Moving to xlights advice

[NickT]

Ah, good point. I was going with 270 because you can see the tree from the front and the side (driveway), but will definitely want graphics on there. Definitely open to advice to make it more graphic friendly.

 

[Cranzy]

Here is a photo for reference. pixels are 2" spaced (Tree has 1800 pixels without the star), 1" i think it will almost look like solid lines.




What is great is you can set it up like you designed it, if you don't like the spacing over 270 degrees, you can adjust it to 20 strings over 180 and rerender the sequences and then upgrade and add more strings the next year.

 

[NickT]

Do you think I need the lights spaced at 2"? or bring the 270 closer to something like 240? My house is right on a corner so it can be seen by quite a wide angle but most people stand in front or on the driveway. It can be seen right around the corner though which is why I think 180 degrees just isn't enough for the location. I'd like to do it right the first time so if I just need more strings I'll do more strings

Here's an angled view (the power pole has been moved to the right and the pam tree isnt there anymore).

 

[Cranzy]

If you've got the pixels, 1" spacing will look great and you can always add more strings.
I believe this person has 1" spaced megatrees.

 

[NickT]

Damn that's gorgeous. That big tree seems to be about 250-270 degrees. Guess I need more pixels!

 

[bpratt]

I reckon a 24 Strand 180 degree tree would work really well there, because it appears that you're not really on a corner, but a right angled bend.

From that photo, if you stepped backward about 30 metres, and took another photo, it might prove what I'm thinking is right or wrong.

You might get away with 50mm pixel spacing on the tree though.

 

[NickT]

You may be right @bpratt, I'll confess the photos I've been using is from street view quite some time ago and 3 trees have overgrown the area now, but I'm about the cull them all and neaten the area before I get started. We have a hedge on the right side now which blocks a bit of the viewing angle from the street so maybe 26 strands at 180 or 200 degrees will do just fine.

This is from the front door looking out which shows the hedge

and yep it is a bend, you can see the overgrown trees now:

 

[Cranzy]

Agree, 180 tree would be good. If you have some hd strip already, make 1 strip with 2 " spacing and 1 with1" and hang them from a tree and light it up and step back, you might find 2" will work nicely. Then you will have more pixels for more other things

 

[bpratt]

Yep, a 180 degree would do the job nicely, and if you want you could skew the tree slightly anti clockwise if you look down from the top of the tree.

Looks you you might need to get the old 'hand held lightning machine' (chainsaw) and have some 'lightning strikes' on them.

24 strand and 50 pixels (or more) would give decent density.

 

[NickT]

I was thinking 32 strand, 162 pixels each strand (doubled over into 16 strings).. but now I feel 4m high / 3m base diameter / 4.3m strips might be a bit tooooo big.. that's 5184 pixels.. I measured with my pool cleaning stick to see the height but I didn't factor in the probably 36" star I'll put on top. Guess I'll get out there tomorrow and finalise the measurements!

edit: OK the star is 90cm.. that would make the tree almost 5m.. yeah that might be a bit too high maybe I go with a 3.5m tree which is only 4.6k pixels? hmmmm

 

[NickT]

All righty.. now that my trees are removed and stumps are grinded out of existence.. time to get ordering!

I've done a bunch more reading and kind people on facebook have helped a bunch (thanks @TRAVISTY!)

Just thought i'd run this past everyone for some final suggestions before I order:

I've split the house into 5 areas, red is a rough power injection location guess.

And my numbers with extra parts at the bottom:

First question, I'm tossing up between 2x F16's and 1x F16 for the megatree and 1x F48 with 5 differential smartreceivers for the different zones. Thoughts?

Secondly.. the only thing I can think of which is missing are the power injection pigtails coming out of the boxes with controllers / receivers. Pigtails seem to come in pairs, but if I order Ray Wu style custom strings with 13.5mm connectors I won't need a pair, do any of these suppliers just provide female pigtails?

oh and I thought of a third question.. with the ray wu pigtails the props will connect to each other just fine.. but they then connect to the receivers with those green plugs.. is there a pigtail to green plug thing they offer or do I make them?

and my last question:... what am I missing? (besides power supplies?)

Thanks! keen to get this order in ASAP.

 

[bpratt]

so what pixel spacing have you decided on for the mega tree ?

you will use some of those pigtails to connect to those green connectors on your F16 and then on to the prop.

Since you're using custom strings that lot of 10 pairs might be enough for now.

 

[NickT]

ah, forgot to post what I decided for the mega tree! , 12' tree, 3' star and 1" spacing, 32x150 LEDs (16 strings) and 200 degrees so there's a little more coverage on the sides.

Mega Tree Calculator | Tools | LightShowHub.com

The Mega Tree Calculator and Simulator Tool allows you to interactively design, and precisely visualize your Mega Tree Project.

www.lightshowhub.com

 

[i13]

You have a lot of items to build. I suggest ordering a pixel tester so that you don't need to put a more expensive controller at risk each time you test something.

Page Not Found - Aliexpress.com

www.aliexpress.com

 

[NickT]

You have a lot of items to build. I suggest ordering a pixel tester so that you don't need to put a more expensive controller at risk each time you test something.

Page Not Found - Aliexpress.com

www.aliexpress.com

Ah, excellent suggestion! Was about to finalise etop order.. he stocks them so I'll grab 2. Thanks!