Final initial tests

Well I have finished my initial tests that I needed to do so I can plan my layout. On Saturday I brought out last years controllers and hooked them up to make sure they are still operating and then I put them into a test pattern. Then I hooked them up to the strips I have left on the roofline all summer. Everything tested perfectly. The strips along the roof line looked great with no bad pixels.

My plan for Sunday was to mow my lawn and then straighten out all the strips. They are inside a pipe called PEX that they use for water. The PEX over time has tried to curl back up so the strips look a little wavy. Unfortunately the weather was not so great in the morning and I couldn't mow the lawn due to the wetness of the grass. So I mostly relaxed till noon and then went up to radio shack to pick up a couple items I needed for the radio transmitter. After I got back I ran a test on that.

The transmitter works better than I thought it would. I took a drive around my neighborhood to see how well it transmits. With the transmitter inside the house I was able to drive through most of my neighborhood and hear it.

After that successful test I just relaxed and really kept thinking about my next steps. I decided to pull out my sequence player and get that up to speed. The player is a Raspberry Pi Model B using Falcon Pi Player software. 

The Raspberry Pi is just a small computer you can buy for around $40. It only has the bare essentials on it. You need an SD card to run the Operating System and a USB Drive to be able to save Sequences, Music and Video. I also added a USB Wireless Ethernet Adapter. The Pi already has an Ethernet port but that will be used to communicate with the e6804 controllers via e1.31 (essentially DMX over Ethernet) so I will use the wireless to be able to access the Pi to set things up and control everything via their web interface.

I turned on the Pi and everything booted as it did last year. I knew they had a new version coming out so I looked to see that I was running version 0.2 and I noticed that just a few days ago they released version 0.4. I downloaded it and installed the new software.

After a little while the Pi rebooted with the new software without any issues. It also was able to read my old sequences and settings without any issue. 

My next step is I really need to finalize my layout and elements so I can start working on putting it together and also setting up all the software. This is my kind of project. It makes me think and keeps me busy.

Good tests

Well tonight I tested all the new lights I got in to make sure they work with no issues and everything worked as they should.

Pretty much I got 500 bullet style pixel nodes that will be attached to some wire to look like a small tree.. 50 per tree and I plan on 8 trees so that will leave me with 100 extra nodes.

Then I got 300 technicolor nodes that will have C9 frosted covers on them to give a traditional Christmas light look. I got these to possibly replace the RGB strips along the roof line. I will attemp to test the strips tomorrow night or Saturday night. If they are good to go and don't seem to have any issues then I will have these to do another task. I'm just not sure what that would be just yet.

The last thing I got were 10 plastic frosted RGB stars. I have to do a test but these may go on part of my roof or I may have to make something with a mesh for them to attach to. We shall see.

The Sandevices E6804 has a built in test pattern to test these lights without a sequencer to do it for you. You access this through a web server built onto the device and using a web browser on a computer or tablet/phone.

Well I am done for tonight.. Will make slow progress over the next few weeks into mid-October to have them running for Halloween. 

Just starting

Well I have started getting my Christmas lights put together. This evening, after work, I put together a box, that is water resistant, that contains a 350watt 12volt 30amp power supply and one of the light controllers that will communicate over ethernet using e1.31 to the sequencer. The controller is made by Sandevices called an e6804 and two of the four channels will control 8 of the Christmas trees I am going to put together. More on that later. I will have room to add more things to this controller in the future. Over the next few nights I hope to test all the RGB light strings I got in to make sure I have no bad pixels and I hope to pull out last years boxes to test my overhead lights that have been up all summer to see if I have any bad strips. 

Blessed

I was really blessed last weekend by Ron and Faye. They took me and my brother to Dallas, TX to see the Cowboys play the 49ers.

It was an awesome time. Despite the Cowboys losing, I got to see this awesome stadium and get to see my team play (horribly I might add) at home.

The main video display in the stadium is absolutely awesome. It goes from the 20yd line to the 20yd line. That's 90' long (not inches but feet). The display is crystal clear as well. During the game you had to remind yourself that your at the game and to stop watching the TV.. 

The day after the game we went back to the stadium for what they call Rally Day and a stadium VIP tour. The tour was awesome as you got to see a lot of places you wouldn't normally have access to like box suites and the locker rooms for both the team and the cheerleaders. Also got access to Jerry Jones private viewing area for the game.

After the tour we had the opportunity to go on to the field and do whatever. Take pictures, there were people kicking and throwing footballs, there were cheerleaders taking pictures with people, signing autographs  as well as some alumni players. Had the opportunity to see the five Lombardi trophies as well.

Our seats for the game were awesome. Before the game we got to see some celebrities on the field like Emitt Smith, Kelli Finglass, Charles Haley and Jerry Jones.

Another cool thing is that I ended up on TV at the 2min warning towards the end of the game. It was taped prior to the game. I knew they were taping me. 

I had an absolutely awesome time and I wanted to Thank Ron and Faye for everything. It was a true blessing.

Exciting weekend

I finally got my Christmas lights from China.. Still waiting on a few other things to come in to start building everything. Towards the end of the month I should be starting to test everything.

This will be a good challenge to setup and get running this winter. What's more exciting than the lights is flying out to Dallas, TX tomorrow to watch the Cowboys play the 49ers.. Will be my first time to Dallas. On Monday we will also be taking a tour of the stadium and will be able to go down to the field.. I will return home on Tuesday. I plan on taking a lot of pictures. I hope all of you will have as good of a weekend as I!