mounting LED strings ?

BrianJ

Full time elf
Joined
Jun 21, 2012
Messages
114
Location
Kingston, Ontario
Hi, I am new to the forum, and to the world of Christmas light shows. this is my second post and first question. I hope I am putting it in the right place.
Across the front of my house (eaves) I would like to run 6 circuits of C6 LED strings and one run of LED icicles from the same location. They are 70 light sets (3 strings per circuit totaling 1260 bulbs plus icicles) with 4 inches/10cm between bulb centers. There seems to be enough space between the bulbs to allow all of them to be mounted in a single straight line from the lower edge of the fascia or the soffit. Is it ok to mount them so close to each other or will they color wash to much when all bulbs are on? I am unsure how to mount them cleanly so that all the bulbs are lined up straight. I hope some others have found a decent method of mounting lights to the under side of the eaves.
See images below for more details
The lights would be ordered like this I think, White, Blue, Red, White2, Green, Yellow. This would allow even spacing on a white/white chase or a blue/green chase or a red/yellow chase. Any input would be appreciated.


LED Strings:
(last years strings cut up to assist planning)


DSC00101.jpg



Strings Grouped:


DSC00102.jpg



Lower side of eaves:


DSC00105.jpg



Front of House:


DSC00106.jpg
 

aussiexmas

Sinnamon Lights
Joined
May 10, 2010
Messages
218
Location
Brisbane - Australia
[attachimg=1]Hi Brian
I presume from your post that you want to be able to display the strings as individual selected colours, or to be able to chase the bulbs along the eaves. The selected colours will work OK, however, the chase function will not; - a chase requires a minimum of 3 channels, but preferably 4. Two channels ( as prpopsed) will only give you a flasying effect - not a moving chase.

In 2010, I had strings of C9 bulbs set up on my sloping roof sections. These used 4 channels, one for each colour and did give a good chase effect but it was in multicolour - not a single colour. For this setup, the strings were just ziptied together. (see pic my 2010 videos in signature below). (Note some videos also include chasing icicles - again 4 channels are required.)

My suggestion for your setup would be to ziptie the 4 coloured channels at equal spacings (you can then use these as individual colours or for a multi colour chase. Then assuming your icicles are white - ziptie the 2 white channels (or 4 if you want to add a white chase effect) to the icicles and mount them just below (or above) the coloured strings. The combination of white icicles and white strings then allow the programming of a "bouncing" icicle effect which I think looks pretty good. (See some of my 2011 videos). Trying to combine 8 channels as a string will make the bulbs too crowded.

Hope these comments help
 

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