Hello Everyone! My husband and I are excited to join your group and get our plans for Christmas 2015 started out on the right foot. In 2014, we did our biggest so far outdoor Christmas display put to music with an inexpensive blinking to music system. The bug has bitten us and we want to go all out.
Here are our plans for 2015:
A 20 Foot plus topper Mega Tree using a permanent in ground base, using pipe as the center pole and a pulley system to raise and lower. It is our plan to also use this for flag display at other times of the year.
We plan to use 32 strands of 75 to 100 addressable pixels per strand. We are looking at using 2811 or 2801 12 volt IP68 pixels but want to hear what others think and use. After a lot of study we have decided to use polyester webbing (similar to seat belt material) with 12MM ID grommets to fit the pixels into and using D rings to attach the strands.
At this point we are looking at the Pixlite 16 controller with an additional power supply to cover the pixels plus power infusion. If someone has a better idea we would love to hear it.
My big problem is software. Before enough research, I downloaded Vixen 3 to use with X-lights and Nutcracker only to find out that they are not compatible. Have attempted to download Vixen 2 but have been unable. May have to remove Vixen 3 and try again. I really like LSP but again doesn’t work with X-lights at this time. Have tried to download HLS but could not get it to run. May need help here. From what I understand LOR will work with X-lights but has huge files with RGB making them even larger.
Planning to use Raspberry Pi to run Mega Tree so that I keep my computers free. Will have to download our program on to an SD card which in our cold winters runs well.
Since the tree set-up alone is going to be very expensive, it may be all we will be able to do this year but if we have extra money to spend we would like to make arches like Matt Johnson’s, several small trees, and several snowflakes and stars of different shapes and sizes and of course another controller or two.
We look forward to your ideas and suggestions. We would love to hear your experiences.
Here are our plans for 2015:
A 20 Foot plus topper Mega Tree using a permanent in ground base, using pipe as the center pole and a pulley system to raise and lower. It is our plan to also use this for flag display at other times of the year.
We plan to use 32 strands of 75 to 100 addressable pixels per strand. We are looking at using 2811 or 2801 12 volt IP68 pixels but want to hear what others think and use. After a lot of study we have decided to use polyester webbing (similar to seat belt material) with 12MM ID grommets to fit the pixels into and using D rings to attach the strands.
At this point we are looking at the Pixlite 16 controller with an additional power supply to cover the pixels plus power infusion. If someone has a better idea we would love to hear it.
My big problem is software. Before enough research, I downloaded Vixen 3 to use with X-lights and Nutcracker only to find out that they are not compatible. Have attempted to download Vixen 2 but have been unable. May have to remove Vixen 3 and try again. I really like LSP but again doesn’t work with X-lights at this time. Have tried to download HLS but could not get it to run. May need help here. From what I understand LOR will work with X-lights but has huge files with RGB making them even larger.
Planning to use Raspberry Pi to run Mega Tree so that I keep my computers free. Will have to download our program on to an SD card which in our cold winters runs well.
Since the tree set-up alone is going to be very expensive, it may be all we will be able to do this year but if we have extra money to spend we would like to make arches like Matt Johnson’s, several small trees, and several snowflakes and stars of different shapes and sizes and of course another controller or two.
We look forward to your ideas and suggestions. We would love to hear your experiences.
