Hi from the bottom of Canberra

HarryIX

HarryIX

New elf
Joined
Aug 13, 2021
Messages
3
Hi All,
This will be my 5th year dabbling in Christmas lights, and it’s taken me that long to find this site.

So far my house looks like a metal scrap yard during the day time – with half trampolines on their side as arches, and a second tamp acting as a base for a 6m tall flagpole Christmas tree. At night, I think it looks alright, and has encouraged some neighbours to splash out some colour.

This year I’m planning to up my game – which is why I’ve come here. I’ve ordered a DMX2-18 to try to begin to simultaneously control some of my lights. I understand this will only control 9 strands, but I think that fits with my learning curve. I plan on stealing my son’s Raspberry Pi to drive the thing. Asides from a power supply, and actually programming xlights or Vixen, am I missing any other hardware?

I’ve attached some pictures of what Christmas 2020 looked like.



Thanks
Harry IXIMG_20201208_213319600.jpgIMG_20201206_215517859.jpg
 
Looks good! Dmx2-18 works very well for controlling the 2 wire lights, there's also 30 channel controller (15 strings) that runs on the ws2811 protocol http://www.hansonelectronics.com.au/product/2811dc2-30/

I run mine in 18 channel mode so I get the orange/red and green/blue channels and have had people ask me numerous times where I got my lights that could do those colours.

First photo, is that something hanging from a street light? Looks very nice.
 
Hi HarryIX and welcome to ACL

I am also in Canberra and I converted the traditional LED strings in my display to computer control with DMX. The biggest pain point was that the original plugpacks on the light sets were slightly different voltages; I am now using central power supplies. The solution for me was to test and modify the light sets so that they run at the same voltage as each other. Starting with nine strands was a good idea for this year considering that we're now in September. The first year of computer control is the most challenging but very rewarding. Once you have something working, that gives you a setup to add to.

One thing that you will need is a source of DMX signal. I'm not hugely familiar with the Raspberry Pi; hopefully someone here will clarify whether it can output DMX and how. As far as I know, your options are to use an E1.31 to DMX bridge (most pixel controllers have at least one built in) or a USB dongle connected to the Raspberry Pi (not sure how well this option works in practice but hopefully someone else has tried it and can comment).

Assuming that you have a Windows computer, this can run the show without a Raspberry Pi if you prefer but you'll still need a source of DMX signal.

We're obviously in lockdown but I'm happy to arrange a video call.
 
Notenoughlights said:
Looks good! Dmx2-18 works very well for controlling the 2 wire lights, there's also 30 channel controller (15 strings) that runs on the ws2811 protocol http://www.hansonelectronics.com.au/product/2811dc2-30/

I run mine in 18 channel mode so I get the orange/red and green/blue channels and have had people ask me numerous times where I got my lights that could do those colours.

First photo, is that something hanging from a street light? Looks very nice.
Click to expand...
Hi Notenoughlights,
I'll be happy this year if I can get the thing working, even if only to turn them on and off!

Last year I invented the "Christmas fish" on the streetlight. Just a small hoop with some curtain lights hanging off it, but everybody who came past seemed to want to take a photo with it. (Who would have thought) and nobody told me to take it down either which was a good thing!
 
i13 said:
Hi HarryIX and welcome to ACL

I am also in Canberra and I converted the traditional LED strings in my display to computer control with DMX. The biggest pain point was that the original plugpacks on the light sets were slightly different voltages; I am now using central power supplies. The solution for me was to test and modify the light sets so that they run at the same voltage as each other. Starting with nine strands was a good idea for this year considering that we're now in September. The first year of computer control is the most challenging but very rewarding. Once you have something working, that gives you a setup to add to.

One thing that you will need is a source of DMX signal. I'm not hugely familiar with the Raspberry Pi; hopefully someone here will clarify whether it can output DMX and how. As far as I know, your options are to use an E1.31 to DMX bridge (most pixel controllers have at least one built in) or a USB dongle connected to the Raspberry Pi (not sure how well this option works in practice but hopefully someone else has tried it and can comment).

Assuming that you have a Windows computer, this can run the show without a Raspberry Pi if you prefer but you'll still need a source of DMX signal.

We're obviously in lockdown but I'm happy to arrange a video call.
Click to expand...
Thanks i13.
I've sure got a heap more researching to go! Fortunately my 9 year old son has caught wind that a computer is involved to program lights, so I'll put him to good work!
I'm hoping by the end of the school holidays I'll have a bit of an idea on the mechanics of getting things working. Really should look through the manual more too!
 
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