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I noticed from some of the postings that there are some big jumps. So, I want to continue this subject.
I am finally back to working on my display. I debated on not doing a display this year. I had opportunities with my teenager. It has been a struggle, but we are on the right road now.
Last year I got a lot of grief on me doing my display. (I received a lot of support, too!) I thought, let's not do one and see if they like having a dark house during Christmas. Well, I was encouraged to put it up again. So, here we go.
First thing I am doing is organizing. Last night, I started organizing all my spare mini light bulbs. The clears, I am separating by the holder. Last year when I was replacing bulbs, it was a pain trying to find the right holder. I had several holders missing out of light strings. I'm taking all those little plastic bags with the fuses and spare bulbs and separating the bulbs and fuses. The bags are trash. My teenager even helped me do this. I have more to do.
I am starting to go through my garage sale finds and checking each. I'm going to go through each box of lights and check for bad bulbs. I have a Light Pro. I will work with that and see if I can get better results. Out of eight strings, It helped on 4 of them. It was really fast, based on past methods of pulling each bulb and testing with a good one.
I had four wireframe reindeer last year. This year, through garage sales I think I have 11 deer. I will check each one and put on new lights if I need to.
As I check everything, I will clearly mark what is inside each box and organize the garage so I will have a staging area by October.
I reread through this thread and noticed my list of what I wanted. My budget this year is not what I want, but that is OK! More opportunities! Most of this year's list will be next year's list!
More later...
Michael B
Edit: Spelling
Last edited on Sunday July 15th, 2007 11:46 am by Michael B
Of the 3 types you talked about I am the guy with something scribbled on a piece of paper. The one thing that comes to me from this thread is I once heard a saying that has stuck with me: EVEN IF YOUR ON THE RIGHT TRACK, IF YOU SIT THERE TOO LONG YOU WILL STILL GET RUN OVER BY THE TRAIN. If I had waited til now to start I would not be ready by Christmas. My wife an I have been working since Jan. I know a lot of people have thier display down pat but this a word to the wise for newbies like myself. It takes a lot more time than I ever thought it would. Its the middle of July already and I still have stuff to get finished my how time flies when your having fun.
Finished: 4 leaping light arches
12 white mini trees
8 multi mini trees
4 green mini trees
4 red mini trees
base for mega tree
98 extension cords (7000 ft) made from spt
4 songs sequenced
mounted my LOR boxes in the garage
To do: 16 more extension cords to make I ran out of wire for the 3rd time
mega trees mast and in ground mount
tree topper I had one made but have changed design I want
4 more mini trees to wrap
more sequencing
keep reading in PC and learning
set everything up and test run the show in my garage
I totally agree with your statement about waiting until July. Last year, I worked, read, planned on it all year. This year, I have a good handle on what needs to be done and how long it takes to get it done.
On Monday, July 23rd, I am going to Lori's Lighted Delites to buy some wireframes during her Christmas in July sale. I plan on checking out her clearance items. I'll put the lights on myself and save a bundle. She is located in Lawety, FL. I love that place.
Also, I plan on going to the Florida Mini PLUS on October 13th. I hosted the Mini last at my house. It is a great way to meet some terrific people and to help make all this "stuff" you have read make sense.
If you can go to PLUS in early August, go. You can meet decorators from all over the country. That will be better than a Mini. Plus, there will be a lot of wonderful vendors there.
I've had a new project that has taken my time
I spent the last 5-6 weeks working on a 15x17 suntoom w/6 skylights
All the windows & skylights are in plus slider
The roof membrane is on, ready to shingle
Well I can say I am making a big light jump this year. Last year I had just under 7,000 lights and this year they're jumping to 20,000. This is the first year that I will have a mega tree too. (though it won't be overly great this year).
The garden that the display runs on is also getting a few changes.
Before:
Not-Quite After: (missing some pavers!)
Demo sequence with many more lights this year (Computer Generated with Vixen). No ability to fade the lights at this stage... I simply cannot afford to get the necessary products to do this
I want to update everyone and give my final thoughts about going big or bigger:
First I will give a little back ground.
I went from about 11,000-12,000 lights no channels in 2005
to just over 30,000 and 16 channels in 2006
to just over 43,000 and 16 channels in 2007
I found over the past year I didn't work on getting ready for my display or have the desire to for most of the year. Why: not sure. Possible reasons I have stated earlier. After the Florida Mini at the Copeland's house in October was when I really started to kick butt and get things done.
One of my greats tools this past year was a little pray by Mira:
A Christmas Enthusiast Prayer
As I untangle strings of Christmas lights, Lord help me to remember that I do this first to honor You. Never let me get so prideful of my display that I fail to see the wonders in the eyes of a child or the joy on the faces of those who are still children at heart. Never let me forget that my total effort is to make Christmas memories, bring cheer and to slow down the pace of a hectic season if only for a moment. And Lord, someday when I meet you face to face, may I hear you say:
“When you made My people smile, you made Me smile.”
This made me grounded in what is important and how I should act while I am putting up my display. I made up my mind to enjoy myself and not get hooked up in deadlines. I mad a rule. If I stop having fun then the lights stopped going up. I stopped a couple of times. One time I took 31/2 days off and pushed my start up date from Thanksgiving to December 1st. That was the best thing I did.
While I was putting up the display this year (I started Nov 3rdish), I tried to include my whole family in a fun way. Some helped more thwn others but they all seemed to take pride in what they had done. I even tried to give them credit while they were around.
I want to update the following list I made back on Feb. 8th:(what actually happened is in red) (Blue will be ideas for this year.)
A couple of things that might happen or not:
Get more power so I don't have to go through windows and have the option of going bigger. Ron Lister said I need to light more of my trees. I was out of power on that side of the house. I had none left to give. I lit 22 tree trunks last year.
I had added 80 amps of more power. I wrapped 43 tree trunks this year. I want to add 40 more amps this year. I had a total of about 140 amps used in 07'.
Replace Belkin with a Ramsey Transmitter. The Belkin worked for me last year, but I have a wide yard and if I get a lot of cars they all won't be able to hear the music.
I actually bout my audio cable and got my Belkin out to the outside porch and the range and clarity was much improved. I still need a transmitter though.
Get a new 16 ch controller from LOR. The new one for $239, you put together yourself.
Decided that I needed to concentrate on adding more extension cords. I will add a LOR 16 ch. controller this year. Making a total of 32 channels.
Get a wireframe Nativity set. I want one real bad.
I bought mine from Lori's and added the lights myself. Plan to add the Three Wise Men.
Go up to 40K in lights. I went past 43,000 lights. Plan to make 47,000 lights.
Make everything look good. I want straighter lines around the trees. I decided not to make pathways this past year and outline the ground around the trees. I instead added more trees wrapped in lights.
Website Discussed only.
Strobes Researched only.
More solid colored lights. I really added a lot of solid colored lights. Plan to add more.
I'm sure I won't do half of this but this is my list. I got more done than I thought.
Michael B I am starting to sign my full name more often. Michael Beason
Just a little input from a newbie on a few things mentioned in different replies.
Being new to the Christmas decorating and also to PC . I ask lots of questions and feel the only stupid questions are the ones that aren't asked.
I agree there are a lot of redundant questions asked and new members should make an effort to check the search option before asking. I do this most of the time,but if you have used the search on PC then you know it doesn't always find what your looking for even though there are past post on the subject.
Finding the correct key word is the key to success.(No pun intended)
This past year was my first attempt at a bigger display. How many lights I had I really don't know. Somewhere around 12,000. Truth be told I don't count and doubt I ever will. It's not about who has what or how much in my book.
I like most others want to create a larger display this year. I took advantage of the clearance sales and purchased lots of lights, wire frames etc.
Just in lights I bought something like 30,000. I haven't counted nor do I plan to.
I do not plan on using every single item and light string I bought, but wanted to have supplies on hand so when an idea strikes me I have what I need to go forward.
I am staying realistic in my approach, I read other newbies talking about hundreds of channels LOR and tens of thousands of lights their first year. To me this is setting yourself up for failure.
With the modest amount of stuff I bought, I feel overwhelmed in where I am going to place stuff never mind programming an LOR.
I believe a large display needs to be built over time and not thrown together in one season if you hope to have a beautiful, tasteful display and not one that looks like Christmas puked on your yard.
I started thinking about how I am going to do with my display next year having all these new items and was getting confused about where to place them so they will look good and found this to be kind of difficult to picture in my mind.
What I'm doing is to photograph all the items. Now I can look at them I can even cut them out and place them on a drawing of my house and yard to get a feel of what it could look like and what will or wont fit where.
Another thought I'm having is to test each item as to how much power it pulls and write that on the back of each picture for future reference when I go animated.
I was hoping to start out with 32 channels of LOR this year,but found out my stepson needs braces on his teeth,so this may not happen? Maybe 16 channels.
Why do some put such a large emphasis on the number of lights they have. It seems like some think the more you have the better your display you will have. I would rather have less lights if that would mean having a better looking display,than having tens of thousands just to say I have them.
My dream display is one that will be almost entirely hand made by me, with the exception of lights. I don't have the means to build my own light strings YET
Newbies need to be realistic in their approach.
Rome wasn't built in a day.
Last edited on Wednesday January 23rd, 2008 09:42 pm by Chris in Ct
____________________ Keeping static alive for another year anyway
GS wrote: When adding all those new lights, don't forget to add in the time to remove all those labels
AMEN!!!!!!!!
This easily added almost 2 hours to my job when adding 5000 lights last year. I was crazily surprised. Of course I sorted out the Fuses and then cleaned up everything aftewards.
Everybody has contributed so much to this thread so I'll add the things that shocked me the most:
-Extension cords! Wow can the price of these add up in a hurry. I never thought I'd have so many of them. Shop around and watch for sales to make the best of what your looking for.
-Power! Make sure you have enough room on your panel and here's a tip, to avoid using GFI's mount your plugs 10 feet higher than ground to "Legally" put regular external plugs in. At least I think that's how high they have to be.
-Plan, ask questions and draw out your display. Mine keeps changing every year but, I think 2008 will be the year I add 2 last things and then it will all be the same for a couple of years. Different songs but, same props.
- SPARE BULBS. Make sure you have lots of spare strands, lights, and plugs. I don't know how many countless times I was out there changing bulbs. I purchased extra bulbs and lights this year for those. "Just in case" scenarios...
I'm sure I'll think of other things but, that's it for now.
dougd wrote: How did you manage 43,000 on just 16 channels, that must have been pretty hard to do. I had a hard time doing 40,000 lights on 64 channels.
Doug,
I manage 7,000 on 16 channels. Next year I am adding 16 ch. more. I had 7,000 animated and 36,000 static.
Chris in Ct wrote: Just a little input from a newbie on a few things mentioned in different replies.
Being new to the Christmas decorating and also to PC . I ask lots of questions and feel the only stupid questions are the ones that aren't asked.
I agree there are a lot of redundant questions asked and new members should make an effort to check the search option before asking. I do this most of the time,but if you have used the search on PC then you know it doesn't always find what your looking for even though there are past post on the subject.
Finding the correct key word is the key to success.(No pun intended)
This past year was my first attempt at a bigger display. How many lights I had I really don't know. Somewhere around 12,000. Truth be told I don't count and doubt I ever will. It's not about who has what or how much in my book.
I like most others want to create a larger display this year. I took advantage of the clearance sales and purchased lots of lights, wire frames etc.
Just in lights I bought something like 30,000. I haven't counted nor do I plan to.
I do not plan on using every single item and light string I bought, but wanted to have supplies on hand so when an idea strikes me I have what I need to go forward.
I am staying realistic in my approach, I read other newbies talking about hundreds of channels LOR and tens of thousands of lights their first year. To me this is setting yourself up for failure.
With the modest amount of stuff I bought, I feel overwhelmed in where I am going to place stuff never mind programming an LOR.
I believe a large display needs to be built over time and not thrown together in one season if you hope to have a beautiful, tasteful display and not one that looks like Christmas puked on your yard.
I started thinking about how I am going to do with my display next year having all these new items and was getting confused about where to place them so they will look good and found this to be kind of difficult to picture in my mind.
What I'm doing is to photograph all the items. Now I can look at them I can even cut them out and place them on a drawing of my house and yard to get a feel of what it could look like and what will or wont fit where.
Another thought I'm having is to test each item as to how much power it pulls and write that on the back of each picture for future reference when I go animated.
I was hoping to start out with 32 channels of LOR this year,but found out my stepson needs braces on his teeth,so this may not happen? Maybe 16 channels.
Why do some put such a large emphasis on the number of lights they have. It seems like some think the more you have the better your display you will have. I would rather have less lights if that would mean having a better looking display,than having tens of thousands just to say I have them.
My dream display is one that will be almost entirely hand made by me, with the exception of lights. I don't have the means to build my own light strings YET
Newbies need to be realistic in their approach.
Rome wasn't built in a day.
Chris, you make a good point about taking one's time. I have been decorating for over 20 years. I have learn a lot from my stupid mistakes with my modest displays for years.
Why do members keep track of how many lights? Great question. I can't answer for them, but for me it is simple. When I first starting going big, I had to know how many amps I was putting on each 20 amp breaker. Also, I like to talk to visitors an that is the first question they ask.
I now use a Kill-A-Watt meter to keep track of my amps. I use blue tape to label each cord that is feeding into each outlet. I write down how many amps are going into each 20 amp breaker. in 07' I used something around 140 amps on 9 -20 amp circuits.
Hey All. Sorry I dropped out for a while. I had a business trip get tossed into my set up time, ran late on the set up. Had some issues. Since Nov 15th, I have only monitored PC maybe once a week. I am now catching up after the season.
I went from 32K lights and 48 channels of LOR in 2006, to >54K lights and 240 LOR. Big jump. I had been stepping up some over the past 3 years, after doing an outdoor display for 19 years. I think those that realize this is a journey and not a race are the ones that will continue to do this for years. You have to love it yourself, and if you are trying to impress people, your doing it for the wrong reasons. Our wonderful PC host, Chuck Smith puts it best, crawl, walk, run.
Planning is key. Execute to your plan. I miscalculated a few things this year, which along with a few other things set me back in my set up. I also changed some things in set up that would not have worked as I "envisioned" them in my minds eye. Taking some additional time in setup tho change some things, those items turned out WAY better than anticipated. Mainly the positioning of my LLA's.
It was stated in this thread to NOT just throw lights out for light count sake. Keeping track of the "number' is cool for the viewers, but the real bonus is the power calculations. At over 54K of lights, in Seattle, I was not the "biggest". There are several displays that are 100K, 200K and up. I had a lot of vistors made the rounds. Many told me they thought mine was best because of the balance, taste and fun factor. I was most proud of that.
Stepping up in LOR channels, I thought a lot about how I would place and secure controllers. In the end, simple was best and keeping them close in proximity saved a ton of time and cord length. I think this is key as you step up your channels. I was also blessed with no problems with this years display. I hope that luck continues.
David Balch, my hats off to you with EVERYTHING you pulled off in 2007, the fact that you even had time to put up a display is a testament to your organization.
Planning is almost done for 2008. Had to do it early to get the LED pre-orders in. Mr Sessel, I did have that cigar and drink for you last week. I will call you early next with my order!
I love all the planning you do! You have some great ideas for this year!
I added computer controlled last year. I had 16 channels. It really took my display to the next level. I heard "Wow" a lot! Having computer controlled did add stress, but it was worth it. I am hoping that getting my power needs under control will ease the stress.
Michael B
At some point you find yourself at a saturation point. When the front and back yard are fully lit, you have to examine the "best bang for the buck" over rather extending even more detail onto the handful of remaining bushes are important or else overlay another image over your yard and house but even that gets completely saturated with all 4 colors programmable layered up on everything. When you run out of things to put lights on, then you can turn your sights away from brightness and more into gimicks and special effects.
EDIT: Wow this is an old thread from last July that woke right up with one reply and now like 8 or 9 new replies today.
Last edited on Thursday January 24th, 2008 03:36 am by Joseph Ayo
I love all the planning you do! You have some great ideas for this year!
I added computer controlled last year. I had 16 channels. It really took my display to the next level. I heard "Wow" a lot! Having computer controlled did add stress, but it was worth it. I am hoping that getting my power needs under control will ease the stress.
Michael B
At some point you find yourself at a saturation point. When the front and back yard are fully lit, you have to examine the "best bang for the buck" over rather extending even more detail onto the handful of remaining bushes are important or else overlay another image over your yard and house but even that gets completely saturated with all 4 colors programmable layered up on everything. When you run out of things to put lights on, then you can turn your sights away from brightness and more into gimicks and special effects.
EDIT: Wow this is an old thread from last July that woke right up with one reply and now like 8 or 9 new replies today.
Then you annex your neighbor's yard if you haven't already done so.
Michael B wrote:
This past year I learned I need to do something about power. I had elec. cords going through 4 windows and under 2 doors. I was tied to the house. I didn't like that. So this year I will work on my power.
Once I figure out the power thing, I will figure out the amount of lights and what the design will look like. I try to take what others do and make my own design.
Get more power so I don't have to go through windows and have the option of going bigger. Ron Lister said I need to light more of my trees. I was out of power on that side of the house. I had none left to give. I lit 22 tree trunks last year.
A suggestion for power that I am using. Instead of running everything to the house, get a temporary meter put in, the same type that are used at construction sites. It is easier to handle, put a 4x4 that is 12 feet long 2 1/2 to 3 feet in the ground. Set up the meter and the panel. Then have the power company run a line from the power lines to the meter. This way you can have ample power but not actually run off the current to the house.
Having a temp meter is basically having a second bill. You can have them turn on the power in October or whenever, and then turn it off in Jan.
Thanks for the good suggestion. I had 80 amps installed before my display went up. I only need 40 - 60 amps more for 08'. I don't need that much more power, just the convience.
I have more to do.![:]](/images/emoticons/big_grin.gif)
Most of this year's list will be next year's list! 
(missing some pavers!)
