One of the keys is to streamline installation and removal of props whenever possible. Having lights in PVC and snapping them into clips is a great time saver. I can do my entire house outline by myself in an afternoon.

Mega tree and snowflake tower videos coming soon.

I’m very interested in your PVC clips for the gutters and sidings “J” channel? Is this something you would be willing to sell? Also do you have a link to the clips that you use at your peeks? Thank you for your time 👍

@@willyscreation yes I do sell those clips. Message me at inspirelightshows@gmail.com for more info. As far as the ridge mounts these are the ones I use. www.cannysystems.com/product-page/ridge-clips paired with the PVC adapters www.cannysystems.com/product-page/1-2-pvc-pipe-adapter

Sounds good, I sent you a msg to that email.

They started life as store bought, but I stripped all the regular lights off and put pixels on them. Overall conversion time is about 10 hours per tree. There are actually supposed to be 11 in the display, but only 6 are complete this year.

Whenever it's possible I get my pixels with custom spacing for the intended prop. On the wreath I actually have 4 different spacing intervals as the pixels work their way outward.

Im new to the whole pixel game. If you could lead me in the right direction with some information. I would greatly appreciate.

I have the display on 5 different circuits. I could probably get away with less, but why push it. I periodically test with a watt meter. Overall the current draw on both the AC and DC is low except for when everything is on white which I seldom do with the sequences.

A few of the older boxed are CG1500's that are available from many vendors like DIYLED Express. However most of my newer ones are Bud Industry boxes. They come in tons of sizes, so I just measure what I need and go with whatever size box will fit them. I'm in a multi year transition to going with all xconnect pigtails, so wires are just ordered from the pixel vendor. For printing I use the Prusa MK3S.

@@reelpilot Thank you for the update.

Either way works, but with a pi I don't have to commit a PC to the job and have to worry about software updates or other reboots that may happen during showtimes. I can also continue to use my PC for any high CPU use and never have to worry about it effecting my show. I also choose to run my pis wirelessly, so I don't have to run cat 5 everywhere which is a huge benefit for me since my show is spread out. FPP and xlights work very well together and you can rather easily push xlights configuration out to both pis and controllers.

Four

That enclosure is big enough for me to have both pixel controllers and AC controllers inside.

I haven't kept track of the time that closely, but probably in the neighborhood of 100 hours. It would go down each year as I streamline various aspects, but I'm also adding more and more.

My notes from last year say over 45,000. However that does include the matrix panels which really inflate the amount. I know there is somewhere around 12,000 pixels.

The arches are controlled from 2 ports and the bases are controlled from one port, so a total of 3 ports for the combined arches / bases. The arches needed to be split because it would have been too many pixels controlled from one port since I'm using 2 expansion boards with the F16. Each buck converter then powers two arches. The arches use strips and they are 60 LEDs per meter with 3 LEDs per pixel.

Yes. Only a couple of the AC props I have are incandescent, the rest are are LED.

NBF 32334

It's a Pi Zero with a matrix hat from Crockett Fantasy of Lights.

They go by different names depending on the vendor such as Pixabulbs and Brilliant Bulbs. They are kind of like a pixel version of a C9.

reelpilot do you have a link to these?

www.diyledexpress.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=42&products_id=908

I plan on offering the parts for sale later this year and haven't had the time to look into the cost analysis yet. I've been very busy this year and won't begin to really do much on the Christmas front for another couple of months.

Yes they are available here. inspirelightshows.com/

Yes they are spray painted to blend in better.

@@reelpilot thanks man :)

Not anything worth sharing. It's still a work in progress and since I'm my biggest critic I don't want to share it until it's right. This year everything will be on aluminum rails and perfectly aligned.

@@reelpilot no problem. I am switching to RGBs this year but still have several strings of newly acquired LEDs that I wanted to somehow get a little use out of. I'll just do a MegaTree made up of superstrings. Thanks again for the walkthrough. It was very helpful.

It's not on my website, but it's something I could print. If you're interested, message me through my site for more info. inspirelightshows.com/

There’s a few options. I’ll link one. I’m personally buying white 1” pex at Lowe’s, 3D printing the feet, 5/8” emt for the base connection to 3D feet, and stakes to hold the base, and inserting my leftover strips (you can drill for bullet pixels as well) This link the guy uses HDPE tubing which I don’t have local access to and can’t for this season: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/ataae6d-3Z-WhH0.html

Those arches use 1" PEX tubing and I will be adding a new video on the arches soon. I have just finished a redesign of the arch base mounts and they will be available at inspirelightshows.com very soon.

@@reelpilot Awesome!

The ridges on the roof are the Canny Systems clips. All the others are ones that I designed and 3D print myself. I do sell them if you are interested. Message me at inspirelightshows@gmail.com for more info.

Those took a lot of work, so I will be selling them later in the year. Right now I only have the ones sized for the Gilbert Engineering small mini trees, but my hope is to have all 4 sizes available.

Ok, I’ll watch for your posting.

Also is the connection at corners a 3D print you made?

The PEX for the arch is 111" long and the horizontal PEX between the mounts is 63" long. The mounts are 3D printed. These particular ones were made for me before I got into 3D printing. At some point, hopefully this year, I am going to create my own version that makes a few improvements on this design.

@@reelpilot thank you. Is the Pex 1" diameter?

Yes 1" PEX

@@reelpilot they look good. I appreciate the come back. Nice setup for show as well

I try not to think of the cost. A good estimate is $1 per pixel when getting started. Eventually the costs come down some after the initial investment.

@@reelpilot okay so how many pixel you got