15 foot MEGA Tree Plans?

Rohan Tait

New elf
Joined
Jan 7, 2016
Messages
6
Location
Sydney
Hey Guys

I need some help with my 15 foot mega tree that I am building this year.

Plans:
- 15 foot high
- Built out of aluminium
- Either use smart pixels or warm white lights depending on if I get the right length and cost

How big should the base be? 7.5 foot wide?!

How long should the spacing be between each light set be?

How many lights should I have?

(By the way I'm running a light show)

Thanks guys :)

(Sorry for being a noob)
 

Karob

Let there be Light!
Joined
Dec 28, 2010
Messages
211
Location
Mawson Lakes, South Australia
Hi Rohan


Firstly you don't need to apologise for being a noob, we all started somewhere.


There is a couple different Mega Tree calculators around the internet that you can use to calculate sizes.


http://www.altoonalights.com/mega/mega_calc.php


A lot of your choices will depend on your budget and type of lights you want to use, Personally Pixels would be my choice as they offer more choice when sequencing and also the for the wow factor, but saying that depending on your budget this may not be the way to go.


Do you know what type of lights you want, strip or nodes?


Rob
 

i13

Dedicated elf
Joined
Jul 5, 2013
Messages
1,172
Hi Rohan

Are you planning on a flat tree, a 180 degree tree, a 360 degree tree or something else?

When I built my 360 degree mega tree, I put the centre pole upright and used watering system pipe to make an adjustable size ring to get an idea of what sized ring looked in proportion. I wouldn't recommend watering system pipe for the final construction (too flimsy) but it works well as a way to measure and visualise the tree's dimensions. If you're making a 360 degree tree then I suspect it will look a bit skinny if the base is 7.5 feet across. 7.5 feet might look fine if it is a flat tree.

I can't seem to view links to the mobile version of Aliexpress on a computer. All I can see is the title of the listing on Firefox and nothing on Internet Explorer. If it's Ray Wu then I wouldn't recommend 12V nodes because his often draw around 18mA per colour instead of 10mA. This is wasteful and causes more voltage drop. Personally I prefer 5V especially for large pixel counts in a small area; it suffers from voltage drop too but it doesn't waste so much power. The voltage is a personal preference but there is a good thread about 5V versus 12V to help you decide here http://auschristmaslighting.com/forums/index.php/topic,2595.0.html
You could try asking Ray if he has any 12V nodes that draw 10mA per colour which is 30mA per pixel. They're not quite as bright but they'll use less power and have much less voltage drop so they're easier to work with. Regardless of which pixel type, they all seem much brighter than ordinary LED strings. Power injection is used to overcome voltage drop problems.

Getting the right length won't be a problem with pixels. You can ask Ray for whatever spacing you want and he gets it pretty close. Remember to specify that it is the centre-to-centre spacing or he'll get it wrong.

You'll also need to get a controller. If you choose pixels then I'd recommend the F16v2 although I don't own one. It is exceptionally good value for money. It is only available in group buys and there is one that closes at the end of the month here http://auschristmaslighting.com/forums/index.php/topic,8426.0.html
The choice of pixel controller can influence the most efficient number of pixels per string due to the number of supported pixels per output.

No problem with being new either. I'm always happy to see a new member of this community.
 
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