Nodes in live trees

[zwiller]

Anyone string any live trees with nodes?  Smart or dumb.  Looking for pics, vids, advice or suggestions. 

Thinking/hoping to go all rgb this year and almost all of it figured out except my live trees.  I would prefer to go dumb on these.  I wonder how well rgb works on them and if I can do it for a reasonable cost and not having to double/triple up controllers on each tree for large node counts. 

The trees in question are the four near the house.  You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login  If you look well the larger tree on right is c7's and the rest are strung with minis.  Contemplating using some of the newer 2811 c9's on 12" centers over at diyledexpress for the big guy using ssc set to hybrid mode/dumb.

Thoughts?  Thanks in advance. 

[smeighan]

I saw this video of making giant sparkle balls to hang in trees

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What i found interesting is how they got them up into the trees. Look at 3:43 in the video they use a potatoe gun but with half of a lime. They shoot them up  50 to 75' trailing rope behind them.

I may have to make some air canons.

sean

[zwiller]

Interesting vid.  I guess I am lucky my trees aren't that big.  But I can see the air canon being handy for that...    

[sittinguphigh]

It would be nice if you could put a few of the strings in one line.
 
Lets say instead of using one four port hub for power and data having a separate line that drops off
the date and power to each smart string.

This would give you options for lets say the roof line.
And if you wanted to use a port I could see advantages that way to.

[zwiller]

Not sure what you're getting at but I am looking for more of a rule of thumb that X nodes = Y minis.  I suspect that 20/30 nodes are closer to 100ct minis in terms of output. 

[rdebolt]

Not sure what you're getting at but I am looking for more of a rule of thumb that X nodes = Y minis.  I suspect that 20/30 nodes are closer to 100ct minis in terms of output. 

As far as brightness you are probably close, but imho you cannot reach the saturation of having 500 nodes vs 2,000 minis. Don't get me wrong I am going more and more nodes, but I still love the looks of high number count minis (led of course  ).

[zwiller]

Good point Roger.  Willing to offer some criticism on a new element?  2d rgb mini 18" tall with (20) 5050 dumb leds.  Not saturated but plenty bright.  I think my past mini trees were too powerful. 

[rdebolt]

Sam I think that looks very good. Great saturation of color. How are you liking those new nodes?

[sittinguphigh]

Looks good. I was talking about a high node count over 128 nodes.
If you used SSC you could set it up so you could make different
shapes appear inside the tree shape.
Like bells or star shapes.

[zwiller]

Thanks guys.  These are the leds on the mini: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login  I LOVE them.  The mock up is just cardboard, but will probably use ply or coro for the real deal.  The beauty of them is all you do is add a dab of hot glue to mount and you’re done!  Although it's dumb, it's a $10 rgb mini.  I am concerned the new square smart nodes I have may get overpowered by all the 5050 gear I will have.  I estimate the 5050 to be at least 2x brighter than nodes but it’s a directionality thing. 

Once it gets warmer/drier I will test some dumb nodes on my live trees.  My concern is that it will get more complex than I want.  IE - Need 2/3 controllers per tree since I will need most likely 200/300 nodes or more per tree. 

[FireMedic4Christ]

If you used a 4 port passive hub, it would still only be 1 cat5 and 1 power line per tree.

Brian

[zwiller]

Good point.  That way I could have duplicate dsc's on same channels.  I was thinking more using MR16 or Rays 27 channel and having to get creative in LSP.  Either way, until I string some nodes in a tree I am in the dark.  Hard to believe rgb nodes will be that much more cheaper than led stands. 

[mkozik1]

I was thinking more using MR16 or Rays 27 channel and having to get creative in LSP.   

Sam,

How would you use the MR16 for the dumb RGB nodes?  The MR16 switches (+) and the nodes need (-) correct?  I know this has been discussed in the past and was wondering if I missed something or if I am bass-ackwards!!

Thanks,

[zwiller]

Mark,
Got me worried there for a minute since this is my first venture into dumb gear.    That said, controllers and nodes are common anode or (-) switching.  In fact, I think ALL blinky gear is that way for safety.  Nice writeup here: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

[animal]

Mark,
Got me worried there for a minute since this is my first venture into dumb gear.    That said, controllers and nodes are common anode or (-) switching.  In fact, I think ALL blinky gear is that way for safety.  Nice writeup here: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

Yup, your right. I'm thinking the same way you are. I have 22 mini trees I'm changeing over to dumb rgbs(100 node each) and I'm more leaning towards ray's 27 dmx rather than the mr 16. It leaves a wireing issue leaveing only 1 channel left per controller. I would need 5 mr16s to cover it. Still up in the air for me.

           animal