Hey fellow LED enthusiasts…
Just thought I’d put up a post of my setup for this year.
it’s my first year trying to put on a custom display with my brain dreaming up more than I probably should have attempted this lte in the year… (my shed is an absolute mess of tools, wire and unused parts)
I think I’ve done alright making this up from bits found around the yard. (Bunnings is 600km away so thinking outside the box is something you learn out here…
180 degree Megatree… 3.7m high on my shed roof. 1.8m wide at the bottom
18 strands of 50 etop pixel leds (100 per ZigZag) in boscoyo strip, Star on top is 100pixels pushed into an ole stainless light cage.
Big Thanks to “light it up leds” for the leds and strip. Paul was awesome and got stuff from one side of the country to the other at the speed of Light.
Tree frame is 50x50 steel post welded up to suit my roof. The top is garden edging and an old stainless steel light cage in which the pixels poked though fairly well…
Bottom is electrical conduit to get the curve for the tree through the steel tree frame.
Controller.
DigQuad with esp32 & Ethernet
Mega tree using 3 channels and the 4th for the star.
using Xlights (had some config issues last night but got it all running sweet about 10pm ready for tonight… so much sequencing to finish though which I def need to start earlier for next year.
40a mean power supply (I run the tree very low power so with the three strings it’s only drawing around 5amps per string.
40a mean power supply (I run the tree very low power so with the three strings it’s only drawing around 5amps per string.
Survived the first windy night ok with minor modifications done to the top done this morning…
Mini tree - Digquad Controller (Channel 1)
1 string of 400 12v pixels (10 strands) (original eBay type and they were terrible compared to the etop ones I used on the mega tree, so much bloody soldering to do on this one… (big ups for the battery Milwaukee soldering iron, one 6ah battery got me through to the second last join)
Carport - Digquad Controller (second channel)
150odd 12v eBay pixels permanently mounted in aluminium strip (did this last year and thankgod I found boscoyo strip as the aluminium was a nightmare to drill)
Front Gate - digUno with Ethernet (currently using wifi without issues)
5v led strip run around the gate.
Candy canes - one set made from electrical corrogated conduit, the other set were much better out of 20mm water pipe so I’ll probably end up remaking the first 2. (I do need to power inject better also (the joys of 5v)
Runs off the gate motor power supply via an
Anderson plug (this does line up 95% of the time but does misalign on super hot days…
Arches… Digquad with 80A 5v power supply one channel for each set.
5v led strip
Corrogated conduit in a piece of timber with electrical duct lid underneath to help it sit upright.
All in all a massive run of midnights (probably the last month at least) coupled with a cranky wife (but now happy it’s up).
Assuming my shed doesn’t tear to pieces, next year I will be starting earlier to iron out the bugs and remake some items.
My quote from all of this,
“It’s really not a hobby as it becomes an obsession”
Just thought I’d put up a post of my setup for this year.
it’s my first year trying to put on a custom display with my brain dreaming up more than I probably should have attempted this lte in the year… (my shed is an absolute mess of tools, wire and unused parts)
I think I’ve done alright making this up from bits found around the yard. (Bunnings is 600km away so thinking outside the box is something you learn out here…
180 degree Megatree… 3.7m high on my shed roof. 1.8m wide at the bottom
18 strands of 50 etop pixel leds (100 per ZigZag) in boscoyo strip, Star on top is 100pixels pushed into an ole stainless light cage.
Big Thanks to “light it up leds” for the leds and strip. Paul was awesome and got stuff from one side of the country to the other at the speed of Light.
Tree frame is 50x50 steel post welded up to suit my roof. The top is garden edging and an old stainless steel light cage in which the pixels poked though fairly well…
Bottom is electrical conduit to get the curve for the tree through the steel tree frame.
Controller.
DigQuad with esp32 & Ethernet
Mega tree using 3 channels and the 4th for the star.
using Xlights (had some config issues last night but got it all running sweet about 10pm ready for tonight… so much sequencing to finish though which I def need to start earlier for next year.
40a mean power supply (I run the tree very low power so with the three strings it’s only drawing around 5amps per string.
40a mean power supply (I run the tree very low power so with the three strings it’s only drawing around 5amps per string.
Survived the first windy night ok with minor modifications done to the top done this morning…
Mini tree - Digquad Controller (Channel 1)
1 string of 400 12v pixels (10 strands) (original eBay type and they were terrible compared to the etop ones I used on the mega tree, so much bloody soldering to do on this one… (big ups for the battery Milwaukee soldering iron, one 6ah battery got me through to the second last join)
Carport - Digquad Controller (second channel)
150odd 12v eBay pixels permanently mounted in aluminium strip (did this last year and thankgod I found boscoyo strip as the aluminium was a nightmare to drill)
Front Gate - digUno with Ethernet (currently using wifi without issues)
5v led strip run around the gate.
Candy canes - one set made from electrical corrogated conduit, the other set were much better out of 20mm water pipe so I’ll probably end up remaking the first 2. (I do need to power inject better also (the joys of 5v)
Runs off the gate motor power supply via an
Anderson plug (this does line up 95% of the time but does misalign on super hot days…
Arches… Digquad with 80A 5v power supply one channel for each set.
5v led strip
Corrogated conduit in a piece of timber with electrical duct lid underneath to help it sit upright.
All in all a massive run of midnights (probably the last month at least) coupled with a cranky wife (but now happy it’s up).
Assuming my shed doesn’t tear to pieces, next year I will be starting earlier to iron out the bugs and remake some items.
My quote from all of this,
“It’s really not a hobby as it becomes an obsession”
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