Smart String MegaTree (not strips) and Scrolling text....

[DanHouston]

Anyone have any video of a pixel based mega tree with some scrolling text?

[lonewolf41]

If you look at my video here:

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I have some starting about the 2:17 mark.

Hope that helps,
-Keith

[scharbon]

That was really nice.  Is that a half-mega tree with 16 strands?  How many nodes per strand?  You just made me reconsider my plans for next year.  Thank you for sharing.

And Sean (if you are reading this) thanks for Nutcracker.  It really makes a difference.

Steve 

[galgon]

I second that question.  How tall is the tree and how many nodes?  I may have to copy this for next year.

[lonewolf41]

There is quite a bit of info about my tree in this post:

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and ones further down in that thread.  Let me know if you have further questions beyond what is given there.

Thanks,
-Keith

[scharbon]

Thanks for the information on your tree. 

I was reading your post that you linked to and you said you were thinking of replacing the polyester straps with metal banding.  I was wondering if that would cause some GFCI tripping?  Do you think using metal bands will cause grounding issues?  The reason I ask is that I have some metal trees that I put in the yard and when it rained, the GFCI would trip.  So I drove some pvc piping into the ground and inserted the tree trunk into the pvc pipe (insulation against the ground) and my GFCI's stopped tripping.  I understand I may be introducing some risk (as in getting shocked if I touch the tree, but the I generally don't run my show in the rain, and I realize the GFCI's are pretty sensitive to mA current drain, so I am okay with the risk. 

Regardless, your show looks great and your tree is very impressive.

Steve

[DanHouston]

If you look at my video here:

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I have some starting about the 2:17 mark.

Hope that helps,
-Keith

Very, very sharp, but looks like a lot of work the way you got the nodes to all point one direction....How are you storing that (I assume you are not taking it off the straps each year)?

[lonewolf41]

Thanks for the information on your tree. 

I was reading your post that you linked to and you said you were thinking of replacing the polyester straps with metal banding.  I was wondering if that would cause some GFCI tripping?  Do you think using metal bands will cause grounding issues?  The reason I ask is that I have some metal trees that I put in the yard and when it rained, the GFCI would trip.  So I drove some pvc piping into the ground and inserted the tree trunk into the pvc pipe (insulation against the ground) and my GFCI's stopped tripping.  I understand I may be introducing some risk (as in getting shocked if I touch the tree, but the I generally don't run my show in the rain, and I realize the GFCI's are pretty sensitive to mA current drain, so I am okay with the risk. 

Regardless, your show looks great and your tree is very impressive.

Steve

The strapping that I am going to replace was on just the horizontal bands, not all of them.  The ones that the lights are mounted to will still be the polyester.  Since these are running on 12VDC, there would not be a GFCI involved anyway.

-Keith

[smeighan]

That was really nice.  Is that a half-mega tree with 16 strands?  How many nodes per strand?  You just made me reconsider my plans for next year.  Thank you for sharing.

And Sean (if you are reading this) thanks for Nutcracker.  It really makes a difference.

Steve

Very nice sequencing Steve. I will be greatly expanding the text effect for 2013.

[lonewolf41]

If you look at my video here:

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

I have some starting about the 2:17 mark.

Hope that helps,
-Keith

Very, very sharp, but looks like a lot of work the way you got the nodes to all point one direction....How are you storing that (I assume you are not taking it off the straps each year)?

It was not that difficult.  The tape holds them out pretty straight.  If they are not perfect, they can still be moved around as well.  It is not a 100% perfect setup, but works pretty well.  For storage, I will coil them up and hang them.  They will not take up much space.  See picture.

Thanks,
-Keith

[DanHouston]

So you are taking it loose from the horizontal straps and just wrapping each string/strap and hanging them up for the year?

[lonewolf41]

So you are taking it loose from the horizontal straps and just wrapping each string/strap and hanging them up for the year?

Yup.