What will you use Smart Strings for?

[Night Owl]

17' megatree.  This year was my first attempt at building a megatree and ended up combining a lot of existing ideas and adding in a few of my own.  I was going to drop a serious amount of money on LEDs when RJ announced the Smart Strings.  So I ended up buying a bunch of cheap Walmart lights to get me through this year.

When I take the tree down I'll probably take pictures and create an Instructable or something. 

[dmaccole]

I'll be framing the garage and front doors with them.

\dmc

[soundmankc]

My idea is to build several large "pakages" in the front yard out of which a Grinch will rise with one of those guns to shoot Christmas lights (like in the movie) and have the gun follow my roof line and "shoot" the lights on the roof line. One bang of the gun, one node on white till the roof outline is done. My wife is already rolling her eyes at me..... 

[Jeffl]

My idea is to build several large "pakages" in the front yard out of which a Grinch will rise with one of those guns to shoot Christmas lights (like in the movie) and have the gun follow my roof line and "shoot" the lights on the roof line. One bang of the gun, one node on white till the roof outline is done. My wife is already rolling her eyes at me..... 

Very creative idea. 

[loveroflife96]

I personally am excited at the opportunities that it will give us for somewhat static displays.  I remember growing up and putting lights on my families roofs when we visited and having the "twinkle" c7 and c9 bulbs and they all twinkled at different times.  I'm excited to have that as my static display when my lights are blinky blinky to the music. 

Also thinking about the neat possibilities that could be done with LSP that would allow color control diagonally, and using their layer features to do alot of intricate programming easily.  I've enjoyed using Vixen, but think I'm going to have to upgrade to LSP if I go the RGB way.

[Corey872]

My grand plan is to set them on eves, windows and general yard lighting.  Hoping to be able to program sequences which are orange/green/violet for Halloween, then around Thanksgiving, re-load and do more typical Holiday/Christmas colors.  Once the holiday is over, pull them down and use for various mood/party lighting the rest of the year.

[PJNMCT]

My idea is to build several large "pakages" in the front yard out of which a Grinch will rise with one of those guns to shoot Christmas lights (like in the movie) and have the gun follow my roof line and "shoot" the lights on the roof line. One bang of the gun, one node on white till the roof outline is done. My wife is already rolling her eyes at me.....  

I got "those eyes" last year when I had a Santa wireframe throwing big candy canes into a big magnolia tree one by one and then they all did twinkles and rotates and patterns. At the end of the song Santa would just wave goodbye. This year SHE suggested it!  

-Paul

[DilA]

Looking at replacing existing megatree, but have some questions on the best way to do it.  Tree is 12' running 24ch, 8ea of RWB, 70ct string of LED running up and back down the tree for a channel. That's 1680 LEDS on 48 35ct strings around the tree. Thinking of replacing that with 840 nodes but not sure about how to split them up. Will it be easier programming with 24 SSC's and 24 35 node strings or I could use 12 SSC and 12 70 node strings, but I am worried that nodes 1-35 going up the tree and then 36-70 going down could turn into a nightmare for programming. Anyone got any thoughts on megatree layout using smart strings.

thanks

Bob

[rrowan]

Looking at replacing existing megatree, but have some questions on the best way to do it.  Tree is 12' running 24ch, 8ea of RWB, 70ct string of LED running up and back down the tree for a channel. That's 1680 LEDS on 48 35ct strings around the tree. Thinking of replacing that with 840 nodes but not sure about how to split them up. Will it be easier programming with 24 SSC's and 24 35 node strings or I could use 12 SSC and 12 70 node strings, but I am worried that nodes 1-35 going up the tree and then 36-70 going down could turn into a nightmare for programming. Anyone got any thoughts on megatree layout using smart strings.

thanks

Bob

Hi Bob,

This is just a wild guess and to be honest I don't have a mega tree. But I would just have each string long enough to reach from the bottom to the top. If you like the string on the opposite side to light up a the same time then set the SSC to the same address. But I would think just mapping out the tree so you know what strings are opposite from each other would give you more flexibility example SSC1 and SSC12 are opposite from each other on the tree. During one part of the seq you have them do the same pattern, other times they can do different things.

Hope that is clearer than mud

Cheers

Rick R.

[Cobergas]

I am going to make a giant TV out of them. I figure if you can back up far enough you could get ok picture quality.

Really though I have a secret surprise that no one else has suggested yet..



Plans will be posted.

[Trepidati0n]

1.  Good FW LED's lights are 15c-20c each.  Put down 4 colors (R,G,B,W) to create a reaosble color palat...and you are looing at 60c-80c.  While you can blend, it does not blend well (mixing)

2.  SS are $0.65 per lamp)...by default, almost cheaper.  Throw in how much easier to install and extreme reduction in wiring (and evil 115VAC) and it almsot becomes a no brainer.

3.  SS are easy to repair.  If I understand the technology correctly, you can just cut ou the "bad light" and replace IT!

So in short, it is going to replace pretty much everything eventually where instalation is hard or needs to be elegenat. Therefore, framing of the house, doors, windows (they are all cedar wrapped per HOA).  I will still use strings and LE's where I am trying to create volume and have the space.

[ratroder]

I was thinking of outlining my roofs and doing my eves with them.

Does anyone know if the length between each bulb can be changed? Like make the on 4 or 5 in centers instead of 4 inch centers? and does anyone know the overall length of a 128 node strand?

[magic8192]

I have been considering building a 4' high x 24' long grid to display messages like MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR during the show and display bells while jingle bells is playing etc...  The smart string could create some pretty cool effects. 

It is either that or a mega tree. 

[Livermore-Dad]

I'm not sure on the quantity, I really am waiting for a bit more information and a bit more visuals, how bright, how long is a 128 node string etc.

Would love to replace many of my C9 LED multi's with this so that I can do easy framing/window color changing..

Do these then run off the lynx express (current coop) or? Wondering what all someone would need to buy to bring the magic?

I only have 90 LED's up top
Have 50 along the lower eve
50 around each window (*5)
50 down each column (*2)
600 leds on one tree wrap
200 leds on a second tree wrap

Main concern is brightness and dispersion
Thanks
Tory

[dmaccole]

Do these then run off the lynx express (current coop) or? Wondering what all someone would need to buy to bring the magic?

No. They use a dongle (must be dedicated to Smart Strings; ~$45 if you don't have one), a hub (which handles power injection and splitting and also outputs DMX; current design handles 16 controllers; future designs may be for more or less; the 16-controller version is estimated to cost around $30), an ATX power supply (anywhere from free to $50) and a controller (around $8), which can handle up to 128 pixels.

Smart Strings are about 40 feet for 128 pixels, or about 3.5 inches between pixels.

Just for grins, let's say you want to replace everything except your two trees; that would be 490 pixels (so let's round up to 500):

*Pixels themselves: $325-$375, depending upon shipping from China.

*Dongle (if you don't have one): ~$45.

*Hub: ~$30.

*ATX: ~$25.

*Controllers (need at least four, though your topography may require more): ~$32.

*Cat5 cabling: ~$25.

If my trusty calculator is correct, that would be right around $500. Final pricing may be wildly different.

YMMV, not valid in all 50 states, this does not imply or warrant a guarantee; it is, in fact, a wild-ass guess on my part and I could be off by a factor of 100-200 percent.

\dmc