FAQs

Wondering how (or why) we would do this light display…read on:

I’m often asked by friends, family and neighbors, why in the world would you put lights all over your house and yard and make them flash to music?

I’m a nut for automation. If you can automate it, I’m all over it. Once I learned about this “hobby” and how easy it was to automate a light display, I knew I had to do it. I went to see a local display and learned about Do It Yourself Christmas.

Do It Yourself Christmas is an on-line community of do-it-yourself light enthusiasts. Anything you would ever want to know about light automation can be found on the Do It Yourself Christmas website.

So you want to automate your display, how do you do it?

Display automation is made up of 5 components:

· Lights (and lots of them!)

· Light controller boards

· A computer and software to run the show and an FM Transmitter to broadcast the audio

· An understanding spouse (and patient neighbors)

· Time (and lots of that, too!)

Lights: At last count, we’re at just over 17,000 lights with a mix of LED and incandescent bulbs.

Controller boards: Believe it or not, there are several platforms to choose from. There are commercial controllers and more “do- it-yourself” type controllers. Obviously, the “do-it-yourself” type controllers are more cost effective, but require a great deal of time to assemble (that’s right….you have to solder every resistor, capacitor, socket, etc. to it). Don’t be overwhelmed, you don’t have to know what each of these components do, just their location on the board. Plenty of information is available on soldering these components on the Do It Yourself Christmas forum and from pictures on other hobbyists’ websites.

So you’ve decided you might want to try this hobby and save some money in the process. You’ve probably selected the “do-it- yourself” approach. Even with in the “do-it-yourself” realm, there are several board platforms to choose from. In this world of do

-it-yourself Christmas lighting automation, it almost seems like a requirement to first “read the Wiki”. (It seems like a lot of beginners post questions on the forum and the response is always “read the Wiki”.) This Wiki actually does contain everything you need to know to get started. It can be found by clicking here.

For our display, we choose the Renard family of lighting controllers—specifically the Renard 64. We’re running two Renard 64 controller boards, which give us 128 dimmable channels (individually controlled circuits). I mention “dimmable” only because not every controller board allows dimming.

128 channels may sound like a lot, but really it’s not. Believe me, the use of your channels quickly add up. However, there are “practical” limitations. Most newer homes have a 200 amp service from their power company. A single strand of 100-count mini- light strands pull .33 Amps. So, now you’re thinking, “Sweet!! I can run 605 strands of 100-count mini’s in my display!!!” Sure, you can...if you want to sit in the dark for three hours a night! Point being, give some consideration to how much dedicated power you want to allocate to your show. You certainly don’t want to have to run outside to unplug a couple strands of lights every time you want to pop some popcorn in the microwave!!

We had four (4) dedicated, 20A circuits placed outside to run the show. For the first year, and the foreseeable future, that should be plenty of power—especially with a good mix of regular incandescent and LED lights. Need more juice, call your local power company. I’m sure they’ll be glad to run you an additional service and/or meter...for a $mall fee, of course.

Computer and Software: You’ve bought some lights on the cheap (after Christmas, of course), selected your controller board and have enough dedicated power to run your show. What kind of computer are you going use to run the show? A Windows 2000 Pentium II, perhaps? Believe it or not, some people do. And that’s perfectly okay, as long as it works for you and has a decent sound card. I actually started down that road, but decided (for stability sake) to use a newer Vista machine.

The software is free. (Yes, free). It is called Vixen. It is a Windows .Net platform based package that has too many features to list here. Check out VixenLights (or the Wiki) for hardware and memory requirements and much more information.

So you have lights, controller boards, power and a computer to run Vixen. What about sound? If you live on a 900 acre ranch where your closest neighbor is 30 miles away, just put some speakers in your front yard and “crank it up”. For the rest of us, a low-power, FM transmitter will do the trick. We went with the EDM LCD Transmitter from EDM Design. It had excellent reviews and has a decent range (Remember, there’s something here in The States called the FCC). I built a dipole antenna tuned to 91.1 FM. This helps increase our footprint and clarity. Of course, we are in compliance with all FCC Part 15 regulations.

Spouse: I can’t say enough about how understanding my wife has been through this whole process. Go to Lowe’s to buy some flowers, walk out with an extension cord. Go to Lowe’s to buy a bag of potting soil, walk out with an extension cord. I’m sure she got tired of the following, “Hey, sweetie….do you mind running over to Firefold to pick up…”. Without her help, this project would have never been completed. More importantly, without her support, this project wouldn’t have been funded!! Thanks, sweetie!!

Time: This is probably the key component when taking on a project like this one. One can very easily underestimate the amount of time needed to work through each task of a project like this one. I deal with project plans, timelines and milestones for a living and almost let this one slip away from me. Bottom line….start early and pace yourself. When, in mid-May, your neighbor walks over and asks what you’re doing. Simply smile and say, “...working on Christmas lights.” Sure they’ll think your nuts, but that’s okay. To take on a project like this, perhaps that’s slightly true. But, nevertheless, this is the only hobby that makes you hum Christmas songs all year long.

What songs did you use?

Go Fish — Joy to the World

Trans-Siberian Orchestra — Christmas Eve-Sarajevo 12-24

DJ Schwede — Music Box Dancer

Trans-Siberian Orchestra — Wizards in Winter

How much did this cost?

I tried tracking the costs of this project and had a budget in mind when I first started. I pretty much blew my budget with the electrician and the four dedicated 20A outlets outside. There are a lot of moving parts to this project that quickly add up. However, look for sale items and deals on-line (especially lights after Christmas). Buy things you’ll need throughout the year to spread your costs a little and start small.

How much did your power bill go up?

Since this is our first year, we haven’t seen the impact yet. However, if you figure the lights flash and blink and are rarely all on at the same time, I don’t expect our power bill to go up a considerable amount.

Why did you choose The Humane Society of Concord and Greater Cabarrus County as your partner charity?

My wife and I are both dog lovers. We believe the Humane Society does great work in finding new homes for pets. Ironically, the Humane Society of Concord, needs a new home. They are currently conducting a fund drive to raise enough money to build their own facility. Remember, this is a local organization that helps local animals and is staffed by local volunteers. Any amount you give stays in the community. This isn’t a large, multi-national charity where 20% of your contribution goes towards administrative overhead. Check out our Donation page or the Humane Society of Concord’s page to find out how you can help.

FAQs