Hello from another member in Melbourne Australia.

4

480hsv

New elf
Joined
Dec 22, 2020
Messages
21
Hi All.

I have been watching this forum for a while and decided to join.

I like most who first join this forum is new to the world of lighting displays and am really keen to get into this hobby for the following reasons.
1/ It puts a smile on my face when i see a display and it puts a smile on the faces of my little children who i hope one day reference this memory.
2/ Allows people to come and celebrate the lights (during christmas) and enjoy the holiday season.

For the past 2-3 years, i have been going past a light show close to me (in Taylors Hill Victoria) and am inspired to give this a shot for the 2021 Christmas season.
I have found the person running this light show in this forum but need to reach out and have a chat to them. I need to work out how to send a message.

I am in the process of reading through the 101 manual and trying to educate myself on what I'm wanting to achieve and how.
I have started a layout through xlights with the goal of starting small the first year and progressively adding each year.

Heres the wish list so far which is the end goal (for now and over multiple years).
- Leaping Arches x 3 (approx. 180 led strip for the 3 arches)
- Coro 180 degree Mini Trees x 5 (50 Pixel node version plus 20 for the star)
- Coro Candy Canes x 4 (99 pixel node version)
- Coro Snowflakes x 8 (12 inch 36 Pixel node version)
- 180 degree Mega Tree (approx. 600 pixel Nodes) (12 stands of 50 pixels)
- Singing Christmas Tree (252 Pixel nodes)
- Radio tune in Pixel Board (approx. 200 pixel nodes)
- Strip lighting for the roof and windows however I'm not sure where yet or length etc etc. That will be a WIP.
- FM transmitter

As for the hardware extreme lighting seems to be a decent choice for a lot of the props mentioned above and Ray Wu for the RGB lighting.
The aim is to use 12v and even though i am not going to build everything in the first year, i would like to somewhat try to purchase the correct hardware which will,, help when i eventually add props.
Based on what i have read and my limited knowledge to date. Here is what i have in my brain and need to know if im on the right track.

- Falcon F16v3 controller. (will this be enough? what else will i need beyond this? This is where i need help in determining how to connect the props to the controller. EG: do i run all the arches on one channel, and the mini trees on another)
- Meanwell LRS-350-12 power supplies. (Not sure how many i will need. Anyone willing to offer advice? I know most people run their shows at 30%, but people also say you should ensure you have enough power to run at 85-90%)
- CG-1500 (or similar enclosures)

- Now for the parts which im still trying to get my head around and still lack the knowledge.

- Power Injection. Seems most light shows require power injection at every 100 pixels. So is it a matter of just adding a power supply and running power to the particular pixel.
I have been watching all the videos and articles etc about where to add the power but wasn't sure if they all run to the same power supply and how all the wires connect up. I also am aware it depends how long the cable runs are etc which i still need to determine.

- Sequencing. I haven't even tried and until i work out the hardware side of things, i don't plan on getting into it till all the props, controllers, power etc is figured out.

- Cabling, cabling runs and gauge thickness. Again haven't got that far in to really determine what i really need or which thickness is right for my show.

- Dumb or smart pixels. I know what each does but is it worth just buying smart pixels for potential future proofing. If there's such a thing? What do most people do? dumb for the props and smart for the tree and arches? Does that impact other hardware i will need like controllers etc etc.

So so sorry for the long post but I've been wanting to post this for a long time and hoping to get something, even if its small up and running for Christmas 2021.
Hopefully i can make contact with the member from Taylors Hill and see first hand how it all works which im sure will help me with my knowledge.

Thankyou all in advance.
 
Thanks for posting the details. It is easier to give answers when you provide as much context as possible.

I remember there previously being a restriction which is that you can't send direct messages to other forum members until you've posted on the forum. This was implemented to stop spammers from creating accounts and sending spammy messages. If you try again now then it might work.

Dumb vs smart pixels: I'd stick with smart pixels and that's coming from someone who uses dumb controllers to run traditional LED strings. Pixel controllers are getting to the point where they support so many smart pixels that there aren't many reasons to choose dumb RGB. In my setup, I could include dumb RGB (and I previously did) but it is annoying because it runs at lower voltages than my traditional LED strings. I'd expect pixels to suffer slightly more from voltage drop than dumb RGB because they have fewer conducting wires. The flipside is that power injection to overcome this is much easier with pixels than with dumb RGB. I have working dumb RGB strips in storage that I haven't used since 2016 because I now have such a preference for pixels.

For pixel power injection, here's an example diagram. The controller could be powered by either of the power supplies or a different one. It makes no difference whether we're working with strips or nodes and the power supplies can be different voltages.

The required injection cable thickness can be calculated once we know the number and type of pixels and the distance to the power supply. I like to overengineer things and go thicker than needed. It's not too difficult to calculate the total voltage lost due to voltage drop in a lead-in cable by multiplying the length in metres (double it because the current travels in both directions to complete a circuit) by the current in amps and the resistance of the cable in ohms per metre. Being someone who likes to overengineer things, when using pixel strings, I like to order pixel strings with thick cable between each node.
 
Welcome to ACL. Regarding sequencing, download xlights (most popular) or vixen and play around. Both are free and powerful. Sequencing can take a bit of time getting used to and at least can be starting point of how you'd like things looking on your house.
 
I suspect the it's Minh Tuan that has the display you've been seeing. https://auschristmaslighting.com/members/minh-tuan.23125/
Hopefully you're not wanting to "get on the beers".
There's not much point getting dumb nodes these days. You can do so much more with pixels and last time I checked the dumb nodes were more expensive than the smart pixel nodes.
 
Many thoughts, many questions; a few thoughts from me.

"The aim is to use 12v ..." If you are thinking WS2811 bullets, the 12 Volt can be obtained as either Resistor or Regulated. The Regulated are more immune to voltage drop but are a bit more expensive.

"Falcon F16v3 controller. (will this be enough?" A rough count of pixels from above, yes. A Falcon F16v3 can drive 1024 pixels from its 16 ports which is slightly more than 16,000 pixels but loading the device that heavy will cause it to struggle to maintain them. To my knowledge, most individuals load somewhere around 800 pixels or less. The F16 can be expanded but pixels are shared across its ports.

"EG: do i run all the arches on one channel, and the mini trees on another)" Most likely possible; depends upon the number of pixels and distances between the props.

"Meanwell LRS-350-12 power supplies. (Not sure how many i will need." Can be calculated if you know the number of pixels, their type and how hard you will drive them. Formula I use is: NumberOfPixels * AmpPerPixel100%White * DriveLevel = Amperage. The AmpPerPixel for a WS2811 is somewhat .055 Amp 100% White. Other pixels will have slightly different values. From this you can determine how many supplies a display will need. However, a strings amperage requirements do not always fit to a particular quantity of supplies which then means adding another supply. Too, sometimes a larger supply is better than a greater quantity of smaller supplies.

"Power Injection." Bill Porter at the VCS2020 had a good video regarding power injection. It can be found on YouTube. Being new, the first time through your eyes will probably water, watch, absorb/contemplate, and re-watch it.

"I also am aware it depends how long the cable runs are etc which i still need to determine." Calculating necessary AWG sizes and possible cable lengths is not entirely straight forward but they can be calculated.
 
480hsv said:
- Falcon F16v3 controller. (will this be enough? what else will i need beyond this? This is where i need help in determining how to connect the props to the controller. EG: do i run all the arches on one channel, and the mini trees on another)
- Meanwell LRS-350-12 power supplies. (Not sure how many i will need. Anyone willing to offer advice? I know most people run their shows at 30%, but people also say you should ensure you have enough power to run at 85-90%)
Click to expand...

Welcome aboard pixel lighting.

Guessing that you're on a regular residential block, with all your proposed props reasonably close together.

F16v3 should be all you need based upon your list of props

That said, you may wish to get a differential board (and smart receivers) for the f16v3, so that you can connect up some props a bit further away with their own power supply. That of course means an extra power supply for it to added to your meanwell psu list. :)

Do you have a street light in front of your house ? ... if not, you can get by quite easily with 30% brightness.

Good luck, don't be afraid of asking shedloads of questions here.
 
Thankyou to all the replies and information. Yes going through all the details now and absorbing all the finer details. I will continue to work on the design and learn about power supplies, controllers etc. My front yard is approx 5 meters from the front garden to the actual house so will work out power requirements etc based on that. Let the fun begin.

Thanks brat, I won't be shy to ask questions.
 
AAH said:
I suspect the it's Minh Tuan that has the display you've been seeing. https://auschristmaslighting.com/members/minh-tuan.23125/
Hopefully you're not wanting to "get on the beers".
There's not much point getting dumb nodes these days. You can do so much more with pixels and last time I checked the dumb nodes were more expensive than the smart pixel nodes.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that. I have made contact with the member from Taylors Hill. It wasn't Minh. But the member was fantastic and i have gone and seen his setup which has helped me a lot in understanding how a show is setup.

Based on his information and setup, I feel more confident in trying to get a show going and he has offered to help given we live very close to each other.
 
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