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Richie115

New elf
Joined
Oct 5, 2015
Messages
4
Location
Victoria Point
Hi everyone. I'm new to the site & also new to the world of controlling my Christmas Lights. For years I've been doing my house up each Christmas just for fun I've never entered a competition or anything I just do it for enjoyment & for the neighbourhood kids to look at. This year I have bought myself a DMX36 controller & USB Dongle. Now the fun begins. I had a couple of things I was trying sort out & any advice would be great. The first is what power supplies does everyone use? & the second & most important is what type of lights does everyone recommend? I bought some Big W lights this other & saw a forum about them not being compatible? Is that correct. Thanks s much for any advice anyone can give.
 
Bird

Bird

LOR user
Joined
Nov 8, 2011
Messages
1,746
Location
Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Welcome.gif

to ACL Richie

If you haven't found it yet, the new revised 2nd addition AusChristmasLighting 101 manual is a great resource for all things RGB and more. :)
Although I suggest reading first, also be sure to drop in the chat room before making any buying decisions, lots of friendly folks always around and willing to help.
 
Habbosrus

Habbosrus

Back again
Joined
Dec 5, 2012
Messages
758
Location
Swansea, NSW
G'day Richie, welcome to ACL mate. It appears this years BigW lights have changed and are not compatible for controlling. You need to check your lights and in particular, the wires coming from controller. If you find 3 wires, you may be in luck. Check your lights and then maybe jump into chat. Power supplies are dependent on which lights you use too. We use an array of lights for our shows. If you haven't already done so, take a look at the 101 manual Bird has linked to. Have a look around the site and again, jump into chat. My guess is once you start to get info, your ideas will change and grow exponentially. Good luck.
 
I

i13

Dedicated elf
Joined
Jul 5, 2013
Messages
1,172
Welcome to ACL

The Big W lights will be incompatible if you bought them this year. Previously they have always been good. Habbosrus is right but the 3 (or more) wires rule only applies if there is an 8 function controller. Most store-bought low voltage lights are compatible if there's no 8 function controller.

If you're starting from scratch then I'd suggest investigating pixels if you're interested in having control of the colour and brightness of each light. Some pixel controllers have a DMX output too and this is more reliable than a USB dongle.
 
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Richie115

New elf
Joined
Oct 5, 2015
Messages
4
Location
Victoria Point
Thanks everyone. I have of course only just got the lights in the last couple of weeks so I'll take them back & see where else I can get some other lights from.
 
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Richie4540

Full time elf
Joined
Jul 30, 2015
Messages
110
Location
Brisbane
Hi, where in Qld are you, I'm at Coorparoo, so if your close I could've show you the basics of pixels and controllers, I have just started down the pixel road but willing to give you a demo of what's available.
 
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