I have been setting up "beyond the normal amount" of lights for my Christmas displays for many years. In 2008 I decided to change things and jump into the world of automated lighting. While I wanted to try my hand at the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) type of hardware/software, I decided to take the easier way out and go with a couple pre-built controllers from Light-O-Rama. They make great products but they are a bit on the pricey side.
In 2009 my plan was to add several DIY components to my show. I built several projects including multiple types of light controllers and other projects. I ended up with 224 channels (160 AC control and 64 DC control) of light control and had around 15,000 lights. I had hoped to be at a higher light count (20k) but spent a lot of time on other hardware instead.
For 2010, my main focus was on enhancing what I already had - mainly through the use of RGB (Red/Green/Blue) LEDs and various other components. The overall channel count hovered at about 300 channels and was completely controlled through DMX (except for the LEDTriks sign which was RS-485 serial). I made good use of controllers of my own design based off designs from the open community at DIYC. I also had some DIY strobes in my MegaTree that really made parts of the show pop.
For 2011, I only made a few changes - these included adding four times as many lights around the tree trunk to give it a more fluid look, went to 96 mini-strobes in the MegaTree and finally, the window frame was updated with pixel strips to give per LED control.
Our song list for 2011 is:
The entire show is 9 songs and runs about 30 minutes long - I hope to add at least one more before the show stops.
Come see the show live - here's the map for 1473 Glacier Drive in San Jose:
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