Mark's seed pixel mega tree - Smaller and cheaper!

like the idea of veroboard inside those junction boxes, rather than everything soldered together...... this way you can take some of it inside to 'play with', whilst the rest is still in the yard.
 
Good day,

With reference to post #14, what is the circuit board in the junction box?
You mention that there is a video from December last year, could you please share the link here.

Thank you
 
I think the video referred to is the in the first post. The "circuit board" is a stripboard/veroboard/protoboard which is described in post #6. It is a data and power sharing device.
 
Mark_M said:
My seed pixel mega tree - Smaller to store and turned out cheaper to make.

Can't be bothered to read? Here's the video:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGL6h4FvXdo


The inspiration
In 2017 I created a mega tree with 'seed lights' purchased from eBay. I choose these lights because the entire LED is covered in epoxy from the reviews of Youtube/BigCliveDotCom. These were much better waterproofed than 5mm standard string lights commonly found at Bunnings.
The seed lights of this tree are still working!
View attachment 22330

Starting pixel lights in 2019: I found out how other people make their mega tree's with mounting strip and bullet/square pixel nodes.
This seemed expensive and the storage of a large tree would be more than my entire display's storage at the time.
In comparison to my dumb seed light tree with all the lights stored in an ice cream container, that's very small for storage!!


Where did I find out about these pixel ones?:
Courtesy of the Youtube channel IntermitTech with his video "QuinLED: Ultimate Addressable Christmas Tree LEDs"
These were enamel copper wire seed lights. I ordered some from BTF and they worked alright. But not very reliable for outdoor use, I have shown these in my Behind the scenes 2021 video.

In 2022 GFLAI self promoted their insulated wire seed pixels:
I had to try making a mega tree with these!

View attachment 22331

These little lights are fairly robust. It takes a lot of force to break them apart.
View attachment 22335

Following posts is how my tree is built.
Click to expand...

First off thanks for posting this. I plan on doing something similar but with a small base. A mini mega tree if you will. In your update video you posted the tree kind of washes out when lights are behind it. Do you think attaching the seeds to a Boscoyo Mega Tree strips would help on that? I'm mulling over the idea of doing that.
 
94SupraTT said:
In your update video you posted the tree kind of washes out when lights are behind it. Do you think attaching the seeds to a Boscoyo Mega Tree strips would help on that? I'm mulling over the idea of doing that.
Click to expand...
Attaching to a black mounting strip would definitely help.
The mounting strip would also makes every pixel face forwards (better brightness/colour uniformity).

I think someone by the name Chris on the Facebook groups has shared a photo with the seeds mounted to Boscoyo strip... somewhere on the xLights Facebook group.
 
Mark_M said:
Attaching to a black mounting strip would definitely help.
The mounting strip would also makes every pixel face forwards (better brightness/colour uniformity).

I think someone by the name Chris on the Facebook groups has shared a photo with the seeds mounted to Boscoyo strip... somewhere on the xLights Facebook group.
Click to expand...
Awesome! I'll check it out. I'm in that group.
 
Mark_M said:
Making the tree:
The seed pixels from GFLAI are 5v, which meant power injection would be needed. Conveniently in December 2021 the option for 'alternate nodes' was added to tree model in xLights.


'Alternate nodes' allows for the input and output of a string to be at one side. See post #3 further down for how this works.
I took advantage of this and used a 4-pin connector on each strand. This meant power injection was a lot easier and there was no connectors at the tree topper to worry about, awesome!

Each junction box on the base ring connects data between strands and provides power to each strand.


The concrete base:
The base is 50mm PVC in concrete below the surface. I slide a galvanised steel pipe into the PVC. A cap is placed over the PVC when the tree is not assembled.
In mid-2022 I dug the hole with a spade, later I poured the concrete.

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The base ring and topper:
The topper is made from a frying pan, with holes drilled around the edge. Each strand of lights has a small hook crimped onto the end.

View attachment 22336

The base ring is an old aluminium outdoor dining table frame I bent to a larger radius of 2.2m. Small lengths of 20mm conduit is attached to the base ring and pushed into the ground.

View attachment 22337



The electronics box:

I used a very large ‘TriBox’ branded enclosure. Inside is two 350w 5v power supplies and a Falcon smart differential receiver board (first generation).

View attachment 22338

I run 800 pixels per port on outputs 1, 2 & 3 of the Differential receiver board. Port 4 is connected to the star.
There is a thread on the making of this star: https://auschristmaslighting.com/threads/making-a-seed-pixel-coro-star.14883/




I can setup this tree on my own. I made the hooks for the topper while I was putting up the tree.
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Click to expand...
I am assuming you used the 10 cm spaced seeds? Just want to confirm.
 
Do you have a link to where you purchased the lights at for the tree? (or did I JUST MISS IT)
 
j_seph said:
Do you have a link to where you purchased the lights at for the tree? (or did I JUST MISS IT)
Click to expand...
They were from GFLAI vendor in China, but many other vendors also sell seed pixels.
E.g. Ray Wu, ETOP, Wally's lights, etc.

You can also buy seeds with a backup data line, so they continue working if one fails.
 
Hi Mark, thanks for this post. I’m making a 180 seed pixel mega tree and was wondering if you used any type of perpendicular backing halfway up the tree to keep the seeds spaced uniformly and help it face forward.
 
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