Roosta's Display Build Thread

Roosta

Full time elf
Joined
Dec 8, 2015
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202
Well I am sure you guys are all experiencing the same overwhelming time crunch as we are!!

3 weekends to go!!

Our lounge room at the moment is a 'blinkin' mess...
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I have knocked over about 30 of these little suckers, about another 25 to go!
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Also just finished the new mini north poles:
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Hoping to get the rest of the lights up this weekend but will see how we go I guess! Hahaha

Cheers,
Nik
 

cdjazman

Full time elf
Joined
Apr 24, 2012
Messages
424
Nice work bud. Curious how are you connecting and protecting the cable for the small ball lights?
 

Roosta

Full time elf
Joined
Dec 8, 2015
Messages
202
Currently chewing on 2 ideas, 1 is to get longer shafts and hide the jst connectors in there and then use the supplied spikes, the other is to use conduit T pieces and conduit so the spacing and solidness of the hole thing is improved..

After xmas they will be finding their way out to the back yard around the pool and I think the conduit method will be stronger out in the garden with the dog.. If they are spiked she will probably just keep knocking them over..
 

Roosta

Full time elf
Joined
Dec 8, 2015
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202
Whipped up some arches:

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Materials (per arch)
32mm Air seeder pipe 2.5m length
32mm conduit 2x 50mm & 4x 200mm lengths
20mm conduit 1x 1.5m length (without the Balls)
32mm Conduit T piece x2
20mm Coupling and lock ring x2
Conduit Glue
2.5m of 12v 30/10 Strip with 500mm connector leads

Put together to make the base:
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Also been doing some testing on the new elements:
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Hopefully get the last of the lights out and powered this weekend!

Cheers,
Nik
 

Verb75

Apprentice elf
Joined
Dec 13, 2016
Messages
83
Location
Cairns, QLD
Got 2/3 of my roof lights up tonight before the storm blew in..

So far very excited with the results and possibilities!

12v dc nodes with 300mm spacing
427 nodes in total when complete
Each node has a custom made bracket that slips under the tile to hold it in place and pointing to the street!

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Cheers,
Nik

Wow! That looks great. Looking good forward to seeing the whole thing in action.
 

Roosta

Full time elf
Joined
Dec 8, 2015
Messages
202
Got the rest of the roof nodes up today, along with completing the arches..

Having a small data issue that I cant seem to rectify, with the roof nodes on full white where it flashes and misbehaves.. i would think power related however it seems to improve as the brightness is turned up and i am confident i have plenty of power injection.. (4 points)

Still got more power cabling and elements to power up but i am really struggling with finding a layout i am happy with.... Almost feel like I have to much stuff going on..

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Video of the roof issue: Reviewing the video it seems there is maybe a couple of nodes that seem to be the ones regularly flashing.... any ideas?


Cheers,
 

djgra79

My name is Graham & I love flashing lights!
Global moderator
Generous elf
Joined
Dec 27, 2011
Messages
2,161
Location
Cranbourne West
Got 2/3 of my roof lights up tonight before the storm blew in..

So far very excited with the results and possibilities!

12v dc nodes with 300mm spacing
427 nodes in total when complete
Each node has a custom made bracket that slips under the tile to hold it in place and pointing to the street!

Cheers,
Nik
Looks great Nik well done. Why 12v over 5v, voltage drop?
Also, any chance of some close ups of the mounts you used? Asking for a friend... :)
 

burnt

Full time elf
Joined
Nov 17, 2014
Messages
189
roof issue: Reviewing the video it seems there is maybe a couple of nodes that seem to be the ones regularly flashing.... any ideas?

I had the same thing on about 50 pixels ... they would flash white for milli sec and always the same ones.

the fault finding I used was...
cut and power inject at 1st problem pixel.-- no change stilled flashed
place ferrite core on data. ---no change stilled flashed
connect test string of 100 pixels before 1st problem pixel. -- worked no flashing pixels on test string

it took some time but I removed all the flashing pixels and working fine.

ps I love the roof
 

Roosta

Full time elf
Joined
Dec 8, 2015
Messages
202
Looks great Nik well done. Why 12v over 5v, voltage drop?
Also, any chance of some close ups of the mounts you used? Asking for a friend... :)

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Basically got some 2mm fencing wire from Bunnings and had the little elf and her helper make 450 of them.. then i got on the roof and put the bracket on the node, and the bracket under the tile.. I am hoping they will hold up and that the nodes wont go brittle.. If they do go brittle and start breaking the clips I will have to go to plan B, which was using some plastic plaster cornice stuff and laying that across each row.. Cost for 150L/M of that was about $150..

12v over 5v for me 12v always wins as preference, dont have any 5v in my setup at all..

:-D
 
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Roosta

Full time elf
Joined
Dec 8, 2015
Messages
202
I had the same thing on about 50 pixels ... they would flash white for milli sec and always the same ones.

the fault finding I used was...
cut and power inject at 1st problem pixel.-- no change stilled flashed
place ferrite core on data. ---no change stilled flashed
connect test string of 100 pixels before 1st problem pixel. -- worked no flashing pixels on test string

it took some time but I removed all the flashing pixels and working fine.

ps I love the roof

Thanks man, so you think it was just those couple causing the issue? With yours was it just those few or were they effecting others? I notice there is maybe 3 regulars flashing on full white, but then ocassionally a whole section of 50-100 odd does it..
 

burnt

Full time elf
Joined
Nov 17, 2014
Messages
189
Thanks man, so you think it was just those couple causing the issue? With yours was it just those few or were they effecting others? I notice there is maybe 3 regulars flashing on full white, but then ocassionally a whole section of 50-100 odd does it..


I found mine to be 50 pixels of one string and i replaced about 100 pixels. my 1st pixel that was playing up was 500 node into my model and 20 pixel from channel input from f16v2 with power injection.

I'm the thinking that I had maybe 5 bad pixels. but the time going to find them i just replace all the ones that flashed. I too had flashing sections.

All mine was within the same 100 string.
 

Roosta

Full time elf
Joined
Dec 8, 2015
Messages
202
Well another night, and some more jobs ticked off, and more things powered up..

Also tried all sorts of remedies on the roof nodes and could not improve the 'strobing' so am convinced that it is a faulty node or 2 in the mix, but certainly intrigued why it only occurs during full white..

Anyways a pic tells a 1000 words ;-)

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