LED
Christmas Tree:
Hand-made tree consisting of 16 strings
of lights with 50 multi-color LEDS on
each strring. Thus, 800 LEDS on
this tree. Each string is mounted
on 1/2 inch aluminum (EMT) pipe for
strength. As with other strings of
lights in the system, this tree has a
separte controller (seen on another web
page on this site), that receives
signals from the show computer via Cat-5
network cabling. A close-up of 3
strings shown below. The LED lights are
the small white squares.
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LED Star:
The tree-top star is on a
separate controller of its own. It
is build from 200 "bullet-shaped"
multi-color LEDs drilled and inserted
into a sheet of thick plastic in the
shape of a star. Each LED can be
individually programmed to almost any
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Lighted Arches:
These hand-made arches were created from
2-inch diameter translucent high
pressure polyethylene tubing cut into
lengths of 16 feet each. A string
of 50 LEDS is installed inside each pipe and
when lighted, it produces a glow effect
seen through the tubing. As with
other LEDS light strings, most any
combination of colors or patterns can be
produced by the software.
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LED Flood Lights: 8 of
these floods are used at various times
to light the house. They are RGB
floods, meaning they can display almost
any color. As with everything else, they
are on a sepaarate controller and
receive signals from the show computer
to turn on at various intensities and
colors as needed.
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FM transmitter:
It broadcasts
the music on FM station 99.9 to let you hear full stereo music from the comfort of your car without having sound disturb our neighbors.
I broadcast on a radio where there
is no local
station within 50 miles. I built this
transmitter from a kit of electronic
parts. It is an FCC approved transmitter.
The signal range is within a few blocks around
the house. Audio from a dedicated show computer sends music to
the transmitter from the same software that controls the lights.
If you drive by the house and hear
general music, then its a
good sign the show isn't running yet, or it is finished for the night. There are
occasional announcements of show times, weather, etc to let you know you have the correct station. |
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Wireless Signal Transmitter:
A close-up view is on the right. This
device receives control signals
transmitted from the show computer at
some light controllers outside.
Range is about 1,000 feet. It's
possible for neighbors whom join their
lights to ours can use a controller and
wireless receiver to receive the same
control signals from our computer.
Thus, their house lights can synchronize
to the music and signals we transmit.
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Cameras, Flood Lights and Person Sensors:
I don't show cameras here, yet for
safety and security, we have many
very high definition night vision cameras
monitoring the display, with sensors to
let us know if tampering occurs. A
motion sensor is shown to the right.
There are a bunch of them. Since
electrical issues or security problems
might occur, we want to make sure we
know when it happens, the equipment gets
deactivated and we get immediately
notified.
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