Stickmans Lights

[ozstickman]

G'day.
I hope this is the right spot to put this but here goes.
So far we have plans to run rgb pixels along the gutters and gable on out house along with surrounding 4 windows and a door at present. Then in the front yard starting with six meter high Xmas trees, these will also be rgb pixels.

The gutters and gable will be in three sections all facing the street. The east gutter is about 3m, the gable about 4m and the west gutter about 4.5m.
The window on the eastern end is about 8m all round, next window would be around 6, the door would be around 6m with a window each side of about 3m each.

The trees are to be spirals using a full 5m length of rgb pixels. There will be six of them and about 6 to 8m from the house.

I would like to put a singing Santa on the front wall but like to get the basics done first. The house is a Queenslander and six foot off the ground. I am looking at using the Falcon16 controller with the extra board on top for expansion and having it under the house. Running all cable from there to each rgb pixel strip. The greatest distance to a rgb pixel strip will be approx 8m. Looking at using rgb pixel strips with 30pixels per meter.

Additional items will be placed about but that hasn't been finalised yet.

Any hints and tips will be great.
Cheers
Stickman

 

[EmmienLightFan]

You may just get away running pixel data 8m. I managed 7.


But you may need some null pixels on longer runs, just to be safe.

 

[ozstickman]

I will add a photo of the house with over lays of where the lights are and measurements when I get home at the end of the week which may give a better idea.

I am looking at keeping runs to between 4 and 5m. Where a length is longer I will make it in two parts but work as one.

 

[fasteddy]

Welcome to ACL, the best place to start is with the ACL 101 lighting manual, once you read that a few times then you will be armed with higher level questions. the chat room can be a great resource of info as well.

http://auschristmaslighting.com/forums/index.php/topic,1889.0.html

 

[the grinch]

Hey stickman sounds like you have some great plans there

 

[gerry]

Welcome to ACL.

I did see some posts about folks being able to use much longer leads using the F16v2 (compared to some of the others) and also the use of CAT cable - so you should search for that on the Falcon forum.

 

[i13]

Coaxial cable should get well over 8 metres with that particular controller and WS2811 or WS2812B pixels.
http://auschristmaslighting.com/forums/index.php/topic,7485.0.html

The expansion board doesn't increase the total number of pixels but it can be more convenient and reliable to have a larger number of shorter runs of pixels. If a pixel dies, all pixels after it can stop working until you replace the dead one so you can lose less with shorter pixel runs.

Are you planning to have six trees that are a metre tall or are you planning to have trees that are six metres tall?

 

[ozstickman]

Cheers. I've already downloaded and read the 101. Good info.


That's how I found the falcon board.

 

[ozstickman]

These are the RGB strips I'm looking at from Ray Wu.
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/WS2811-led-strip-5m-30-48-60-leds-m-10-16-20-pcs-ws2811-ic-meter/2049992715.html?spm=2114.01020208.3.9.iwWAKU&ws_ab_test=searchweb201556_7,searchweb201644_3_79_78_77_82_80_62_81,searchweb201560_8
I'll get them in 5m rolls. Attached to the Falcon F16v2. After reading a bit more I might end up buying two of them instead of one and the expansion board. At first I will run it from my Mac using xlights until I get it all sorted then if I can setup a Pi to run it and get a remote access setup so I can access it off my phone or iPad I'll be happy and have it scheduled to start and stop a certain times.


The wife def wants a singing Santa. So I'll get
http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/100-pcs-12mm-WS2811-2811-IC-Black-Green-White-Crystal-RGB-Wire-RGB-Digital-Led-pixel/1178758_32240346517.html
For the Santa face. And from what i under stand I can cut these every led to suit the different outputs. (Face, eyes, mouth etc)

 

[ozstickman]

I found a photo of my house. Ignore the half painted look of it. It got too flipping hot to be painting, will finish it when it starts to cool down. Oh and also the big stump, it's going to. Just need to fix my chainsaw.


I just doodled on the image of what we are thinking to do. The purple circle is where I am looking at mounting the controllers just under the house for protection. The distance from the front of the house to the trees and arches is about 8 to 10m.
Another addition if I have time is a mega tree but a 2d version over the right near when my ute is parked but it will be done only if I get the rest done.

 

[ozstickman]

Dam it. Might need to rethink the rgb strips. 12v means three led per pixel where 5v is one led per pixel. The one led per pixel is want I'd prefer.

 

[i13]

Looks as though you're off to a good start. You can get individual control with 12V but you have to pay more and the listing says there are more restrictions on where it can be cut. There are some doubts about this though; see this thread for more information
http://auschristmaslighting.com/forums/index.php/topic,8009.0.html
I half suspect it can be cut in such a way that each converter powers no more than one metre of strip but I don't know without seeing it.
Note also that 30 LEDs per metre is more than bright enough so you won't need any more than that.

It would be interesting to know how your pixels turn out. I don't think anyone here has tried that seller but they look promising with such a good feedback rating.

 

[the grinch]

Hey stick man looking at your pic thats an awesome great big blank canvas there with plenty of potential . The 12v dumb strips usually have a purpose in our displays are relatively easy to work with cutting joining wiring etc and I feel are a little forgiving when just starting out as I was am found need to check rgb on each strip as quite often marked incorrectly believe can produce ten different colors I may be corrected here and obviously can be dimmed etc but unlike smart pixel every single rgb cannot be controlled seperate . But I reckon they are cool and do still serve a purpose in my display anyways .the other thing is yes 5v verses 12v myself have gone total 12v for smart and dumb pixels figure that way should always have backup power supplies etc and to prevent me from plugging wrong stuff in and producing magic smoke. Not sure if had made the right choice with 12 v but so far no issues as there is a lot of 5v guys here and as I understand lot of 12v strips are reduced to 5v internally anyways. But yes good luck stick

 

[ozstickman]

I was just going to dumb this year but the cost of smart isn't much more so I might as well go for smart.
I'm thinking of 3528 led instead of 5050 so it's not too bright maybe. Still thinking about it.

Won't be ordering until we get back from the USA in February. Hopefully I can download as much info as possible so in the flight over I'll have stuff to read and do.

 

[the grinch]

I was just going to dumb this year but the cost of smart isn't much more so I might as well go for smart.
I'm thinking of 3528 led instead of 5050 so it's not too bright maybe. Still thinking about it.

Won't be ordering until we get back from the USA in February. Hopefully I can download as much info as possible so in the flight over I'll have stuff to read and do.

Hey stick if im wrong here am sure will be corrected . 3528 strips are a dumb strip am sure is what im running are 3528 /5050 strips the 5050 refers to the size of rgb led I believe wich means is 5mm ×5mm size square