Christmas Lighting Ideas - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / projects

author: sarahb84
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: October 05, 2012, 12:02:54 am
content: Hello all!I would like to generate few Christmas Lighting ideas for this year and I need your help! Of course I am planning to decorate the tree. But this year I want my husband to help me put lighting outside the house as well.Running extension cords from the outlets or electrical wiring should not be an issue. What I am wondering is how can I make the lights flash! I already have some static lights for the trees. I am planning to buy for the outdoors.Is there any device or gadget I can buy locally or order online that can make my static lights animating the way I want? I want to have total control over the blinking patterns or flash!I am a complete newbie in electronics! So, please help me find a solution.- Sarah

author: David_AVD
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 05, 2012, 12:13:01 am
content: Check outAusChristmasLighting,DIYCandPlanet Christmasforums. Lots of info there.

author: Strada916
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 05, 2012, 02:29:20 am
content: http://www.altronics.com.au/index.asp?area=item&id=K5886switching unithttp://www.altronics.com.au/index.asp?area=item&id=K5885main controllerone switching unit will do 4 lights you can have up to 32 lights hooked up with more switching units, uses sd card for music. It is a kit so you will need to biuld it all up. The main controller will control all 32

author: David_AVD
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 05, 2012, 04:57:08 am
content: I was somewhat disappointed with those Silicon Chip projects. Very limited capability and didn't use DMX as the transport.If they had have done some research on what was out there, they could have offered a truly useful series of projects. Missed the mark big time in my opinion.

author: asullivan
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: October 07, 2012, 02:30:43 am
content: Good to know about your enthusiasm about the Christmas Lighting! Did you find anything yet? I was looking for similar products few weeks ago and found a few on Amazon. You can try using a programmable power strip from PwrUSB.Try this link:http://www.pwrusb.com/powerUSB-smart.htmlYou can hook up the power extension box to a computer via USB and program it anyway you like. It's okay, they provide a bundle easy to use software. So you don't actually need to know any computer language to flash the Christmas lights the way you wantIf I am recalling right, you can program PwrUSB to flash the lights every 2 seconds on different power outlets. I was able to create some extraordinary animated lighting effects by putting diverging lighting on different power outlets (there are 4). Give it a try, you will love it!

author: HackedFridgeMagnet
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 08, 2012, 02:36:06 am
content: The only trouble with that ( I am guessing ) is that you need to leave your pc on all the time.

author: David_AVD
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 08, 2012, 04:36:01 am
content: Light-O-Rama make some neat 16 channel controllers, in both AC and DC output versions.Some (most?) models can also run in stand-alone mode after you've downloaded the animation sequence to them.