time things have progressed in leaps and bounds over the last few years some stuff was basically impossible not long ago things definitely so so much easier and improving all the time . So have a go good luck if you like it then be prepared to want more and more and then spending lots of money !
Cheers

I agree with most of what was already said, except for the ebay comment by Fing. (no offence Fing)
While I don't buy lights from ebay, power supplies on the other hand I do. If I am looking for just a couple of power supplies, I can usually get them cheaper and with free shipping, so they work out a lot cheaper.
If however you plan on doing a sizeable order, then Ray Wu is the go and whack the supplies in that order as the combined shipping he will offer makes it worth while.
Just make sure you research prices when on ebay or aliexpress as the prices vary massively often for exactly the same item.
Ray Wu's pixels are from past experience better quality than a lot of the others so are usually worth the extra few bucks it might cost if you do find them cheaper.
waterproof plugs and sockets are one other thing that hasn't been mentioned yet and are a very important item for when setting up and packing up. The ray wu screw together ones are great and come in many pin configurations and a couple of sizes. Try to stick to standard across your display, ie use black for 12v and white for 5v or similar, it can save heartache in the future.
most important, have fun