Christmas Tree idea

[burner]

Last christmas I used 2400 left of BigW Blue lights to create 8 strands of a half circle xmas tree. It was hooked into the AVD48 for some effects. It ran up to a star on the balcony and was secured with 3mm S.S coated wired anchored to the ground with pegs and cable tied to the balcony at the top.

After seeing some of the cool stuff done withthe RGB tree's I'm looking at building a similar design except with 16 strands.

So far, I'm looking to get:

1 * J1sys P12R (2040 pixels).
2 * 5v 350 Watt PSU's.
13 * http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/5m-WS2811-LED-digital-strip-60leds-m-with-30pcs-WS2811-built-in-the-5050-smd-rgb/701799_653641294.html
These will be cut to 4m lengths which will give 120 pixels per strand and 1920 pixels all up

Can anyone confirm if this will work o.k. or if there is a better method? As for viewing angle, the tree will be setback 3.0m from the fence at the base working towards 4m to the balcony. It will be in the centre of a 20m frontage. Not too sure yet on the mounting whether to go all conduit or steel flat bar. The conduit may get a little fiddly at the top. I still want to keep the half circle and not go full flat.

 

[labrat88]

Hi Burner

How did you go with your tree idea. I'm only just getting back into Christmas lights again after last year. It was all a bit much towards the end but the effort was worth it.
Last year I used 24 of these strings on a 4.7m tree (led pixel module,LPD6803,DC5V input,IP68;50pcs a string)
I used 2 x 350w 5v PSU and drove them with a P12 (All housed in an ABS plastic instrument case with fans for exhaust). Cat5 input, 12 x 5v power out , 12 x data/power out.
2 strings were connected together (eg 12 x 100 pixels per string) and Power injected from the other end in zig zag pattern to create 24 visible strands on the tree.
I spaced the strands 2 thirds of the way around the tree.
The big issue I had was with the quality of the strings, particularly waterproofing. Water ingress was a problem causing eradic performance after storms. I am looking to a solution with similar strips to the ones you have listed to solve the water issue and create more visible light.
All in all the only changes I am looking at are waterproof strips instead of strings, only going 180 degrees on the tree to improve compactness and effect. Of course, any suggestions are greatfully received and I would be interested in others comments on the type of strip you would reccomend.

 

[burner]

I finished building my tree over the weekend (on the floor). I used everything mentioned above and created a 20 strip * 3.3m tall tree. All up I used 4 universes on the J1sys P12r.
Here's more info on what it looks like: http://auschristmaslighting.com/forums/index.php/topic,4278.0.html

I plan on mounting it to the balcony at the front of the house, but just trying to work out if I'll be using 25mm data conduit or if I should get curtin rod to save on the bulkynesss towards the top where the strips will meet.