G'day and thanks for the warm welcome

[BrendanW]

My story is likely to be familiar to many. Love Christmas and lighting up the house and now that I've recently become a grandfather I want to start stepping it up a bit. I figure if I start now I can slowly build up and by the time the grand kids are old enough I will have a nice display for them. So I'm starting from the very beginning, at the moment I have no equipment but i do have a reasonable electronics aptitude so building, soldering and programming are all things I can do.

I'm looking to start this season with a small system that either works or needs only minor repairs/modifications to bring online, any guidance and lessons learned will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks all, I'm looking forward to seeing what I can put together for this year

 

[Zuseleets]

Welcome Brendan. I think I replied to your FB post. Looking forward to see what you come up with.

 

[CargoLights]

Welcome! I think it's great that you're starting when your grandkids are being born. They'll grow up knowing that Grandpa's house is the Christmas light house their whole lives.

I may not be the best person for advice; I thought I'd move into pixels slowly and just phase out my old AC lights, then I went full pixels in year 1 and donated all my AC lights to a place that does a display for a charity. So be careful. Like any hobby, this one can be a bit intoxicating and a lot addicting, and unless you have set constraints on yourself it's easy to get carried away. Or be like the rest of us and don't be careful; we won't judge.

There is a LOT to learn, but I'd recommend starting with a single prop or element that gets you excited. Having success getting one thing that you really like running can do more to motivate you than getting an entire display running with a basic outline and a few props.

 

[bpratt]

Welcome to the community Brendan (at least you spell it the right way like me).

As suggested, start with something small, as that way you will achieve something which will then give you confidence at expanding things further and further.

Above everything feel free to ask us all questions, as that's how you'll learn quicker.

 

[Skymaster]

Welcome to ACL Brendan!

It's Mini Season at the moment - get-togethers of like-minded folk to discuss all things blinky.
See if you can get along to one of those, you will learn heaps and meet some cool folk.
Brisbane has already passed; but Perth, Sydney, Townsville and Melbourne are all coming up within the next month.

The community is fantastic - everyone wants each other to have an amazing display and will be more than happy to share knowledge and tips to make sure your display is awesome.

 

[AAH]

Welcome to ACL.
If you're starting now you'll be an expert by 1st December for lights on.

 

[MikeKrebs]

I would suggest a pixel mega tree of 16 strands by 50 or 100 pixels. It will introduce you to many aspects of what a Christmas light show is about. You will have to order supplies (pixels, power, controllers, cases, pixel holders (in this case usually some type of plastic strap you push your pixels into)), build out the tree (pushing pixels, building the supports for the same), sequencing (what tells the pixels to so) and playing a show.

Without music, it is easy to build this out and you can just put nice effects on the mega tree for year one. If you are ambitious, get some music synced up with the tree and some way to play it and you will be well on the way. A mega tree is an easy startup in my mind but if you plot the future, you could start with any of the props you see on your house or in the yard.