UnXmas Lighted Neighborhood

[BigRedNole]

After driving through the neighborhood all season long, there are no real great displays. I decided (after contemplating it before) that I will have to get a display done next year. I know a bit about it, but nothing in great detail. I am drawing out what I would initially like and see where I can go from there. I am hoping I do not have to do this in multiple stages initially. I would like to have the lights up semi-permanently. However, cost may make it come in stages and be somewhat prohibitive initially. Below is a map out of my house from where people would generally see it (~80 feet).

The red outlines are what I want to do. The yellow outline would be a pixel matrix or a projector. The tree will most likely get taken down. I hate the tree

IMG_20181226_120043926

• BigRedNole
• Dec 27, 2018

 

[djgra79]

Looks like a good plan so far.
I said to my wife last night as we were out looking at lights that I'd love to have a double story house, purely for a lighting/decorating perspective - I could never live in one

 

[darylc]

Looks like a good plan so far.
I said to my wife last night as we were out looking at lights that I'd love to have a double story house, purely for a lighting/decorating perspective - I could never live in one

Considered building a wooden frame coro covered extension on top?

 

[djgra79]

lol, quite a bit of effort to put up some lights. The less I spend on the roof the better!

 

[MacArthur St Light Fusion]

I have my house lines up all year round... Have put them in UV protected endcapping... Haven't had a strip go bad yet. Just depends if you are planning to run strips on your house or nodes... (C'mon Uncledan this is your chance! Strip hater!)

 

[uncledan]

I would HIGHLY recommend not using strip... If you want to repair things constantly and have failures due to water ingress then go right ahead.. I personally love the look of the traditional type C9 Pixabulb. My display was often referred to as "Las Vegas" or a "Liquor Store" when I had strip house outline. Countless compliments when I replaced the strip outline for a more traditional type C9 pixel. No failures and some have been up for close to 2 years. Using nodes or a C9 will also make for a much easier install and less power injection

 

[BigRedNole]

Thanks for the initial feedback. I am not putting anything on the roof. I will probably even hire someone to put the lights on the 2nd story eaves. As for 1-story houses, they do not exist in our area. If they do, they are in private lots because the cities and towns do not get the same tax money. If they are 1-story, they take more property space decreasing the number of houses (larger lot size, smaller house size). With 2-story, they get about 1.5x the tax dollars per house and about 2 more houses per acre.

I do have to figure out which path to take on the light type. I am not sure yet, but for the outline it will probably be pixel nodes and not strips. I I will be doing more research and cost analysis. I plan to leave the lights up on the outlines all year. The windows will come down after each season.

 

[ezellner]

You've got a good plan to get started. I'd also say nodes and not strips if you are going to leave them up all year. Depending on where you are, make sure you keep them out of the sun. I don't think any have UV protection so will yellow if exposed. Also extreme heat won't help either. Go for IP68 to minimize water intrusion issues.

 

[BigRedNole]

Thank you for the information. The front of the house gets almost no sun which made the house perfect for solar panels. As for "permanent", I am talking about under the eaves. The windows and door would be modular or at least easy enough to put up and take down. I am not one for very high on a ladder. Getting too old for that. I would have done it 20 years ago, but with family now, not worth it.

My question with the C9 type lights, what do you do with the excess lights on a run? What I mean is if I have a 15 run and a plan for 8" spacing, that is 23 lights. The lights come with 50 to a strand. What would you do with the other 27 lights...cut the wire, cap it, and use the lights elsewhere?

 

[uncledan]

First step is figure out length needed for every window and section of the eaves. You can custom order a string for each one and not have any excess lights or soldering to do. Make sure you order some spares!

 

[ezellner]

Thank you for the information. The front of the house gets almost no sun which made the house perfect for solar panels. As for "permanent", I am talking about under the eaves. The windows and door would be modular or at least easy enough to put up and take down. I am not one for very high on a ladder. Getting too old for that. I would have done it 20 years ago, but with family now, not worth it.

My question with the C9 type lights, what do you do with the excess lights on a run? What I mean is if I have a 15 run and a plan for 8" spacing, that is 23 lights. The lights come with 50 to a strand. What would you do with the other 27 lights...cut the wire, cap it, and use the lights elsewhere?

If you do order standard lengths, yes, you cut off the ones you don't need and typically put on an end connector so you don't have bare wires at the end. Use the extra ones for another place that doesn't need a full string or save them for replacing dead pixels. Custom ordering saves you the time and effort of making all the modifications necessary. However, if you aren't 100% certain of your measurements or set up, going standard and making your own mods may make more sense.

 

[BigRedNole]

Thanks for the info. When I know what I want to do spacing wise, I will work with Ray Wu probably to get the custom spacing. Someone mentioned to plan for 5-6" custom spacing if I want 4" spacing. They said it would not be exact and that I would want the extra bit of length.

I went to the hardware store to look at j-channel. I don't think it is the best solution for me. I have been told that for pixels on the house it is better to point them out towards the audience. If that is the case, j-channel will not work because it would force the pixels to point down. If I need to point them at the audience (towards the street), it is probably best for the eaves to be conduit with Boscoyo ChromaTrim. The conduit can be hidden behind the eave lip and the ChromaTrim will zip tie easily to it.