mborg10
Michael Borg
Welcome to ACL. A mega tree is a big undertaking to pull off first go but is a great focal point for a show. Good luck
Hey! Hey!
- Thread starter Shaunc
- Start date
Bird
LOR user
to ACL Shaun
Like I said before, start with a bang...
I agree with i13 that it is a big undertaking and there is not long before xmas.
But if you can find the supplier that posts express post and sends the stuff straight away then it will only take a week or so to get here, You will need this to build the tree and then spend every night learning the software.
Don't give up!
Use the force
I agree with i13 that it is a big undertaking and there is not long before xmas.
But if you can find the supplier that posts express post and sends the stuff straight away then it will only take a week or so to get here, You will need this to build the tree and then spend every night learning the software.
Don't give up!
Use the force
Kitman
Full time elf
Hey Shaun,
Firstly welcome to ACL.
Secondly, what spacing you will use really depends on multiple factors, how tall you are going to have your tree, how wide your base is going to be.
For example are you going to have a tall thin tree, or a short fat tree, or tall and fat or short and thin. Depening on how much you flare the bottom will depend on how far apart the spacing will need to be for the base, also depends on if you are doing a 180 degree tree or a 360 or any of the degrees in between, it is really trial and error and what YOU are happy with, personally I will be deciding the spacing once I get mine up.
Hope that helps a little
Firstly welcome to ACL.
Secondly, what spacing you will use really depends on multiple factors, how tall you are going to have your tree, how wide your base is going to be.
For example are you going to have a tall thin tree, or a short fat tree, or tall and fat or short and thin. Depening on how much you flare the bottom will depend on how far apart the spacing will need to be for the base, also depends on if you are doing a 180 degree tree or a 360 or any of the degrees in between, it is really trial and error and what YOU are happy with, personally I will be deciding the spacing once I get mine up.
Hope that helps a little
http://www.altoonalights.com/mega/mega_calc.php
Try the above link. It will give you all the info you require.
Try the above link. It will give you all the info you require.
This conversation has got me inspired...
I said that it was a big task to build a mega tree but I believe it can be done.....
So, I have 8 lengths of pixels left over from an order I did. (I know I am cheating a little)
I have decided to put up or shut up. I am going to do a 2d tree approx. 4.5meters tall. (eventually I will replace all the strings on my dumb tree with pixels, so am using the same lengths)
I started it at around 5.00pm this afternoon.
I will let you know how I go!
so far, all the plastic coated wire cut to length and loop secured at one end (I ordered the turnbuckles but need to get them next week)
1 string of 50 pixels cable tied to the rope.
Only 7 more to go, then to wire them up!
I will program them into Vixen as if they are there, if I don't get them finished, only I will know... Oh and you
I said that it was a big task to build a mega tree but I believe it can be done.....
So, I have 8 lengths of pixels left over from an order I did. (I know I am cheating a little)
I have decided to put up or shut up. I am going to do a 2d tree approx. 4.5meters tall. (eventually I will replace all the strings on my dumb tree with pixels, so am using the same lengths)
I started it at around 5.00pm this afternoon.
I will let you know how I go!
so far, all the plastic coated wire cut to length and loop secured at one end (I ordered the turnbuckles but need to get them next week)
1 string of 50 pixels cable tied to the rope.
Only 7 more to go, then to wire them up!
I will program them into Vixen as if they are there, if I don't get them finished, only I will know... Oh and you
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kel
Dedicated elf
- Thread starter
- #24
Hi All
Thank you to all for the continued welcoming.
Thanks for the link Scamper, really helpful.
I guess I am at a point where I need to stop talking; start doing and fly by the seat of my pants. The plan:
Centre Pole: 4.8m
Diameter: ~3.0m
LED Pixels Per String: 50
String Length: 5.0m
Advice required:
- 90 LED Strings with base circumference spacing of 100mm; or
- 60 LED Strings with base circumference spacing of 150mm
- XX LED Strings - Your suggestions here.
The for:
90 Strings:
- better resolution on the tree = Awesome
60 Strings:
- Cheaper
The against:
90 Strings:
- More expensive
- More complicated
- More power
60 Strings:
- Lower resolution = Less Awesome
So, what would you all recommend? My preference would be the 90 strings but I am concerned about :
- The circumference at the top of the tree, I would like this to be as small a possible;
- Biting of more than I can chew, but I have faith that I can do it...by next Christmas...maybe...hopefully...possibly
Christmas 2017;
Also what would you all recommend to control and power such a tree? I find reading about all these controllers pretty good, but I find other peoples experiences and advice about things they have actually used more helpful.
Thank you in advance
Cheers
Shaun
Thank you to all for the continued welcoming.
Thanks for the link Scamper, really helpful.
I guess I am at a point where I need to stop talking; start doing and fly by the seat of my pants
. The plan:Centre Pole: 4.8m
Diameter: ~3.0m
LED Pixels Per String: 50
String Length: 5.0m
Advice required:
- 90 LED Strings with base circumference spacing of 100mm; or
- 60 LED Strings with base circumference spacing of 150mm
- XX LED Strings - Your suggestions here.
The for:
90 Strings:
- better resolution on the tree = Awesome
60 Strings:
- Cheaper
The against:
90 Strings:
- More expensive
- More complicated
- More power
60 Strings:
- Lower resolution = Less Awesome
So, what would you all recommend? My preference would be the 90 strings but I am concerned about :
- The circumference at the top of the tree, I would like this to be as small a possible;
- Biting of more than I can chew, but I have faith that I can do it...by next Christmas...maybe...hopefully...possibly
Christmas 2017;
Also what would you all recommend to control and power such a tree? I find reading about all these controllers pretty good, but I find other peoples experiences and advice about things they have actually used more helpful.
Thank you in advance
Cheers
Shaun
As you're planning to do this in future, keep an eye out for an F16v2 group buy. This is a controller that can support 10880 pixels at an exceptionally affordable price of about US $180. You can expand the number of outputs (but not the total number of pixels) with another board for US $50 too.
The exact controller you choose will affect the ideal number of pixels per string. For example if you use a PixLite 16 that supports 340 pixels per output then you could use 48 pixels per string - that way you'd be able to have 7 strings (336 pixels) per controller output. Just be aware that you'd be dividing the 4th string across two universes in this example. Another option would be to have 6 strings of 56 pixels per output. Numbers between 48 and 56 don't come as close to taking full advantage of the controller's capacity.
Still you need to consider the fact that one dud pixel can stop all pixels after it from working until you fix the problem. This could mean having a dozen strings stop if you choose to use the full potential of a controller with 680 pixels per output.
The exact choice of pixels is similarly a personal preference thing. My preference for a tree would be 5V WS2812B pixels. This is because they're all close together so the 3 wire pixels' reliability issues with distance shouldn't matter. 5V might have voltage drop problems but I would rather inject power instead of putting up with the inefficiency and product variability of 12V pixel strings. If you were using strip then there would be a different set of advantages and disadvantages. Only you can decide what you want to use and I'm sure there are other experienced forum members who would do it differently to me. Just learn the advantages and disadvantages before choosing for yourself.
I want to point out that I don't think 90 strings would be necessary although I haven't actually built a pixel tree. The reason I say this is that your horizontal spacing at the base would already match the vertical spacing between the pixels. When buying pixels with a certain spacing, specify that it is the centre-to-centre spacing you're referring to or it will be wrong. Order all of the pixels at once to avoid differences between orders. Get enough pixels for a few extra strings. I would wire it with a plug at both ends of each string so you can swap out any string if a pixel dies. Another reason to order extra pixels is to replace the bad pixels if this happens.
Once you have a good idea of what you want, post your shopping list on the forums and ask for feedback.
The exact controller you choose will affect the ideal number of pixels per string. For example if you use a PixLite 16 that supports 340 pixels per output then you could use 48 pixels per string - that way you'd be able to have 7 strings (336 pixels) per controller output. Just be aware that you'd be dividing the 4th string across two universes in this example. Another option would be to have 6 strings of 56 pixels per output. Numbers between 48 and 56 don't come as close to taking full advantage of the controller's capacity.
Still you need to consider the fact that one dud pixel can stop all pixels after it from working until you fix the problem. This could mean having a dozen strings stop if you choose to use the full potential of a controller with 680 pixels per output.
The exact choice of pixels is similarly a personal preference thing. My preference for a tree would be 5V WS2812B pixels. This is because they're all close together so the 3 wire pixels' reliability issues with distance shouldn't matter. 5V might have voltage drop problems but I would rather inject power instead of putting up with the inefficiency and product variability of 12V pixel strings. If you were using strip then there would be a different set of advantages and disadvantages. Only you can decide what you want to use and I'm sure there are other experienced forum members who would do it differently to me. Just learn the advantages and disadvantages before choosing for yourself.
I want to point out that I don't think 90 strings would be necessary although I haven't actually built a pixel tree. The reason I say this is that your horizontal spacing at the base would already match the vertical spacing between the pixels. When buying pixels with a certain spacing, specify that it is the centre-to-centre spacing you're referring to or it will be wrong. Order all of the pixels at once to avoid differences between orders. Get enough pixels for a few extra strings. I would wire it with a plug at both ends of each string so you can swap out any string if a pixel dies. Another reason to order extra pixels is to replace the bad pixels if this happens.
Once you have a good idea of what you want, post your shopping list on the forums and ask for feedback.
Hi Shaun,
I just played this game and built a 5m ( 7.5m to the top of the star) mega tree.
it has 36 strings around 270 degrees with each string having 50 nodes at 100mm centres. this equates to 48 strings for 360, trust me it is awesome at that resolution.
i used pixel strips to mount the nodes. these are 25 mm wide, so spaced at say 30mm at the top ring, 48 gives you a ring of about 532mm diameter.
these altogether weigh about 25+ kg so I used a hand winch to winch up the top ring.
I used a pixlite 16 controller mounted at the base, with 6 strings, 300 nodes per output, 6 outputs in total.
The Current for 1800 nodes at full white was calculated to be about 108 Amps at 5 volts. so i bought a high quality 600w power supply , if you increase your nodes or strings you will have to increase your power supplies as well.
For the base I used a 2.4m tramp base, although smaller than I had planned, it works well.
Cheers
Fing
[attachimg=1]
I just played this game and built a 5m ( 7.5m to the top of the star) mega tree.
it has 36 strings around 270 degrees with each string having 50 nodes at 100mm centres. this equates to 48 strings for 360, trust me it is awesome at that resolution.
i used pixel strips to mount the nodes. these are 25 mm wide, so spaced at say 30mm at the top ring, 48 gives you a ring of about 532mm diameter.
these altogether weigh about 25+ kg so I used a hand winch to winch up the top ring.
I used a pixlite 16 controller mounted at the base, with 6 strings, 300 nodes per output, 6 outputs in total.
The Current for 1800 nodes at full white was calculated to be about 108 Amps at 5 volts. so i bought a high quality 600w power supply , if you increase your nodes or strings you will have to increase your power supplies as well.
For the base I used a 2.4m tramp base, although smaller than I had planned, it works well.
Cheers
Fing
[attachimg=1]
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Welcome to ACL, you will find all the help and info you need here
about 10 feet.... this would keep it closer to the "golden ratio" of 1.62 ( google it lol)