Trying to understand everything

[orval]

I am new to ACL but I have been researching it and came across your website. The Manual 1.0 provided a lot of good information. I have even decided to take the plunge into the Rainbow Flood Light System from Seasonal Entertainment LLC to get started. I have been collecting LED rope and mini-lighting to prepare my system. I can't wait to have something put together to check it out.


Thank you for putting this site together - it appears to be very informative and supportive of newbies!

 

[BrianJ]

Welcome to ACL. There is a great assortment of members here from around the world with experience in all types of Christmas displays. If you have any questions just post a thread or pop into chat for a bit.
Good luck with your display.

 

[kel]

 

[fasteddy]

Welcome to ACL, Glad you are finding the forum very helpful, feel free to ask any questions. as there are many members always willing to help

 

[Bird]

to ACL Orval
One of the many great things about this site is 'there is never a dumb question'.
Only dumb answers when I try to answer a tech question.

 

[kane]

I am new to ACL but I have been researching it and came across your website. The Manual 1.0 provided a lot of good information. I have even decided to take the plunge into the Rainbow Flood Light System from Seasonal Entertainment LLC to get started. I have been collecting LED rope and mini-lighting to prepare my system. I can't wait to have something put together to check it out.

If you haven't already purchased the rainbow floods, make sure that you look at all options first. I purchased 4 of them in their cheapest form ($25/each as a diy kit) plus shipping, and once you add an enclosure, you're looking at up to $45-$50

An alternative is the Ray Wu 10W DMX floods, which are fully assembled in an enclosure
http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/10W-RGB-DMX-flood-light-DC12V-input/701799_550394253.html

I have 12 of the latter, and I've found the brightness is about the same as the rainbow floods


Obviously if you're keen on doing a DIY kit, then the rainbow floods are your better choice!

Cheers

Kane

 

[orval]

Thank you everyone for the warm welcome. I, too, get a lot of satisfaction helping others understand some of my other hobbies, such as flying, beer, and homebrewing.


I didn't plan to hang any lights on the house this year because I didn't want to spend an entire weekend on a ladder. However, I became intrigued by the different lighting effects that were available while I was searching for "plastic channels" to hide rope lighting under the soffit of my house. My goal was to "hide" the lights under the soffit so the lighting effect would be visible, but the source was not. This way, I wouldn't need to take them down right away, or at all, because they would be out of sight....however, in my online search for various lighting options, I found myself engrossed in ACL. We have a saying in the homebrewing circles, "Give a man a beer and he wastes an hour, teach a man to brew and he wastes a lifetime!". I believe that same motto could apply to ACL!

In Reply to Kane - too late, I already placed the order but I appreciate the tip. Regarding the aliexpress site, I have been there and researched their prices, but I also try to buy "local", if possible and somewhat reasonable. The "complete" set up with 5 lights, power, Rainbow Brain, cables, adapter plates, and mounting ties came to a total of $273 plus shipping. As a "newbie", I liked the convenience of having everything to get started and figured it was a good place to initiate myself in this new hobby since it was a DIY kit. (Not that I need a new hobby...according to the wife).


The part that is still a little unclear is "when I get bored with this kit, what is needed to expand/upgrade to a larger system"? I understand that I will need a Controller if I want to create animation and other cool effects. I see a lot of different components like pcb's, dmx's, ssr's, etc. Being a pilot, I am not afraid of acronyms, I just want to know how they will impact my system and why I need one.


My future goals involve incorporating traditional LED lighting as well as RGB strip or rope lighting when I begin animating my lights. I am a person who will spend an extra buck today if I can save two tomorrow. Therefore, I want to ensure that anything I purchase will not limit myself in the future should I decide to expand my display.

 

[kane]

In Reply to Kane - too late, I already placed the order but I appreciate the tip. Regarding the aliexpress site, I have been there and researched their prices, but I also try to buy "local", if possible and somewhat reasonable. The "complete" set up with 5 lights, power, Rainbow Brain, cables, adapter plates, and mounting ties came to a total of $273 plus shipping. As a "newbie", I liked the convenience of having everything to get started and figured it was a good place to initiate myself in this new hobby since it was a DIY kit. (Not that I need a new hobby...according to the wife).

Yeah, absolutely - I also enjoyed building my 4 rainbow floods (plus a flood extreme), but any more than that and I probably would have got bored - probably couldn't have done another 12, hence the ones from Ray were great.

Also agree with the idea of buying local - unfortunately most of the gear we use comes from China (and regularly not available elsewhere), so most of us do find ourselves sending funds over that way regularly!

 

[jimmy61]

i am thinking along the same lines as you
love the looks of the rainbow floods on the videos i have been watching but i am thinking of buying the assembled version. or the diy.or both ???????

i'll think about it some more. i think !

 

[fasteddy]

I have 16 rainbow floods in my display that i built 4 years back when they were first released, back then they were $12 a kit so nice and cheap, but if i was doing it again now then i would be using the Ray Wu DMX floods because by the time you price the floods, the covers and the controller you then get a lot more with the Ray specials. But i still like my rainbow floods very much and have no need to update them, so this will be their 4th year of ues this year