New guy here!

[Decker0861]

So last year I bought over 5,000 incandescent lights, after Christmas, so I could put up a display since the neighborhood really don't do much. I'm now over 5,600 lights and want to expand it for next year. Here's the reason I'm here! I want to get in to doing pixel lighting and controlling to music but I have no clue where or how to start. I'm doing the light shows to raise donations for St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital as I was a patient when I was a kid. I'm hoping to find out what I need to know to get started planning for next year and meet people that can sheppard me away from making mistakes.

 

[BRW]

I found a neighborhood show, and the owner was gracious enough to let me help him tear down the Halloween show as well as point me to some online resources. Having a physical layer introduction was very helpful, it gave me a size & scope of what was being discussed.

The "101 Manual" (https://auschristmaslighting.com/wiki/AusChristmasLighting-101) - and can also be accessed on the home page with an icon just under the "home" icon- is VERY helpful. The Keith Westly Video on a last minute show has some great info on a minimized show to start with.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jf7uLhUObAk&feature=youtu.be


I found the Canispator Christmas channel to be a fountain of information. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCby1v6Kbi8AHMkV2yMyF1MQ I think I've watched them all, they're pretty entertaining and usually short enough to retain my short attention span.

There is mention of a convention/training event in Vegas during July; this year it was virtual. https://www.christmasexpo.com/ I think there are videos from the virtual but have not watched any.

I just got the bug this month and won't be actually purchasing until next year. It appears that many sites are low on stock, and apparently some have sales at the beginning of the year since this seems to be more of a 4th quarter hobby. We did look at a neighbor's show, my wife's repsonse was "I like that, I can see us doing some of that." So I got the permission I need for yet another hobby!!

And this site! There seems to be a wealth of information to be had down under once you adjust to the spelling and that all is powered with 240VAC.

It sounds like our discoveries are going to parallel each other this year. Good Luck!