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Neighbors and your lights...
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bdkeen View Drop Down
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Joined: 31 Dec 2007
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Posts: 380 		  Quote bdkeen Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Neighbors and your lights...
    Posted: 29 Nov 2008 at 9:51pm
Originally posted by kedogn

Hey Bruce!  2 questions for ya... did you make your countdown sign in your yard or buy it?  Love how big that is.  Also, where did you get your web cam and how much?  We have enjoyed checking in on your lights right along with ours :)
 
Thanks Ken. The countdown sign I made - It's really not all that big - I think around 18x24 inches.  Got a cheap 4 inch LED 2 digit, 7 segment display on ebay. It comes with a little demo board so taught myself how to re-program the 10200 pic on the demo board to produce sort of a counter (code for programming is availabel on my website projects page).  Count starts at 39 and isn't automatic. Have to set it manually each night. But that's easy..  I wired an external switch (salvaged reset button from an old pc) and each press of the switch drops the number by one. When it first powers on each night it shows 2 dashes (--) Once Christmas Day is reached it'll be left to just show the dashes. It's mounted inside a wooden box with a couple C7 bulbs - then an old scrap picture frame with glass forms the front of the box. The C7's provide backlighting for the rest of the sign.  Other than the LED digits everything else was leftover yard sale stuff or scrap. Maybe next year I'll have a real clock behind it making it more automated. But for now it'll do ok.
 
The camera is one I had from work that is no longer being used.It's about 5-6 years old now.  An AXIS 205, I don't even know if you can get them anymore, was probably around 200-300 in it's prime.  It's a wired 10mbs camera so I have cat 5E running off one of my switches in the garage to the camera. I have a new camera (100mbs) comming soon that supports lower light levels and has sound capability. Hopefully it'll be a little better and I'll also broadcast sound if it works ok. Camera currently is only about 8 inches above ground so you get sort of a ground-hog's persepective of the display.
 
I got on your cam once (think I may have recognized the sequence playing that timeWink)- most of the time it's been at the limit of allowed connections. But just got on it now with no problem.
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kedogn View Drop Down
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Joined: 27 Sep 2008
Location: Lacey, WA
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Posts: 65 		  Quote kedogn Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Nov 2008 at 8:36pm
Hey Bruce!  2 questions for ya... did you make your countdown sign in your yard or buy it?  Love how big that is.  Also, where did you get your web cam and how much?  We have enjoyed checking in on your lights right along with ours :)
BOOMER SOONER!

Lee Family Lights
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Posts: 380 		  Quote bdkeen Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Nov 2008 at 12:24pm

I ran 2 nights prior to the 'official start' to shake out the bugs and had a good number of visitors. Have talked to most of the neighbors and they are loving it! They all have radios tuned in and are watching from time to time.  They seem to be sort of glad that it's slowing drivers on our street (we live on one of those 25 mph streets where some folks drive 40-50).  We seem to get 1 or 2 cars parked out there from time to time with as many as 5, but it's awful early to tell what the real impact might be.  Not really knowing myself but anticipating the worst I've sort of tried to warn the neighbors in advance what could be expected. As word of mouth travels I'm feeling fairly certain that things could get a just little busy out here.  So long as folks are considerate I don't expect any problems with the neighborhood. We're all getting a good laugh from time to time watching folks.

Don't really care who might think I'm a bit crazy for doing the lights (sometimes it's fun being the crazy old guy with all the lights). It's been alot of fun, I've meet alot of good folks,  and there's a sense of pride and accomplishment seeing everything up, together, and running. And kept me out of trouble (except perhaps with the wife whenever I bought more lights or more extension cordsLOL).
 
So far we're all having a pretty good time with this here within my neighborhood.


Edited by bdkeen - 29 Nov 2008 at 12:25pm
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kedogn View Drop Down
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Posts: 65 		  Quote kedogn Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Nov 2008 at 11:05am
I have spent several hours outside each day of this past week and have met several people from our neighborhood. ALL comments have been very positive!  I am so excited about that.  I also met my neighbor who lives straight across from my driveway (they moved in just a few months ago) .  They are very quiet people, keep to themselves, never really see them outside unless they are driving in and out of the garage or checking their mail.  As the wife pulled out last night she stopped to talk to my wife and I and say how much they loved the lights and how everyone at their party on T-Day loved them.  She was blown away with the FM Broadcaster and how it all worked.  With that said, I have now heard from 3 of the 4 neighbors directly around me and they have all loved the lights.  So glad to hear that!  Also met another couple who live around the corner as they were walking their dog.  They just moved in the area a year ago, loved last years show, and have been looking forward to this years.

With that said, we really dont get a whole lot of traffic at one time.  Over the course of a full night we get several cars, but never really more than 3 or 4 at once, usually less.  Based on last year, our traffic increased the 2nd week of December and when our local paper did their "Tour Of Lights" and interviewed us for it, we picked up a bundle there.  Traffic is certainly not an issue for us yet and I doubt it will be... but to me, thats a good thing cause lots people still see the lights, but its not a headache yet :)


Edited by kedogn - 29 Nov 2008 at 11:07am
BOOMER SOONER!

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Posts: 24 		  Quote camdebuck Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Nov 2008 at 3:01am
This is our first year of doing this.  I'm not much of a talker, but we have been in our neighborhood for 14 years and I know all of our neighbors.  The wives of all of the couples think it is great and can't wait to see the show.  All fo the husbands think I'm crazy, but that is okay.  It has been a lot of fun, but has taken a lot longer than I anticpated.  I actually started setting up in the middle of October and finished all of the lights last week (however, there were days when I went golfing instead of working on the lights).  I ended up doing 16,500 lights and 96 channels (d-light controllers) .
 
Most of my testing was during the wee hours of the night (2am or later) so nobody really saw much.  Tonight was the first time that we turned it on for everyone.  We had some friends that came by and they loved it.
 
What kind of traffic should I expect?  My wife is very involved with the PTA and I've heard her friends say they are all coming.  Is it going to get crazy or what?
 
Thanks for the advice I've been able to gain thus far!!
   --Cam--
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Posts: 380 		  Quote bdkeen Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Nov 2008 at 11:00pm
Originally posted by LightChristmas

I am MP-3 of Borg. Fidelity is futile!
 
Ahhh - There's your problem - WAV is the perferred and fixes everything LOL
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Posts: 993 		  Quote LightChristmas Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Nov 2008 at 9:49pm
I am MP-3 of Borg. Fidelity is futile!

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Posts: 471 		  Quote BigDPS Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Nov 2008 at 2:28pm
Actually, I wish I could have Aurora integrated with the batting of my eyelids. It would be so much simpler to find the beats...or maybe not.

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Posts: 551 		  Quote Pony_God Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Nov 2008 at 8:19am
Originally posted by BigDPS

Don't feel bad about not having an ear for music or not being happy about the sequence you're doing. No matter how much you try, it never will be up to snuff. I had 16 channels last year and updated all my songs to 32 channels. I'm all done but I still don't like them. There's always something missing....
AMEN!
So when's the Borg implant comming out so that I can tweak it exactly how it should be while watching it live?
Fine. You're so smart you rig up the lights.
D-Light users Unite!
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Posts: 471 		  Quote BigDPS Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Nov 2008 at 6:16pm
Don't feel bad about not having an ear for music or not being happy about the sequence you're doing. No matter how much you try, it never will be up to snuff. I had 16 channels last year and updated all my songs to 32 channels. I'm all done but I still don't like them. There's always something missing....
 
As for the neighbors, we have new ones in the front of our house. They have driveway lights that are some powerful. I told my wife that I can't wait to set the mega tree right close to the road and blast them with blinking lights....she thought I was childish!!! Thumbs%20Up
 
Afterall, I worked hard to setup this display. We have 8 trees with lights on, and this weekend, I have the mega tree going up along with the 10 mini trees that we built over 3 weekends. Sure is a lot of work to try and have fun with lights and music. I hope the neighbors appreciate all the hard work that I've been going through just for them!!!

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