what do i need to buy to get started

[thecrazylightlady]

ive been doing my christmas display for 9 years now and its time to step it up a notch. i have no idea on where to start, i want my lights to flash to music, what is the first thing or things i need to buy??? i currently run about 150 strands of lights, mostly led and a few rope lights and some blow moulds just to name a few. please help, i have limited computer knowledge, but im willing to learn, i would just like to start of simple.
thanks

 

[Beacy]

he first thing that you probably need to consider is how much effort you want to put into the electrical side of things. If you want to stay all 240V AC then you probably only have one option being Light o Rama, however this is aso probably the most expensive option due to te cost of the boards and the shipping of them. It is also probably the most dangerous too give 240V will kill someone if they get zapped.


Alternatively if you go to DC voltage this opens a few more doors with lower cost boards, some locally made, It is safer option as most of your lights would be running on 5 volt to 32 Volt, even though you have some rope lights at present that will probably be 240V there are low voltage versions of these available.


Really the main question that you need to answer is how much time have you got or are you prepared to put in to get it where you want it to be. The easiest would be the LOR option, but it does have the draw backs of cost, which ever way you want to go everyone here will be happy to walk you through it as you hit the hurdles, which you will find along the way.

 

[thecrazylightlady]

ive looked at the light o rama before, but now knowing that it would be dangerous, i would say that ill go for your other option that is safer. im a busy mum, with 2 jobs, but ALWAYS find time for my christmas lights, so im prepared to put in the time

 

[fasteddy]

If your not wanting to use 240V lighting then there are 2 main choices here for you, either going the DMX route using a DMX DC control board or going the LOR DC controller board. Both will allow you to control your LEDs and incands as long as they are below 35 volts. Currently there really isnt anything that is simple plug and play. There are other options if you wanting to go down the RGB path. You can use LOR CCR and CCB or the stellascapes pixels, these options allow a much higher level of plug and play but they do come at a price but they also have great support and warranty.

So its actually hard to give you a more precise idea of what you want without knowing things like budgets and what you are wanting to achieve. The more info the better

But below is a basic list of what is needed to get a DMX DC board setup going.


The basic items you will need will be:

1: Computer with DMX sequencing software

2: Radio transmitter

3: DMX dongle

4: Power supply

5: DC Controller board

6: Lights

7: CAT5 cable for connecting the data cable from the DMX dongle to the controller and cable to connect the power supply to the controller