Russ

That's great to hear. Thank you @Chuck!

I don't have much to add that hasn't been said already other than to add my vote -- I'd like to see the forums stick around.

Hope everyone has been able to enjoy the fruits of their Christmas display labor -- and had time to enjoy other's displays as well. Is there a technical and automated way to detect if lights are out or your display is otherwise not working as expected? I am in charge of the lights for our church. We have a 112 channel LOR display that grows each year. We have issues with GFCIs or circuit breakers tripping, someone yanks an extension cord, animal problems... We could set up a security camera and someone (me, probably) would need to check on it every night. Probably the mostly likely thing we'd do. But in this day of high tech, automation, IoT, Arduino's, DIY solutions--are there better options? My top two ideas are: (1) Have a script that runs at least once a day and checks for the presence of all the expected LOR boxes. Send me a text message if it doesn't see them all. (2) An hour before the show is supposed to start, turn on all (or some subset) of lights, measure the power draw. Send me a text message if draw is outside a specific range. Anyone doing something similar? Or have other ideas? Let the planning for 2021 begin! -r

In a age when even the office thermostat is called sexist ( https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/28/nyregion/office-temperature-sexist-nixon-cuomo.html ), this letter is not un-plausible. Or at a time when people think *everything* has to do with the current president...

LOR 112 channels, 10,000+ lights Get's a little bit bigger every year.

LOR 112 channels, 10,000+ lights Get's a little bit bigger every year.

LOR 112 channels, 10,000+ lights Get's a little bit bigger every year.

Carol of the Bells / Sing We Now of Christmas - BarlowGirl LOR 112 channels, 10,000+ lights

As great as the preview window is on Light-o-Rama, sometimes sequences just look different on the live production with real lights. LED lights react different than incandescents, and I've noticed even different brands of lights have a slightly different ramp time. Short of trying to hook up 96 strings of Christmas lights in the basement, I began to think of a way to make a mock-up. It would be nice to cut a string of lights to a foot or two long -- and I know you can't do this with mini-lights, or any other lights that are wired in series. Has anyone come up with a solution that you'd care to share? Bonus if you have picture. Thanks. -r

Some projectors have network connections (either wired via an RJ-45 or wireless) have have the ability to turn the projector on/off remotely. I don't know that any of these have a daily schedule timer (i.e. turn on at 4pm and off at 11pm)...but...if there's a web-interface, then there is undoubtedly a way to automate it with your computer (but might take some software scripting/hacking to do). Do do theater lighting work part-time and have never seen a projector with DMX input...but now that I think about it, it sounds like a great idea. I can't say one doesn't exist somewhere, but of the dozen or so theaters I've worked in--some with $50,000 projectors--they all use either a network web interface for on/off ability, or a remote control (or we climb up on the catwalk before/after each show and manually push the power button).

Just curious if you got the video up on YouTube yet. I know it's that time of year, and everyone is busy. But just curious...and I wanted to let you know I'm still interested in seeing this!

How does the story get "told" now? You said the nativity blowmold turns on in sequence and the star raises...is it just a sequence of events that tells the story (without narration, or text on a wall, or anything)? I'm just trying to get a mental picture of what it is now. I think the turning pages would be super-cool, but I have no idea how you'd accomplish that. I go the route of having signs with lights that turn on ('cause that's what I know how to do). Maybe, instead of a light that turns on, the pages/storyboard could be "revealed". The pages lay flat (so the text isn't seen), and then raise up and become readable at the appropriate time -- or rotate 180 degrees with an image on the back and the text on the front. You could go the theatrical route and use a scrim in front of the pages. Light that hits the front, at an angle, will reflect back and make whatever behind it unseen. But with the front light off and the rear light on the rear-lit object can now be seen through the scrim. Even during the day this effect works well. Go you YouTube and search for "scrim lighting". You can get scrim material at any fabric place. Most loosely knit fabric (and cheap fabric with a low thread count) will do this to some extent anyways, some more than others so experimenting helps.

Thanks for the info. I need to cover a large area (this is for a church building...planning for next year). So probably the zip cord and individual sockets would work best. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I547 using Tapatalk

Thanks. I'm looking at these for my church (for next year). This would be to cover a section of roof, so probably 20-30 feet between to cover the area we need.

I was looking at the strobe bulbs from CDI, but how do you mount them? Do you use a strand of C-9 and replace every Xth bulb with a strobe? Or is there a special wire with very wide spacing just for this purpose? You guys have me intrigued... -r