Toodle's Lights - Will there or won't there be light???

[fasteddy]

get a good high intensity head torch and then who needs daylight to setup.

I bought this one and it is stupid bright and has a really wide adjustable lens, perfect for sitting on the ground 2m back and lighitng a whole object while you work

A head lamp like this is better to use as it keeps both hands free at all times. this one is a bit pricey but its like daylight and has both a direct beam and a wide beam. Night time work is never an issue anymore.

And here is a video of it in action

LED Lenser H14 Headlamp Review. Brightlites.co.uk In Stock!

 

[DeeJai]

210 lumens is far to bright for what we want / need IMO.

For me and my job, I use this one here (in black though)

sure, it is only upto 100 lumens, but with the ability to fade the main light to approximately 20 lumens, also has a seperate function for close proximity, for reading without serious reflection.

Nice for me it also comes with red LED's for those stealthy fixes of the cable so i cant be detected as easily by the naked eye or by night vision.

The bonus to this is its weight and the fact it is powered by 3 AAA batteries housed in the headlamp itself, negating the need for an overhead strap or large bulky battery pack at the rear. So no additional cordage flapping in the breeze from the battery pack = less chance of having issues there.

+ it has a strobe function if you need to add a bit of extra zing to your display

 

[DougieB]

I have the rechargable version of the H14, H14R. This is a mighty light and I get a good 12 - 14 hours out of a recharge on high beam and an easy 20+ on low beam. Everytime one of my kids has to do anything outside at night,this is the torch they grab, so everytime I want to use it for an extended period of time it goes flat. It also comes with a bracket to allow you to mount it on a bike handle bars. Is a great headlight for the bike, I often get flashed by passing motorists to turn it down

 

[fasteddy]

It is insanly bright, but as you mention it has low beam function which seems to be equivalent to normal torches. I use nothing else now at night as every other torch ive used fades in comparison and useability. for me it was worth the money.

 

[DougieB]

Totally agree with you Eddy and you hardly notice the battery pack. We are getting the kids the H7 for christmas so that they leave mine alone, not as bright but totally suitable for them.

 

[Slite]

Conidering the fact that we currently have only weak daylight between nine in the morning and three in the afternoon, and at all other times it's more or less pitch black. I would not survive without a head lamp. As Eddy said, you get both hands free, and with a wide beam, you can see your entire work area...

Setup takes it time in the dark... Ladders are sort of more scary then

 

[toodle_pipsky]

Thanks for the tips about wire. I have wire leaving HK today (call me weird, I love tracing parcels can always see it getting closer to me hehehe). Will keep those other stuff in mind for next year. I do have a head lamp, I bought it so I could go running in winter but meh, not a fan of it. I don't like to be setting up after dark either, it's a good excuse to have a break from it!
Should be able to fire up the mega tree tonight. Although total display set up won't be happening tomorrow night, the bulk of the display will be done and that will give me the full week to concerntrate on sequencing End is in sight, photos to come this arvo.

 

[David_AVD]

call me weird, I love tracing parcels can always see it getting closer to me hehehe

.

 

[toodle_pipsky]

Well, it's been a loooooooong hot week and sunburt to prove that I am a dedicated Christmas light nut. The best nut there is. While I didn't meet the 1 Dec deadline, I will have 100% light for 8 Dec which I am very happy about. I'll be able to turn most stuff on tonight to actually test. Really nervous since this is the first year I've set up the mega tree without testing it. . . . not the best way of doing it!
My last minute wire is sitting waiting to be delivered to me tomorrow. So by mid week the spinners will be up.
A huge thanks to my Dad (who I managed to hit on the head with a 16ft a-frame, poor Dad) and a huge thanks to my hubby, who I am sorry to say has a little bit more work left to do. hehehehe He's not here at the moment, but it will be a nice surprise when he gets home from Brissie tomorrow. And thanks to the elves here too.
Photos to come of the lights or me in the foetal position because the tree didn't work.

 

[toodle_pipsky]

Well I am 80% done in the yard! Weeee!
Tested the mega tree - the bad news is I'm getting weird behaviour from 1 of the P12s. I can't "talk" to the first P12 any more through the browser although I was able to do that today after the firmware update and a brief test (although it's hard to test in broad daylight). The last 4 universes just blink random colours, the first 8 did run a sequence once but then stayed on with the last colour of the sequence and then never changed. Have I broken something by running power for first full 8 universes plus the first part (35 pixels by 4) of the last 4 universes on 1 power supply then run the other board plus power injection for other 4 universes (105 pixels by 4) on a separate supply? Could this be caused by something else?
Thanks heaps.

 

[toodle_pipsky]

I think my mega tree is working. So we have a final tidy up at the back of it (had made a makeshift door way into the middle of the tree for set up) and it is done!

When I get home from work the spinners should be finished by my fabo husband. So they can be set up in the yard. Let the tedious screwing in of wires into screw terminals begin!

 

[Bird]

When I get home from work the spinners should be finished by my fabo husband. So they can be set up in the yard. Let the tedious screwing in of wires into screw terminals begin!

Mates that screw together stay together.

for gutter peeps .. I meant terminals

 

[toodle_pipsky]

Updated the first post with what we got running and what didn't make it. And while it's not the usual show, we did a pretty darn good job at getting something up and running with no time to do it! Still some gremlins in the system (namely my DMX stuff and LSP having a tendency to crash when running anything other than 1 very specific 30 second sequence) but that's ok. I'm taking this oportunity to test in the field and continue learning. This year was really going to be nothing other than a "learning year". I was talking to mum the other day about it and described it as another year one. Each year after that first year was adding to and re-tooling existing stuff/technology. This year I upgraded big time, so it really feels like year one again.

This will most likely be the last Christmas display in this yard. We are looking at moving into bigger and better. I'm a little sad I couldn't do better as a last hoorah. Mind you, we can be our own worst critic, everyone else in the family is just blown away at how pretty the pixels are.

 

[logandc99]

Well done. That looks great, especially since you had so little time to do it. Love the mega tree!

 

[Bird]

That is one seriously nice looking tree