Feeling behind
Printed From: Aurora
Category: Whatever Else
Forum Name: Off Topic
Forum Discription: The name says it all
URL: http://www.aurorashow.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=444
Printed Date: 05 Jun 2024 at 4:28pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 9.06 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Feeling behind
Posted By: kennyz06
Subject: Feeling behind
Date Posted: 04 Nov 2008 at 8:32am
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Anyone else feeling somewhat behind on their progress? I feel like I have tons to do and 0 time left! ------------- http://www.McKinneyChristmas.com - http://www.McKinneyChristmas.com 
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Replies:
Posted By: ChrisL1976
Date Posted: 04 Nov 2008 at 8:41am
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Yes, a little....nativity, 2 arches, bethlehem star and 3 songs to finish in 3 weeks.
------------- Chris www.lightsonsixth.com |
Posted By: kennyz06
Date Posted: 04 Nov 2008 at 9:48am
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Are you making your star like Richard Holdman? If so... get started on it. It takes a bit longer than you would expect! I've got 2 arches, 11 mini trees, a mega tree star, and some window frames left. Oh, and 9 controllers to build! ------------- http://www.McKinneyChristmas.com - http://www.McKinneyChristmas.com
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Posted By: LightChristmas
Date Posted: 04 Nov 2008 at 10:54am
Feeling behind can result in a slapped face, a civil suit, or divorce. Be careful!
No feeling here; I KNOW I am WAY behind in sequencing (just have finish them, actually) due to the intense beta testing. ------------- http://www.aurorashow.com/"> 
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Posted By: Pony_God
Date Posted: 04 Nov 2008 at 10:58am
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1. Front rigging.
2. Back rigging
3. Side rigging
4. One more lawn mow before we can do any groundwork
5. One more hedging before the hedge work.
6. 2 more ACx16s to build
7. 1 30' long mega arch
8. wireing
10. runing power
11. new subpanel
12. new outdoor circuits with locking 20A connectors
13. firmware updates
14. Finnalise channel placements.
15. many more songs. (Nothing is done since we don't have all the chennels placed yet.)
16. do something with Firefly. We know _where_ it's going, just no idea what it's going to do. (I'm holding off to program him until it's easier.)
We have 1 arch done and up, 16 mini trees, front/side windows, two huge front trees, most of the pine's wrapped, 2 trees in back, roof minis, roof snowflackes are all done.
We have about 48 channels done, done, done. I mean rigged, finalised, sequenced, and the controllers are sitting by them now. I just need to run cat5 and power to everyone.
I suppose we shouldn't have started with 96 channels and a firefly... ------------- Fine. You're so smart you rig up the lights. http://www.frappr.com/dlight - D-Light users Unite! 
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Posted By: ChrisL1976
Date Posted: 04 Nov 2008 at 11:28am
Yes....a smaller version of it. Its going to be mounted on the side of my house, so I dont need to build the peak stand for it. Besides cutting it out and drilling 200 holes, it should not be a huge thing. Few nights should cover it. Cut, drill, paint, one night, mount lights the next 2. ------------- Chris www.lightsonsixth.com |
Posted By: kedogn
Date Posted: 05 Nov 2008 at 1:54am
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Feeling behind dont even come close to what I am feeling right now! My worst thing is the sequencing... and hoping it dont rain from now until Thanksgiving so I can get help with the stuff on my roof! I have to finish 6 mini trees, a Bethlehem star (Holdman style, not even started) and I have hung not a single light yet! I have been so addicted to the Election coverage the past few weeks and more so the last 2, I haven't got much done for watching TV. Oh, and I have 2 more controllers to finish building... just gotta add the cords and test! ------------- BOOMER SOONER! 
http://www.leefamilylights.com - Lee Family Lights |
Posted By: kennyz06
Date Posted: 14 Nov 2008 at 7:32am
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Finished all my controllers last night! So now I just need to add lights to my bethlehem star (1 side is done, need lights on the other side), finish an arch, and add some lights to a window frame. I think I'm going to start wrapping my trees this weekend. My HOA is picky about when we put lights up, and I think this will be the least noticeable part of my display.... ------------- http://www.McKinneyChristmas.com - http://www.McKinneyChristmas.com
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Posted By: BigDPS
Date Posted: 16 Nov 2008 at 9:46am
Well I just had a major set back. I injured my back yesterday so this morning, I was off to the hospital. Now, I'm on medication, flying but too confused to even sequence....unless it was a sequence on White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane...
My wife asked me if we could hire someone to setup our 21 feet mega tree....ouch! ------------- http://www.aurorashow.com/"> 
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Posted By: LightChristmas
Date Posted: 16 Nov 2008 at 1:00pm
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Just came into thaw out from setting up lights.
Feeling behind? Heck, mine's numb!! ------------- http://www.aurorashow.com/">
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Posted By: bdkeen
Date Posted: 16 Nov 2008 at 3:28pm
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70 degrees out yesterday so got roof outlined with led ropes. large star on roof, and icicles hung about 20 minutes before we got hit with down pour and almost 60 mph winds. It's 40 degeees today. Windows done (pre decorated frames really made this a breeze), Mega-tree houisted, mini-trees out, 8-10ft rope light snowman up, arches up, manger up, and font of house completed (the ladder seems to be getting longer and steeper Left to do are bushes and trees, any static lights, and signs. Then cable it all up to the controllers. Sequencing has been done and will tweak anything if necessary as the seasons goes. Hope to have everything on controllers out by end of week and run a live test of the full setup by 22nd. ------------- 
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).Posted By: kedogn
Date Posted: 17 Nov 2008 at 9:34am
How did you do your frames? I have mine built, bu just cant figure out a way to attach my lights that will work best. Between that, and my gutter clips sucking out loud, thats the biggest thing I am facing right now. Got the roof done this weekend, all 11 rope light snowflakes are up and my Bethlehem Star is in place... btw, that baby is BRIGHT! Too much I think actually, gonna have to tone it back some I think, maybe to 50% power. ------------- BOOMER SOONER!
http://www.leefamilylights.com - Lee Family Lights |
Posted By: kennyz06
Date Posted: 17 Nov 2008 at 9:50am
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I did frames too this year. How many sets are you attaching? Mine have the red/green/clear sets (3). I stapled one set on, with a staple every few lights, then slipped the other sets under the 1st set's wires. The first set basically holds them all in place. I zip tied the sets together every so often, and hot glued any lights down that were sticking up or that looked out of place. ------------- http://www.McKinneyChristmas.com - http://www.McKinneyChristmas.com
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Posted By: LightsOnLogan
Date Posted: 17 Nov 2008 at 10:34am
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My display is still going up... slowly...
I have to modify each of 288 sets of those 2008 CDI LEDs before they can head out to the yard. I'm spending more with the soldering iron (putting resistors in) and the heat gun (heat shrink tubing to encase them) than actually hanging the strands themselves! ------------- http://www.aurorashow.com/"> 
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Posted By: bdkeen
Date Posted: 17 Nov 2008 at 5:56pm
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The window frames are 1/2 in pvc pipe. Red and Green are led rope lights which I simply wire tied to the PVC. The amber are regular minis which are also just wire tied to the frames.
Hooks at the 4 corners of the windows. A little larger at the top sine this would hold most of the weight and cup hooks at the bottom. Bow window used the larger hooks at all 4 corners. Zip-zip-zip-zip - with wire ties at the 4 corners and window done. Since the bow window has the curvature and the pvc is flexible enough it conforms to the window nicely and the 4 wire ties along with the pressure in the center as a result of bowing holds it in place very nicely.
I have all but a few items up and wired to the controllers and just moments ago did a test run of half a dozen or so sequences. Looks pretty good to me, neighbors loved it and even had some folks stopping. -------------
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Posted By: LightsOnLogan
Date Posted: 25 Nov 2008 at 7:42pm
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Well... I finished putting stuff out in the yard and got everything wired up today (finally). Initial tests show a few glitches that need to be taken care of:
1) My LEDs seem to have enough capacitance that after 10 strands they tend to make the controllers act crazy. The house outline has 17 strands, so I need to divide those 6 channels into 12... easy enough, that controller has enough free channels to do so tomorrow.
2) My star is sticking... not sure why since it didn't last year. I'm going to try adding additional load to the star channels. The curtain strobes are sticking as well... same thing to try.
3) Controller 20 (mega tree red 1-12 and white 1-4) has no output at all. It will discover in HWUtility, can be configured, and will accept firmware, but none of the channels light. It worked inside the house last night but it doesn't seem to like the outdoors. I have no spare either. This is the most serious issue at the moment.
4) One of my Fireflies have 5 pixels that keep popping apart at the base (the top half of the base and the dome fall to the ground).
Sigh... I hoped for a good test tonight but instead I still have a full day of work to do. It is looking increasingly unlikely that I will finish for Thanksgiving.
------------- http://www.aurorashow.com/">
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Posted By: LightChristmas
Date Posted: 25 Nov 2008 at 7:54pm
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Try reflowing ALL of the solder connections. Funky things can happen with double-sided boards... ------------- http://www.aurorashow.com/">
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Posted By: LightsOnLogan
Date Posted: 25 Nov 2008 at 9:24pm
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I just inspected the board (unplugging all of those tightly spaced spade connections in 20 degree weather is a real pain). The only possibly bad solder joint I could find was on opto #5 so I touched that one up (I'm pretty experienced behind the iron btw). Not seeing any bad solder joints I pulled and reseated the IC chips. Just for grins I also replaced the communications IC with a spare I had on hand (I keep a few of those on hand since others have had problems with that IC). A quick bench test has channels 9-16 lighting up (I'm out of spade connectors for making the jumper to test the other bank on the bench). Just to rule out thermal issues I now have the board freezing for a while before a retest. ------------- http://www.aurorashow.com/">
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Posted By: LightsOnLogan
Date Posted: 25 Nov 2008 at 10:09pm
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Done freezing board... test... no output. After 4 power cycles the board came back to life and doesn't fail. Something seems to be failing thermally. ------------- http://www.aurorashow.com/">
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Posted By: LightChristmas
Date Posted: 25 Nov 2008 at 11:09pm
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Cracked trace on PCB somewhere around the resistor network for the second PIC. You can spend half a day with freeze mist and an ohmmeter, but I suspect you want to "get 'er done". My patented fix for this 11th hour problem: put a light bulb in the controller box to keep the board from contracting.  ------------- http://www.aurorashow.com/">
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Posted By: LightsOnLogan
Date Posted: 25 Nov 2008 at 11:30pm
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Channels 3 and 8 also seem to occasionally be dead when the rest of the board is working. While I can't get a light bulb into the outdoor enclosure, I can swap this board with the one in the garage that runs the house outline. It's not heated in there, but it is better than outdoors, plus I don't have to worry about the obviousness of having a clamp on lamp with 60 watt bulb just inches away from the controller. A quick test has the board under the lamp running the house outline just fine.
------------- http://www.aurorashow.com/">
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Posted By: BigDPS
Date Posted: 26 Nov 2008 at 2:32pm
My first controller had channels 4 and 11 as being temperamental. They decided when to turn off when they wanted, not according to my sequence. My dilemma was cured with the very good help of other D-Light owners, telling me to put a wall wart to load the triacs. Well let me tell you, this year, I have exactly 32 adapters waiting for those channels thinking they will pi$$ me off and do what they want. Not this year buster! ------------- http://www.aurorashow.com/">
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Posted By: LightsOnLogan
Date Posted: 29 Nov 2008 at 10:06pm
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Woohoo!!!
My show is running (partially... only 5 sequences right now). I have a replacement controller on order but the tempermental one is in the garage for the house outline (and is under a light bulb).
Tonight my FF controllers kept crashing to the point of needing the "force" option to re-flash them. After some testing I decided (based on some knowledge of the underlying protocol) to try moving them to the ID range D0-DF and haven't had a problem since. This also fixes most of the "flickering and stuck pixels". ------------- http://www.aurorashow.com/">
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Posted By: LightChristmas
Date Posted: 29 Nov 2008 at 10:50pm
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FINALLY managed to get the setup finished enough to start the show! Running only two sequences right now. Haven't had time to finish the other six; so they will get added on an "as completed" basis. Show has been running for 5 hours with nary a glitch! Well....aside from a wet connection some where tripping a GFI. ------------- http://www.aurorashow.com/">
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Posted By: LightsOnLogan
Date Posted: 01 Dec 2008 at 8:14pm
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The "it's up... now it isn't... now it is... not again... ahh, now it is good... oh no I'm down for days" routine is getting very old very fast. I'm down again probably for a few days until I can get replacement FF strings (if there are any to ship this late). Two Firefly strands are stuck all white and it appears to be something within the strand itself this time. ------------- http://www.aurorashow.com/">
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Posted By: LightChristmas
Date Posted: 01 Dec 2008 at 8:34pm
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Logan, if you're still up, IM me.
------------- http://www.aurorashow.com/">
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