Hi from Glenmore Park NSW

[Jason 74]

Hi everyone I have been hoping to come across an Aussie site like this for a while now, its awsome, a little about me lol, My name is Jason I've been setting up christmas lights for my kids and the neighbourhood for nearly 9 years now and have gone through many phases but I now want to get into the whole christmas light show, I have given away most of my old light strings, blow moulds and blow ups and want to re-focus on LED's lights, wire framing FM transmitter and looking at Light O Rama control boxes to make it all go WOW !!! As I'm new to this side of things i need to find out where to get cheap strings of LED lights that can be connectable or spliced and all the info i need to create a great display then of course the big 1 the controller, of course like anything new i will start small then build up so any help would be very welcome and greatly appreciated.
Looking forward to chatting with you in the forums.
Thanks
Jason

 

[Beacy]

Welcome, you in the right place to get the info you need but before you go spend your money on LOR have a look around the site there are other options that may be to your liking that may be more cost effective depending on how DIY you are.


There are many options for both lights and controllers, drop into chat most of the time there will be someone there to answer your questions

 

[Superman]

Welcome Jason.

Here's a good place to start.

http://auschristmaslighting.com/forums/index.php/board,51.0.html

Although LOR is a option many of us also do different levels of DIY stye controllers and there are many different paths you can take.

Please Feel free to drop into Chat and see whats going on and ask plenty of Questions.

Hope to see you soon.

 

[aussiexmas]

Hi Jason
Welcome to the ACL forums.

While many of the members here are dedicated DIY light enthusiasts, there are also quite a few Light-o-Rama users - this includes me. I bought my first LOR boards about 6-7 years back and they are still going strong. At that stage, 240V AC boards were all that were available, but in recent years, I have been expanding using more and more DC boards which are ideally suited to the Aussie low voltage light strings, (After you throw away the transformers and controllers that is).

Regarding cheap LEDs, the Big W connectable strings and icicles are reasonable value and in my experience, more reliable than some others. At this time of year, there are few sales. Watch out for the cheap e-bay LED lights from China - many of these are 240V and not suitable for outside use.

Welcome again - Geoff

 

[Jason 74]

Thankyou for the welcome and the replies
I think i will look into the DC setup Geoff thankyou only need to have a good look at the Big W lights and how to get rid of the controller and then settle on what type of controllers to use I think a little more research is needed.

 

[aussiexmas]

Hi again Jason

I run my Big W strings and icicles via a LOR DC board supplied with 30V DC. For a power supply, I use a 27V 350W power supply like these http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/27V-DC-13A-350W-Regulated-Switching-Power-Supply-/250672020078?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a5d377a6e The 27V supply will adjust between about 24 and 30V. These supplies are available from a number of suppliers including Ray Wu. http://www.aliexpress.com/fm-store/701799/209855560-431656111/AC-DC-Switching-Power-Supply-with-85-to-265V-Input-Voltage-27V-350W-output-CE-approved.html

The Big W 200 led starter packs (and extension sets) can be joined end to end at least to 600 bulb lengths using the plugs included. The controller is on the extension lead and can be cut off and discarded. The common wire (opposite the locating spiggoit in the plugs) is +ve while the other 2 wires are -ve and correspond to the 2 channels in the string. Just connect the common to the +ve output on the LOR board, and the other 2 wires to 1 or 2 -ve channels on the LOR board. Note that all +ve outputs on the LOR DC board are common.

Best regards Geoff

 

[fasteddy]

Welcome to ACL Jason, glad to see another from NSW. Im sure you will get all the knowledge you require to have a great show, you maybe pushing to get something done for this year, but nothing stopping you dipping your toes in. Feel free to post in the forum or drop into the chat room as there are many very helpful members always willing to help.

 

[jeromej]

Hi Jason

Welcome to the site.
You have come to the right place for all the info you will need

This is my first year of building the lights displays as well, and all the guys on the site are so helpfull.

I have gone down the LOR path this year.
Mainly due to the plug and play nature of their products. There are alot of other DIY options out there you could chose from and alot cheaper.
However if you want to get a display up and running this year, with the amount of time that is left l think the LOR option will be the quickest way.

I plan to add more of the DIY options next year once l get this year under my belt and build up my knowledge.
Don't hesitate to ask any question that you may have.

Good luck

 

[Jason 74]

Thanks Fasteddy and jeromej
I've been snooping around picking up bits and pieces and have introduced myself to a few of the members through the chat room and yes they are all very helpful its fantastic.
Thanks Jason.

 

[SmartAlecLights]

hi an welcome jason, good to see more in nsw sign up
pop inti chat if you want help with anything or just general gossip