When the ‘show’ is done for the night… what then?

[simony]

So imagine I sequence a fantastical 20min lights show with music and it loops from 8:30-10pm… then the music stops and the program time of the night is done… now what?

What do people do for their displays when it’s just time for pretty lights? Do you build a different, simpler sequence that plays instead? Or is there a setting to just leave them twinkling until a timer stops them later that night?

 

[Notenoughlights]

I turn everything off after the show is finished for the night.. Attract vandals like moths to a flame if I didn't

I do keep my P5 display running telling people that there is more to see if they come back the next day, most people miss the display by 30 mins or so.

 

[djgra79]

I have a static (no music) sequence on loop before 8pm that just displays show times on my panel matrix and a basic twinkle of red green white on whole house.
Then show runs from 8 til <insert finish time here depending on day of week and proximity to Christmas Day>
Then I run the same static sequence from pre-show for ~30 mins after the show so people know there's nothing else to see, but any late comers will still see something lit up, giving them some encouragement to come back and see it another day properly.

 

[thewanderingpine]

I run the sequenced show until lights out. But a cool-down (maybe with a “starts tomorrow night at 8:30pm message”) would be easy to schedule in FPP/xschedule.

there’s a nice “make pixels look like old lights” sequence that DanielR posted here: https://xlightsseq.com/sequences/static-traditional-christmas-light-sequence.690/

 

[merryoncherry]

Usually a few seconds of message reminding people the show hours so they know the end was intentional (based on RF choices and hard stop, it can be abrupt), then it's shut off at the panels promptly.

 

[Freman]

My last show finishes some time after 11, the lights auto shut off at 11.30, the time between is filled with blinking patterns...
In fact it's so well automated at this point, I'm often asleep and don't even know what it's doing lol

 

[Indigogyre]

After the show, I'll run in "Quiet Mode" which are different scene effects and some static lights settings without any sound to them. The lights will turn off maybe about 12:30am and automation will power down the controllers shortly after.

I'm one of the few odd ones that will turn my lights on in the Mornings and run the same "Quiet Mode" from 6am - about 8am since it is dark starting at that time. I started so my daughter would have light going off to school in the mornings and thought it was cheerful and have kept at it. She said the bus drivers liked seeing the lights in the mornings also.