Kitmans 2016 Light show

[Kitman]

Nice looking display and great sequencing! I've been thinking about icicles too as my display being now all pixels looks a little less traditional. Do you have the link to the ones you used, and why you wanted these specific ones? Pros cons etc?

Well I got Ray to custom make the ones I have up. I have had a couple different icicles on the house over the years with drops of 3, 4, and 5, solar ones that had drops of 8 for each drop and then the last set which were drops of 4 and 6 alternating. Not really sure why but I just like the drops of 4 and 6, I think mainly because they are different from everyone else so it makes the display a little more unique. I also thought about having text running across the icicles and having drops of 3, 4, and 5 just doesn't give you enough room to do it, but drops of 4 and 6 might work still want to test that in place but maybe having a drop of 6 and 8 would allow better for text. Having drops of 3, 4, and 5 seems more "traditional" however being pixels kind of moves away from traditional even though they can still move around and give you pretty random effects.


I also like the simple maths that goes along with the drops of 4 and 6, it means every 2 drops is 10 pixels so keeps things simple from a programming side of things. I know that I have 120 lights per string so that's 24 drops and trouble shooting if anything goes wrong I find a little easier, if the last 2 lights on every drop of 6 isn't working then I know I have the string backwards in the software so need to revers it, however with 3, 4, and 5 I think it would be a bit harder.


Just my thoughts on it. If you want I can send you the picture I sent to ray with the specs for the strings with the spacing between each drop and spacing between each light in the drop so you can order some.

 

[Kitman]

Well last night was weird. For some reason 1 of my Raspberry Pi's decided to reset half of the settings back to default which ended up meaning 4 of my pixicle strings didn't work for the whole night.


For some reason it decided to reset the Hostname back to the default of FPP and it turned off the output e1.31 data option which meant no data was going to my controller. checked all voltages and fuses and even turned on forwarding between the 2 interfaces and set up static routes so I could see the controller which is when I saw no data on the controller found the missing option turned it back on just in time for the last song of the night to play hahaha.


Anyone else have that happen? not all settings reset just some.

 

[the grinch]

Well last night was weird. For some reason 1 of my Raspberry Pi's decided to reset half of the settings back to default which ended up meaning 4 of my pixicle strings didn't work for the whole night.


For some reason it decided to reset the Hostname back to the default of FPP and it turned off the output e1.31 data option which meant no data was going to my controller. checked all voltages and fuses and even turned on forwarding between the 2 interfaces and set up static routes so I could see the controller which is when I saw no data on the controller found the missing option turned it back on just in time for the last song of the night to play hahaha.


Anyone else have that happen? not all settings reset just some.

No at this stage have not experienced have had lights flickering slightly twice now and rebooted all fine not certain why ?. We went past your place last night and stopped out front approximately 10 30 didnt notice anything wrong looked good mate well done

 

[Kitman]

that would have been just around the time I fixed it Grinch hahaha, was running from 8:00pm till about 10:00 without them and I finally fixed them just past 10:00. Was working from home and trying to fix them last night all at the same time while trying to deal with a 3 year old that wanted to stay up with daddy and only wanted daddy didn't want mummy wanted to stay up all night. Needless to say wasn't having a great night hahaha.

 

[the grinch]

Haha yes we where little late too be knocking on ya doors and tottally understand with the little ones been there and I was told just wait don't get any easier , sorta does but teenagers with attitudes geez be prepared lol

 

[Kitman]

I think I can deal with them when they get older cause I can take HoHoHo away that they so desperately need or want, where as the 3 year old he doesn't get it, helped me pack away all his toys one day when I told him I was taking them away and it didn't bother him, didn't get them back for a week and he wasn't even looking for them so yeah. Or he just throws a tantrum and screams the house down for hours on end lol. Teenagers I can just lock out of the house, put them in the games room out the back with no internet or TV or computer or air con, they will back down quick.

 

[djgra79]

If you want I can send you the picture I sent to ray with the specs for the strings with the spacing between each drop and spacing between each light in the drop so you can order some.

Thanks that would be great, will give me an idea on where to start for next year!