square, bullet or strip

[The Bald Boy]

HI,
I'm new to this and really enjoy the site!! Lots of good information.
Just trying to work out which type of lights I should buy. I would like to make a flat tree - maybe 1200 wide at the bottom and 2000 high. I saw a version on here that had 12 stands of lights.
Is there an advantage over each type of light? I guess the strip would be easier to work with as you don't have to drill holes or use a bucket load of ties.
Do they all project the same amount of light?
Is there a standard amount of pixels that work best? I've seen lots of variations 10/m, 30/m etc. Not sure which way to go here either.
I will be going 12V if that helps.
Look forward to your thoughts

 

[Troy ELD]

Hi!

Strip is very easy to work with BUT very fragile and difficult to repair. I love strip for my house outlines but thats were it ends. The advantage of nodes is when 1 goes out(and it will happen) simply cut out the bad one and replace it. Strip Cut out the bad one replace it then rewaterproof the silicone tubing.

The sizing they are talking about is with strip, Every 3 LEDs (old school 2811) is a pixel were as with nodes each light is a pixel. So 30 LED/m would be 10 pixels P/M

 

[Derf]

Welcome!

Checkout the 101 Manual as there are tons of different types of pixels, strips, nodes, etc.

Depending on how much resolution you would like for your flat tree it may be a different route of pixel but normally members here use flat WS2811 Strip in silicon tube.
I suggest browsing one of the many popular suppliers a lot of us use on this web site Ray Wu for all the different type of LED lights you can purchase.
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/701799


Just remember you are only scratching the surface. you will need to think about Controllers, Power supplies, Cabling, Networking, Sequencing and much much more! Sorry If I am making this sound scary big but once you get the hang of it, It's pretty easy. We are all here to help and if you need to ask any questions even if you think it is a silly question Jump into the livechat tons of very resourceful people to help you.

We also have a zoom chat via xlights.org where we all jump in (normally on the weekends) and help each other out. I would go take a photo of your house and markup what you would like and post it here. We can definitely find a solution that would work for you. Unfortunately we cannot just give you an Option "A" or Option "B" as everyone's house is different which makes your lightning needs unique from everyone else's

Happy Lighting!

 

[The Bald Boy]

HI, thanks for the replay. A big website with lots of stuff.
I checked this strip out. What do you think? Overkill?
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/pr...l?spm=2114.12010612.8148356.15.74c85f82GQCwtm
I guess I will need to buy some 3 pin pig tails once I cut the strip. How do I water proof the new joins?

 

[scamper]

Personally I go for pixels, as others suggested it is easier to work with if you have failures, I use the strip on solid mounted things like house outlines, or attached to pvc in tint tubes and mini spiral trees, but when it is hanging in the breeze I just don't trust it. The solder connections can fracture too easily.
If you are doing a flat tree and have it permanently mounted to a solid object (flat bar, aluminium etc) then it should be ok, But also remember that there are 3 pixels per channel, so your definition is a little different if you try to create images on your tree, instead of a single pixel it is a line of them.
To attach wires, you must solder them and best practice would be to inject some silicone sealant (neutral cure) into the silicone strip, then put heatshrink over the end and shrink, that should squeeze out all the air and seal it.

 

[The Bald Boy]

Hi scamper,
thanks for the advice when joining a strip back together.
Are you suggesting that if I go for strip it would make the flat tree more difficult to create images? Would each image be more blockier - like old style pixel images from earlier monitors? Would it be more difficult to run curves for mouths etc? Would bullet/square be better off?
What about arches? Strip or bullet/square?
I get the house outline - makes sense for strips.
Cheers