Strobe light question

[deanathpc]

Hey folks!  Working on my Halloween display right now.  I'm using Holiday Coro stuff for this display and have a question about the 4 strobe channels they use.  Anyone else using this stuff?

My question is since I am running out of time and money for strobes I have a strobe to play with from walmart many years ago.  Yes I know it's indoor only but it's all I have for the time being.  How many strobes should one use?  I've seen counts as high as 120 for some Christmas displays and I know I don't wanna go that crazy.

Would these cheap (more expensive than the C9 screw in types though) strobes work?  If I did 1 for each channel right now would that have a decent effect?  Then what direction does one point them?  What looks good / bad?  I'll have to find a clear container to put them in for weather resistance obviously but just not sure how to go about this type of light.  I'm sure pointing them at the road would set me up for a visit from the local county / state police.

O.K. Any thoughts would be great.  I'm off to Home Depot now to work out a power distribution system for my side yard now.  money money money....  Just don't tell the wife how much I've spent to date.  Actually don't tell me how much I've spent!  I'll have a heart attack I'm sure!

Dean

[trekster]

I use these for my strobes.

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They flash 3-4 times a second and cost $7 each.  They are C9 base.  I trigger them with my express.  You should only turn them on 100% or off.  That is why the lynx configuration has a strobe option.  They are on or off but nothing in between.

Ron

[deanathpc]

I use these for my strobes.

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They flash 3-4 times a second and cost $7 each.  They are C9 base.  I trigger them with my express.  You should only turn them on 100% or off.  That is why the lynx configuration has a strobe option.  They are on or off but nothing in between.

Ron

That's cool.. Those are the ones I was looking at.  So how many do you use?  I realize this all depends on what you are trying to do for a display.  Just trying to get a feel for things.

[tbone321]

I guess that you really need to define strobe as far as how many you need.  Xenon type strobes come in differen sizes and are very bright and you usually don't need many of them to light up a large area, especially if you are using one or more of the larger ones.  The LED strobes like the one trekster showed you are much less powerful and might not do what you want.  If you are trying to simulate lightning then the C9 LED strobe might not do what you want it to as they are desiged to be seen directly, not throw light on a scene or display.

[jnealand]

You may not need that many.  I also use the strobes from Christmaslightshow.com.  I have an old light string for c9 bulbs that I put a strobe into every other or 3rd holder.  For Halloween I hang that sting under my front porch roof and let it flash when my thunder is playing between sequences.  For Christmas I hang the middle of cord from the top of my mega tree and stretch it out down the two sides parallel to the street.  Don't over think this.  No one in your audience will counting them or be thinking of where you could have placed them differently.  I only use one channel and turn them all on or all off.  Once they start up, they go random and do not blink in time with each other.

[deanathpc]

Interesting....  That's some good info.  Time to think what I'm going for and plan around that...  I need to get some strobes to see what they look like etc.

Thanks folks!

[trekster]

How many?  I used 8 in my show last year.  I put 4 to the left and 4 to the right of my porch.  It was not a lot but it did give a cool effect.  I bought 4 more for this year to put 4 across the front of the porch.

For Halloween last year for lightening, I have a big tree close to the house.  I put 4 strobe lights on the side close to my house.  You could not see them from the road but it looked like lightening flashing on the house followed by thunder in the sequence.  I liked it.

Some have a hundred of them.  Just depends on how much you want to spend on them I guess.

Ron

[BryanV]

i just bought the same type as trekster. The last couple years i used a different brand. 1st year was 12, 2nd year another 12 but had atleast 10 fail. The brand i had bought had holes in which filled up with water. The latest purchase (treksters link) was another 12. So im up to about 30ish.  These new ones are much better design and flash 3x's faster.

[deanathpc]

Well I just did a test tonight with 1 strobe.  Cheapy from walmart and even though it wasn't that bright the effect was cool.. aimed it at my display.  I need more now..  I'm hooked! lol

[fertsy]

Check these out, they are the ones I just purchased.

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RJ says you can use these at less than 100% and they are waterproof already. The only catch is they are 5.50 each and you have to order in lots of ten. Shipping looks scary at first but they end up charging actual cost, or close to it at least.

[Christmas.joe]

I was planing on using 20 for my display (3 or 4 per second).  Do they look random the moment they come on or does it take a while for them to get into a random pattern?

These:

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[kmcallorum]

I have used Daryl's strobes in my shows for years.  Easy quick and maintenence free as long as I drill a small drain hole like he posted.  I think I still have 6 out of 8 from last year.  May need a few but Daryl has always been easy to deal with as the stock remains.  These are the one's from trekster's post.
 
Kevin
 

[deanathpc]

Awesome information.....  Thank you!  I'll check out those strobes!

[Gary]

If you already have an Aether, and your sequence's event time is 25 ms or so, you can use it as a makeshift strobe:

Fast forward to 1:36 in this song:
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[shaunkad]

 I just wanted to let you all know diycis trying to get a strobe coop going they are around 20% cheeper then the others