Reminder: This is a hobby

I bought my pixels through a 3rd party in Australia, so not entirely sure who manufactured them. If I had to guess i'd say they would be from Ray Wu. The ones I purcahsed from the same 3rd party 2 years ago, all 100% working never a fault, but the lot this year....I've replaced at least 25 so far, on various props, off different power supplies and off different controller ports, just completely random failures.
 
2019/2020 were bad years for pixels. I'm still finding props with them.

Unfortunately my sealing efforts haven't worked in trying to prevent us from having to redo the props, but we'll tackle them one at a time like we do every year.

If anyone is still having issues with faulty pixels, make sure you take it up with your supplier if you haven't already. It took me a couple of attempts to get mine replaced. Replacing bad pixels with those from the same bad pixel batch is only going to prolong your hatred of failing pixels :)
 
Giving this thread a little bump for this year as I feel the message is still relevant.
Personally last year I ended up waving the white flag and only had a few props setup and there was no music to listen to, so they were random patterns as far as viewers were concerned. I simply ran out of time as life (in particular my family) was a higher priority, and it appears that despite best efforts this year history may repeat itself. Lots on over the coming week that requires my full attention for my family. I haven't tested a single pixel, I haven't finished wiring up the new props and making new cables, nor have I tested a single existing prop.
And it doesn't phase me.
I will just delay my deadline for launch day to when I'm ready. Again this is a hobby and there are no rules as such as to when you should be finished. It can evolve all Dec.
So to all the newbies here, jump back to page 1 and have a read of this thread and dont despair, dont get frustrated. It'll all work out, and this even bigger than last year community are here to help.
 
I put the Big CandyCanes up the other day,
I guess that tells everyone to start slowing down.
Still get some people swing there cars around when im testing a prop..
 
I have just my outlines and icicles up from halloween, running whole house buttterfly and twinkle. people still stop.
 
Good points… I am my own worst critic. I didn’t think that even a couple of lights would make people smile till the other day—had only 2 snowflakes and one window frame running a test pattern that took me 5 minutes to sequence. The school principal walked by (don’t know when) and was so impressed he found my daughter at school to tell her how good it looked! It’s about 10% of my display 🙃
 
I am in the same boat, for the last couple of years I haven't even done a show as my wife and I bought a business that took ALL of our spare time.
We visited my dad last year who does a massive display of purely bunnings lights and blow ups. I even donated my sleigh to him last year.
We were there on xmas eve and from the time the sun started to go down there were people stopping up to a km away and walking in to see his display and chat. When we left we went for a drive around only to find the displays have dried up, we only found 2 worth slowing down for a better look, so inspired me to get my but into gear this year and put up a display again.
Well so far I have my mega tree up, some spiral trees and whatever else I get done in the next 2 weeks is what it will be.
I am not that worried, although I do get a lot of comments from people in the area that say they have missed it, so I will try my best :)
 
Can definitely say I'm in the same position. Halloween outlines are still up but need to be fixed due to some more dead pixels. Song half sequenced.

It'll all work out!
 
I did Halloween which seemed like a lot more work and now I am sort of "Whenever it gets up is fine!". To be honest 80% of my show is up and I feel and do not feel rushed. I'm way ahead of where I have been in the past and am fine with my progress. I'll be about 95% when I turn lights on for Thanksgiving next week and am fine with it.
 
Pavle said:
Well said Graham - I think sometimes things are compounded because you might be the only person in your environment invested in this and you don't always get appreciation / understanding of the effort that is put into a display. That's where having a couple of people like those that participate on ACL to lean in is a great asset. Merry Christmas everyone and I'm happy to help where I can
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True, Wife comes home, "I bought these LED lights from Walmart" Um, thanks dear.... "Just add then into the show!"
 
I think if you can't laugh at your own mistakes, it'd be a tough hobby to be in. So this thread (if any, feeling a bit sheepish over here) seems the best place for these photos... maybe you'll get a little chuckle out of them or feel a bit better about something you didn't do quite right. (And, yes, before you scold me, I know what I did wrong, I never should have switched away from the HolidayCoro QuickToppers 🤣 .)
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20231218_103018 (1).jpg

Don't worry, she'll be right again soon as it stops raining and I can replace a few zip ties, plug some things back in, and winch it up...
20231218_141847.jpg
 
merryoncherry said:
I think if you can't laugh at your own mistakes, it'd be a tough hobby to be in. So this thread (if any, feeling a bit sheepish over here) seems the best place for these photos... maybe you'll get a little chuckle out of them or feel a bit better about something you didn't do quite right. (And, yes, before you scold me, I know what I did wrong, I never should have switched away from the HolidayCoro QuickToppers 🤣 .)

How much effort did it take to get standing properly once more?
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How much effort did it take to get standing properly once more?
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Not that much / not as much as I'd have thought. (Which is in line with the original problem I suppose.) I was able to heft it up, winch it down, heft it up a bit more, and eventually gently tip it upright.
20231218_132324.jpg
 
While we’re on mistakes, I hung a snowflake 60 degree rotated. Nobody has noticed except me! I countered it in XLights, but some of the effects don’t seem to take that into consideration so I will fix it next time I feel like climbing up that tall ladder…
 
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