Smart Strings Whole Show or Limited Effects

[rrowan]

Hi Folks,

Just curious about your thoughts on Smart Strings or any RGB lights.

Do you plan to have your whole yard with RGB lights (can be future dreaming)
Or do you see RGB has a nice effect for a few items in your show?

I think for myself I am more a North East Christmas Light Show traditionalist. I still like the look of my Dare I say it? incandescent lights and plan to only add RGB to certain items in my yard.

So what is your current and future plans for Smart String / RGB lighting?

Thanks

Rick R.

[taybrynn]

I see it as a nice effect, not as a complete re-design for my show.

I think even though RGB can achieve any color ... not sure that means you can duplicate how
mini lights look when you put on red and white at the same time ... thats still a classic look, IMHO.
I also like traditional incan. mini lights and they way they look.  We may eventually be forced to
change, if they stop selling them in the stores.  I think that day will come.  That could force us into
LED or RGB strings ... and I"d rather go RGB than LED, since both will cost a lot.

It seems like going with smart strings could be an alternative to going to LED strings.  I could see a lot of people going
from 3 way super strings (minis) to an RGB string ... instead of buying 3 sets of quality LEDS for an LED superstring.  It's not exactly the same thing, but could be cost effective when compared to buying 3 new sets of LED strings.

[tbone321]

I guess for me, it will be an ongoing thing.  This year I intend to replace all of the lights on the house with them.  Down the road I would like to build a mega-tree that will use them as well.  I intend to replace most of my incandecents with LED in thecomming years and these nodes look like the way to go anywhere I want more than 1 color.  

[mokeefe]

So far I don't have one LED light in my display.  Not because of some bias against them, but just because I've been at this for 5 years and have quite an inventory of incans (including a bunch still new in the box) and shows built around them.  No doubt there will come a time when I'll need to start transitioning these over to LED's, but there just hasn't been a driving force for me to do that yet.

That being said, I jumped in on the SS coops and plan to incorporate them this year. For now, I'm thinking about an SS based mega tree.  The endless possible patterns and colors is enticing and it's kind of a stand-alone item that could still mesh with the rest of my existing incans. The final decision may be driven by the developments in sequencing software that happen this year.  I don't really have a desire to spend hours upon hours sequencing hundreds (thousand?) of channels to try and get my tree to do a spiral effect.  I'm crossing my fingers they'll be some advanced software tools to make those tasks bearable.

I think this year will begin a transition for me from just adding more lights to thinking how these newer RGB lights can be used to create new effects and moods that haven't been seen before by my visitors. It's nice to keep things fresh.  All in all, I'm really looking forward to this coming year and hope to spend quality time planning and implementing these changes.

-Mike

[dmoore]

So far I don't have one LED light in my display.  Not because of some bias against them, but just because I've been at this for 5 years and have quite an inventory of incans (including a bunch still new in the box) and shows built around them.  No doubt there will come a time when I'll need to start transitioning these over to LED's, but there just hasn't been a driving force for me to do that yet.

There is something to be said for incandescents over LED's:

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

I had an 80% RGB display and I'll be moving back towards adding back in incandescent in 2011.  It's fading levels, colors and brightness are hard to beat.

[mmulvenna]

Like the posts above I do not plan to replace the entire show but will use RGB for some special effects.

[PJNMCT]

So far I don't have one LED light in my display.  Not because of some bias against them, but just because I've been at this for 5 years and have quite an inventory of incans (including a bunch still new in the box) and shows built around them.  No doubt there will come a time when I'll need to start transitioning these over to LED's, but there just hasn't been a driving force for me to do that yet.

There is something to be said for incandescents over LED's:

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

I had an 80% RGB display and I'll be moving back towards adding back in incandescent in 2011.  It's fading levels, colors and brightness are hard to beat.

That video is interesting but I never hear about the comparison using RJ's LNT curves. If someone does that comparison then I might be impressed.

[dmoore]

That video is interesting but I never hear about the comparison using RJ's LNT curves. If someone does that comparison then I might be impressed.

You mean if someone applies Light Normalization Tables to the LED lights and then runs them against incandescents?

[jnealand]

I have backed off on things I would do with smart strings.  The effects can be really cool.  However, in looking at my show and my display elements I often prefer to have two different colors operating.  Having both red and white lights lit at the same time on my mini trees is not the same as having a pink LED or worth the effort of programming half the nodes to be white and half to be red.  I can't imagine the problem of figuring out how to get a good distribution of the colors with the geometry of those trees.  Same for my mega tree, I have found that there are several color combinations that look good together and I don't want a single node that is the blend nor do I want to take the time to do programming for every other node.  On the other hand there are elements like my gutter line where two colors at the same time are not as dramatic and the ability to do a chase would be worth the change, not to mention that putting up one string of lights on my gutters is far simpler than putting up 4 strings of lights.

So I think it pays to think about your display elements and how they look today and how them might look in the future.  Also consider the amount of effort it will take to build and to program.  Everyone's opinion will be different which is also goodness.  We wouldn't want all our displays to look alike would we?

[tbone321]

If you are worrying about just two colors, you could always split the string and use 2 controllers.  then you can set each controller to the color desired and if in hybrid mode, can still create some special effects.

[jnealand]

If you are worrying about just two colors, you could always split the string and use 2 controllers.  then you can set each controller to the color desired and if in hybrid mode, can still create some special effects.

I am well aware of other options, but I was trying to make a point that there are lots of things to consider and everyone's priorities will be different.

[Trepidati0n]

The wife and I talked about this in great detail.  Since were are both engineers..well, spreadsheets, mathcad, and  sketchup were involed (almost matlab too).  What we finally came down to is that we are going to move towards RGB only.  We will still keep 64-128 LE channels.

[rrowan]

The wife and I talked about this in great detail.  Since were are both engineers..well, spreadsheets, mathcad, and  sketchup were involed (almost matlab too).  What we finally came down to is that we are going to move towards RGB only.  We will still keep 64-128 LE channels.

Wow you both did a lot of time, thought and detail. Of course that is all in theory and you have to see if you like the effect and look of rgb's before going totally there. Or I am just idiot and should keep my thoughts to myself   

Cheers

Rick R.

[taybrynn]

I honestly find a conversion to RGB more compelling than just a conversion to LED (full wave, single color).

By the way, are these RGB LED pixels all what we would call "full wave", or do they vary?  

I think converting the megatree to RGB is enticing, but not only is the cost fairly high (just like with LED), but
your taking a technology leap (strands require waterproofing?, DMX or Pixelnet, Controllers, Hubs, and software to handle 1000's of channels in RGB).

So I think in the interim, you can get your feet wet by doing less ambitious projects in RGB, vs. going 'all in' in the first or second year.

I also think that it would be highly compelling to convert from say C9(s) on the house [ I do 3 colors, or 18 strings per house ] ... to a single set of RGB strings ... and then be able (a) install one string (vs. 3)., (b) save lots of power., (c) get some AC channels back (for me, I'd save 9 per home)., and (d) use more colors and do cool RGB chases, etc.    What I don't know is how do they compare, meaning, who would a set of RGB smart strings look as compared to having 3 sets of C9s on the roof ... and obviously those are quite bright.  And how easy it it to hangle RGB strings straight and durability, etc.

So I think I'll be doing things in phases, and probably ending up with a RGB megatree last.

[dmaccole]

By the way, are these RGB LED pixels all what we would call "full wave", or do they vary?  

They are driven by DC power supplies, so they are full wave.

\dmc