help on wiring up a pumpkin patch

mjd430

New elf
Joined
Sep 17, 2021
Messages
2
Hello,
I'm new to the lighting world and have only dabbled a little in pixels and controllers. I'm looking to create a pumpkin patch in my yard that will have about 90-100 carved foam pumpkins scattered throughout my yard. I'd like to light up each pumpkin with either the same color or different color. How would I go about wiring that up? Each pumpkin will be scattered and won't have the same space between each one so I'm not sure how to make that work. I attached a picture of what I'm looking to do. I'd greatly appreciate any help!

Thanks!
 

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LawrenceDriveLights

Senior elf
Joined
Jan 16, 2018
Messages
581
Firstly need to decide which type of lights you want to use to get your desired effect.

A few pixels (mounted in some sort of puck like these https://www.extremelightingdisplays.com.au/shop/christmas/decorations-props/chromapuck-mini/) in each pumpkin would probably get your decent results.

Or you could try some of these modules in each pumpkin (https://www.aliexpress.com/store/gr...a2g0o.store_pc_home.pcShopHead_11400377.1_2_9)

Or try some waterproof 5050 SMD rgb led modules.

Or a floodlights in each one (prob overkill but you could try the brightness level down).

The big challenge regarding lights is going to obtain them prior to Halloween, so a USA based re-seller / vender would be an option (however they prob only keep normal pixels so then goes back to the first option using pixels and a coro puck to mount them in, or flood lights).

Next thing to consider is there will be lots of wiring connections / adding leads between each of these pixels to daisy chain them together.

Then need to consider a pixel controller / PSU's enclosure etc.

Next the easy part setting up in xLights

Import the above picture into xLights ad use as you background image

Then you could model each pumpkin as a pixel / group of pixels depending of which lights you choose

Looks like a interesting project and lots of options to get the outcome you want, and these just my quick thoughts and others may have better ideas for this
 

Indigogyre

Journeyman Elf
Generous elf
Joined
Jun 26, 2021
Messages
420
Hello and welcome! I'm new and this will be my first year doing pixels also and think that is a cool look.

The first thing to come to mind is to use premade small bundles of pixels for peace stakes. they have pigtails on both ends and you can keep chaining them together. The nice thing is that with 5 pixels per bundle you can do some different things with them besides a simple color if you eventually want to do that.

I've actually bought these and have ten of the 5 pixel bundles chained together with five of the 13 pixel bundles. Here is a link to the test I did of the peace stake bundles. My skills are poor but it was just to test everything together.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZYryyZv7aE


10 of these

5 of these

You can run them off of several different types of controllers also depending on your budget from multiple smaller controllers to a large controller for all of them.

I have some of the Quin LED DigUno and DigQuads that I used for testing and small things.

My light show is going to run off of a Falcon F16v4 controller.

There are a lot of other controllers out there but these are what I am familiar with. At this point of the year I would recommend looking for anything in stock that you can use. There are a lot of things being delayed due to shipping to vendors and you should order quickly as you can due to stock items running out.

Other will eventually chime in but good luck!

Dean
 

i13

Dedicated elf
Joined
Jul 5, 2013
Messages
1,172
My thinking here is that 12V modules would be a better option than 12V nodes. The modules typically have three LEDs connected in series to use the 12V more efficiently. The nodes waste the extra voltage and power with resistors or a regulator. In other words, you can expect a 12V module to produce three times more light than a 12V node for the power that it consumes. You may as well maximise your light output per power supply.

From the initial post here, I don't know whether computer control is required. If so, I would suggest something like this: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/326...store_pc_allProduct.8148356.61.859f2316eBFgXz
This option needs the controller (e.g. a Falcon F16v4) and software (e.g. xLights). The choice of controller depends on your specific requirements and future plans.

If these are just going to be steady on, I would suggest using single colour or dumb RGB modules that otherwise look similar to those in the link above. I'd grab a link but AliExpress is no longer cooperating. I'll try again soon and post a link if I can get one. These would be simple to set up once you have the wiring done - just provide DC power and they'll turn on. No software or controller is required unless you want to switch or fade them on and off independently from the power source. Dumb RGB would allow you to choose a colour by independently connecting the red, green and/or blue to power but it will stay that colour unless you get a dumb controller. I question the feasibility of this controller type in the pictured setup due to the excessive amount of cables that would be required to implement it.

Regardless of the type of module, you'll also need to choose some cable to run between the pumpkins and/or supply the power to them. Shorter and thicker runs of cable mean less voltage drop. Thicker wire on the modules themselves is a good idea but as long as it handles the current, it should be okay. The reason that this is less critical is because the wire attached to the modules is a short length and voltage drop happens over distances.

You're aiming high if you want to achieve this before Halloween this year, especially if you do want computer control. There's no harm in trying because it'll be ready for next year regardless.
 

mjd430

New elf
Joined
Sep 17, 2021
Messages
2
Firstly need to decide which type of lights you want to use to get your desired effect.

A few pixels (mounted in some sort of puck like these https://www.extremelightingdisplays.com.au/shop/christmas/decorations-props/chromapuck-mini/) in each pumpkin would probably get your decent results.

Or you could try some of these modules in each pumpkin (https://www.aliexpress.com/store/gr...a2g0o.store_pc_home.pcShopHead_11400377.1_2_9)

Or try some waterproof 5050 SMD rgb led modules.

Or a floodlights in each one (prob overkill but you could try the brightness level down).

The big challenge regarding lights is going to obtain them prior to Halloween, so a USA based re-seller / vender would be an option (however they prob only keep normal pixels so then goes back to the first option using pixels and a coro puck to mount them in, or flood lights).

Next thing to consider is there will be lots of wiring connections / adding leads between each of these pixels to daisy chain them together.

Then need to consider a pixel controller / PSU's enclosure etc.

Next the easy part setting up in xLights
.
Import the above picture into xLights ad use as you background image

Then you could model each pumpkin as a pixel / group of pixels depending of which lights you choose

Looks like a interesting project and lots of options to get the outcome you want, and these just my quick thoughts and others may have better ideas for this
Thank you everyone for your answers. You've definitely given me some good info.

If I wanted to go with using the coro pucks and use 5 pixels in each pumpkin, how would I go about getting the 5 pixels for each pumpkin? Would I buy a strand of pixels and cut them up and solder on connectors at each end? That's the part I wasn't sure about. When it comes to the controller and xlights I'm good there. I just wasn't sure how to "break" up the lights for each pumpkin and connect them in between each one and then get them back to the controller.

Thanks again!
 

i13

Dedicated elf
Joined
Jul 5, 2013
Messages
1,172
You can do that however you want to. You can cut up a strand of pixels and solder connectors or longer lengths of wire between them. Some pixel sellers will do this for you if you ask for it. There is a limit to the length of cable that you can have from one pixel to the next before the signal goes corrupt between the two pixels. Looking at the picture of the pumpkins, I don't think you'll reach this limit if you daisy chain the signal between neighbouring pumpkins. There is no limit to the total length of cable in a run of pixels as long as no two adjacent pixels are too far apart. You also can't exceed the maximum number of end-to-end pixels supported on one controller output.

Thanks for clarifying that you want computer control. The link in my last post in this thread is an example of a suitable module. I don't need to find the other link.
 
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