My First Project

[ShellNZ]

lol, oh now theres a story you NEED to tell

 

[MarcD]

If you insist. Last year we organised a comp for our estate. We had online registration, a really nice trophy and a sponsor. It was run through the local neighbourhood watch group. We came second to this lesbian couple nearby. Their lights were better, but they only turned them on for the judging. We had lots of visitors who went there first and complained to us that the winners lights weren't on. They also sucked up to the judges in the weeks leading up to the judging.


We didn't believe they acted in the spirit of the competition. We just wanted families in the estate to get out and about and meet their neighbours. Instead, they did lights purely for the sake of winning.


This year will be different. New judges who will be kept secret. Same sponsor but gift baskets instead of a trophy. Judging date will also be kept secret. Entrants will only know which week. Marketing will also be better ( we produce the newsletter). There'll also be a Peoples Choice award voted online. We will rule ourselves out of winning the comp but will be eligible for the people choice award.

lol, oh now theres a story you NEED to tell

 

[kane]

I've already spent thousands on lights. Now I just need to take control of them. Besides, this year I'm determined to beat the lesbians who won the local comp last year. They didn't play by the rules.

Very rare that I would write "lol", but I did laugh out loud just then.

Sounds a bit like lithgowlights crazy neighbour, or the people who hacked the online voting in the PMH (Perth) competition last year. I reckon that that having competitions is against the whole spirit of it all - but that's just my opinion!

 

[Kaden]

The spirit of competition is as important as the spirit of Christmas.

As with all things, there are people that ruin the fun that competition and Christmas brings

 

[MarcD]

It's not so much a competition as an opportunity to encourage a spirit of community. People get to know their neighbours, the kids have fun and walking around the suburb is healthy. Last year we had kids dancing in our driveway and making snow angels on our front lawn thanks to a Jaycar snow machine.


We had a ball and didn't care about winning.

 

[kane]

It's not so much a competition as an opportunity to encourage a spirit of community. People get to know their neighbours, the kids have fun and walking around the suburb is healthy. Last year we had kids dancing in our driveway and making snow angels on our front lawn thanks to a Jaycar snow machine.


We had a ball and didn't care about winning.

Yes, that's exactly my point - the spirit of community has nothing to do with a competition - all of those things are exactly why most of us spend all this money and effort (remembering most people work on these all year round!!)

The best thing about doing our lights last year was that we met a huge amount of people in the area, many of which we didn't even know they had kids (we're in an older area with not a huge amount of kids).. Was amazing to get so many people come and say hello.

 

[ShellNZ]

Myself and my neighbour have taken ourselves out the of the competition this year as we would kinda blow the others away lol.

We are in a new subdivision which has prob around 6-8 houses doing lights (inc myself and neighbour). We want to encourage new entrants into the neighbourhood to join in the fun, not look at ours and think "bugger going against them".

We have asked the area manager to get the notice out early this year and make it clear that "All past winners are excluded from the competition". Its only been running 2yrs so its just me and neighbour

 

[fasteddy]

The major competion here is run by the local newspaper which is sponsored by the the Christmas Lighting retailers. So for me who makes his own props I dont even get a look as Im not promoting the products they sell. The only reason i do enter is more for exposure puposes but I think i wont bother this year as i didnt even get in the top 20 last year and i dont need anymore exposre and its clear for me here in the Illawarra that the competition is nothing more than a retailers promotion.

 

[MarcD]

I agree with what you're saying Kane. I certainly wouldn't enter the Brisbane comp. I can't stand the thought of busloads of people driving up my street. I wouldn't do that to the neighbours.

But running it as a comp gave us the opportunity to compile and distribute a list of the houses which did have displays. That encouraged people to get out and meet the neighbours. It's not like we're offering a new car as a prize or anything. Last year was a trophy and this year will be a gift basket.

Yes, that's exactly my point - the spirit of community has nothing to do with a competition - all of those things are exactly why most of us spend all this money and effort (remembering most people work on these all year round!!)

The best thing about doing our lights last year was that we met a huge amount of people in the area, many of which we didn't even know they had kids (we're in an older area with not a huge amount of kids).. Was amazing to get so many people come and say hello.

 

[MarcD]

So we decided to go with the DMX stuff from AVD. Going to spend some time on the weekend measuring up so we know what to buy and how many more lights we need.

One other question, is there somewhere local I can buy connectors to make things easier and neater? These are all Big W lights so I assume I'll need three pin waterproof connectors similar to the ones already on them. White preferably.

 

[fasteddy]

So we decided to go with the DMX stuff from AVD. Going to spend some time on the weekend measuring up so we know what to buy and how many more lights we need.

One other question, is there somewhere local I can buy connectors to make things easier and neater? These are all Big W lights so I assume I'll need three pin waterproof connectors similar to the ones already on them. White preferably.

I dont know about locally but most people use these plugs from Ray Wu online store

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/100-pairs-3-Core-White-Waterproof-Line-15cm-long-each-male-and-female-3core/701799_331631241.html

You can get them in 10 pairs, you can get them in 2, 3,4 or 5 core, black or white and you can also get extesion cables and T pieces, They are weather proof, i have used them for the last 2 seasons with great success. You can chat to Ray in his shop and ask him for exactly what you need and he will provide an invoice.

 

[David_AVD]

One other question, is there somewhere local I can buy connectors to make things easier and neater?

A lot of people use the 3 pin connector tails from AliExpress. Even with freight, they are so much cheaper than anything you'll find over here. You can also get them in 2, 4 & 5 pin variants.

EDIT: Eddy beat me to it!

 

[MarcD]

Shipping is pretty expensive isn't it. Almost as much as the actual product.

A lot of people use the 3 pin connector tails from AliExpress. Even with freight, they are so much cheaper than anything you'll find over here. You can also get them in 2, 4 & 5 pin variants.

EDIT: Eddy beat me to it!

 

[David_AVD]

Even with shipping, they work out quite cheap. I brought in 200 x 4 pin extension cables last year and the freight was over $300. That doubled the costs, but was still 1/4 of the price over here.

You can get similar ones on eBay now I believe. That may be better if you're after a smaller quantity. Either that or ask if anyone has excess units they'd consider selling.

 

[kane]

Agree with the others on those waterproof connectors from Ray (and elsewhere) - they make everything so much easier to hook up.. One thing to be careful of though - there seem to be a couple different types of connectors, so if you order them in different batches, I would always send Ray a photo of your existing ones to make sure you get ones to match.. (speaking for experience here!!)

I've actually even gone one step further and had Ray build up custom length cables for me with connectors on each end. Got killed on postage, but saved me a lot of effort last year!