Are these LED strip pixel lights? (What are they?)

[Joshaaye]

Hey (again)

So I'm researching the type of lights and the overall type of look I'm wanting for next years display and I love this sort of look. The house outlined and maybe a mega tree and some other smaller features. My questions is though, the lights that are used here (ignoring the icycles) do they appear to be LED strip's to get such clean lines etc?

I remember seeing a video posted here saying to possibly stay away from LED strips? But im not sure if that was because the video was aimed at starting your display so close to Christmas or if they're just a really bad idea?


I'm also curious about these arches. I know you can buy arches, but continuing with the LED strip discussion, would I better off making my own arches (Should I use string lights or LED strip in the arch?) or am I better off just buying arches?


Thanks!

 

[OzAz]

They look a bit like LED Strip, but tree could be pixels on boscoyo strip
Strip is Ok as long as its secured to a flat surface and can't move around, it's harder to repair than pixels strings hence why the saying "friends don't let friends buy strip"
Hard to tell from the pic, but the arches could be what's called air seeder hose, a translucent semi-rigid plastic pipe. There's a few threads on here how to make them. Strip works ok in that too as it doesn't move around and has extra weather protection.

 

[Joshaaye]

Oh okay, cheers @OzAz so what would you personally recommend for nice, simple clean lines to get a similar effect as the house in the 1st picture? Pixel strings with the boscoyo strip? or?

 

[BBQNinja]

Conduit.
I'm only a newbie so haven't got the experience of many of these guys, but attaching strips to conduit with cable ties worked great for me last year. I cut 100mm sections of the same conduit in a bit less than half long ways to make a clip. So all my conduit strips can be clipped in and out as needed which [hopefully] will help with extending the life.
They survived so far but only been 3 months so far (Oct - Feb).

I see many suggestions for ChromaTrim (attached to conduit) which I will be using as soon as my strips fail, which it sounds like they will (mine are under eves so hoping for 1 more season)

I also got the Air seeder hose from VIC for my arches. Pretty expensive for my budget but well worth it. Tried many cheaper options but nothing I found has come close. Fitting perfectly to the 32mm conduit couplings makes design simple too.

Disclaimer: Just my first year and sharing my experiences of getting started. I was on a budget to see how the neighbourhood/wife took it. Only 6x ESP8266 (WLED) and xlights. Just a house outline and arches.
Will be going for it with a Falcom V4 + this year. Soo addicted now. Already started planning

Too much info? Sorry

 

[algerdes]

Blowing the photo up leads me to believe they are pixels attached to a substrate (pipe, coro, etc.). The individual lights seem to be further away from each other than a strip would be.

We have been able to achieve the same effect by putting 12mm pixels in 1/2" rope light channel. (An example is: https://www.aqlightinggroup.com/rop...MIl9Cy3qLs7gIVv__jBx2ABgFREAAYASAAEgI8sfD_BwE) The rope light channel keeps the pixels perfectly straight. It also affords the ability to do repairs like any other nodes instead of having to work with strips.

 

[i13]

Strips always look more diffused in photographs and videos. In real life, they are a neat row of LEDs.

I've found the 12V WS2811 strips to be reasonably reliable even when not mounted. I just have to be careful not to step on them, let them blow around in the wind or kink them. There's occasionally a failure (repairable) but I've had a better run than most people describe. A few of the strips that were in my 2020 display have been used since 2015 without being mounted. There's the occasional pixel that's lost its red but that doesn't bother me. My 5V WS2812B strips didn't last long but I positioned them where they moved more in the wind. They could have been a bad batch.

I'd be confident that 12V WS2811 strips would last just fine when mounted. It's important to get a few things right. I prefer the strip in silicone sheath over the strip with resin coating. It feels flimsier than you'd expect but the sheath doesn't deteriorate in the sun. If you mount the strip with cable ties, be careful not to make them too tight. I've heard that the sheath can split if it gets pinched too hard. Another thing to check is that the supplier used enough silicone glue on each end. My older strips from Ray Wu have more than enough but I've had to add extra in recent years because he didn't use enough.

The statement that 12V is inefficient doesn't apply to strips. The common 12V WS2811 strips use three RGB LEDs per pixel in order to use the extra power. This means the compromise is pixel density instead of power consumption. IMO it doesn't matter for a roof outline but it might for a tree.