DiyLightAnimation
Hardware => Lynx Smart String => Topic started by: rrowan on December 28, 2011,
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Hi Guys
Did anyone use SS on arches this year?
If so Pro and Cons?
How does the fade effect look compare to incandescent lights (mini)
Any posted videos?
Thanks
Rick R.
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i was thinking about using plastic rectangles on arches, but didn't have enough to try it
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I used SS flex strips and they worked great.
http://vimeo.com/34008907
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very nice display and video!! it's nice exchanging comments with genius's all around. ;D
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did you use the standard length - 13ft? and how far apart where the ends of your arches. I was worried about flexing them too much against the normal way they want to bend.
Myk
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They are approx. 10' apart and total distance of arch (I'll have to measure) ... but its around 14' or so.
THe bend is no problem at all ... esp. since I'm allowing them to bend in their intended direction, just inside the clear tubing.
The key wa having them face DOWNWARD ... which I didn't think would look good, but it does. They still outshine the
other stuff by a large margin.
I get 2 arches out of (3) 10' 1/2 emt sections. The strips are inside 5/8 clear tubing and hung with lights facing
downward towards the ground [ on the bottom side of EMT, so gravity is your friend and not your enemy ] .
They are still insanely bright, but the tubing and indirect projection seems to diffuse them nicely. The 5/8 tubing allows you to really zip tie them
onto the EMT pipe without crushing them at all and increases grip considerably. I found the larger 8" ties worked better than the 4" ties which don't
have enough grip. I put a zip on the flex strip dotted lines about every 8-10" or so. I cut the tubing into 3 sections so that I could easily fish the tape
through each section. THen I move the tubing as close as I can to each other when installing. Its not water tight, but because of where the cuts are ...
any water that gets in will just drain out down one side of the arch or the other.
I worried a lot about these during the year but they ended being very simple, very easy and very effective. I created 8
groups in LOR S3 for them and sequenced against those for the chases. In reality, the LOR S3 chase then sequenced
the in-between nodes like LSP also does, if the chase is done at the grouped level.
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ok, that makes sense and good info - i would have tried to put them on the side on the pipe which would go against the natural flex they have.
Someone said at one time they were going to try and put them in white dryer tube - hopefully they see this and chime in on how it went for them....
Thanks!
Myk
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I tried them on the side first ... and it was a strain and battle to keep them straight ... and they honestly looked too bright, IMHO. The can
be somewhat blinding if pointed directly at the viewer. I have SS nodes in my star toppers and they are kind of blinding at times, but at least they
are higher up and not down at eye level like the arches are.
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Did you try the nodes facing up instead if down?
Rick R.
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Yes, and that looked very good also. The only problem was that the strip eventually kept wanting to twist over the EMT and it was harder to get them to stay in place with just ties.
I'm sure it could be done that way. I think having them point down just has the advantage of having gravity on your side instead of working somewhat against you.
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Thanks
I was thinking of going up since I would like to put a fan under neath the arch and pointing down would seem to blend too much with the fan.
Guessing something like screws would help keep them pointed up.
Thanks
Rick R.
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I used the 128 node strands and wrapped my arches with approximately 1" spacing. I then put a white vinyl dryer vent over the wrapped arches. It worked pretty well, but you can see the "hot spots" where the bulbs come in contact with the dryer vent. Trying to decide how I'll run next year as the flex strips look good facing down - I also liked the larger "dryer vent" arches...
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I'd like to see a picture of those dryer vent arches. I like bigger, but in my mind, those sound huge! I'm afraid it might be a little jumbo compared to everything else.
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Look at liptonlights.com and go to 2011 vids. I'd post a picture, but I'm posting from my phone. Luckily I remember my web address! :)
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I never would have guessed those were in dryer vents. Can you post a pic in the daylight when you have a chance?
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Those do look good! Nice.
Did you run them all in string mode?
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I did initially. Since using xLights, I've gone back to node control. They look really great, but I've not had the energy to record the show again.
Taking pics now...
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Here are some pics...
The first is just a picture of the arch in the daytime.
The second is a photo of how I secured the vent clips. Basically I purchased some 1 inch metal rings, used Zip ties to attach the rings to the rebar running under EMT conduit. I then used a couple zip ties around the dryer vent and attached a ring clip to the dryer vent. Lastly, I clipped the ring clips to the 1" metal rings under the rebar. This let me secure the dryer vent, easily disconnect / store, and put everything up next year pretty fast. I might even leave the smart strings attached to the PVC - not sure though... As tightly as they are wrapped, I worry just flexing the PVC to a straight shape might take out a few nodes...
Lastly, I took a photo to show how much space is between the EMT and the dryer vent. You can't see it, but the entire SSC is stored above the zip tie / ring clip inside the dryer vent. I've got some super dry, super happy SSCs. Also keeps moisture out of the cat5 pigtails...
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Thanks ... thats very slick. <res.