FAQ

Probably not. The biggest issue is time. Most people do not become interested in doing a light show until the season has started (which for us is October 1st at the latest.) By the time the season has started we are so swamped with things here that we can not take on outside projects.

Now I say probably not, because arrangements might be able to be made if the sequencing was going to take place during the off season.

Regardless, if you want to do a show, I would encourage you to learn to sequence. It is well worth it!

About a month of actual set up time. We have certain parts really down to a science, but there are a lot of parts to put this all together.

But it should also be said that we technically work on this show all year long.

We do not have a schedule for this. With the number of channels we run and the detail we fight for, it takes approximately 10 hours of programming per 1 minute of audio. (Sometimes it can be faster, but this is a solid average.)

Songs are added at random during the season and we have been trying to release at least one new song per year.

I will give you more information than you could ever want. However, I can’t help you physically build the show. Scheduling would just not allow it to happen. (See THIS FAQ) But if you need help getting started with what to buy or where to begin, I can absolutely steer you in the right direction (or SOME direction.) Feel free to contact us through the website.

This is one that we truly are asked FREQUENTLY!

Let me start by saying that just because we have this large light display it does not mean we are better at stuff like storing lights. But with a very large garage, we can “cheat” a little.

The icicle lights on the face of the house for instance, are all mounted to 1/2 inch diameter electrical metal conduit. The pipe is hung from the gutters with custom made 3D printed clips. Then at the end of the season, the entire length of pipe is taken down and stored in one piece.

We have done things like this as much as possible.

The 52 strand of lights that make up the body of the “Big Tree” are rolled back onto spools and stored in boxes. They are attached to the base ring before unspooling and are respooled before they are disconnected.

There are some strands that are not spooled or mounted to pipe. Those and folded about 2 feet at a time hand over hand and laid in the bottom of storage tubs.

If we do store strands otherwise and they tangle, we give those away on Facebook and buy new ones. (Kidding! We fight it just like everyone else.)

A lot!

But you knew that. We can’t actually answer that question (yet) because we have never totaled them all up. We have talked about doing it, but the closest we have gotten is that the software estimates it around 25000.

For some real statistics:
The big Mega Tree (named “The Big Tree”) is made up of 52 strands of 150 LEDs totaling 7800, plus 100 for the current star on top. 7900 Total.

The pink mid Mega Tree (named “Camille’s Tree”) is made up of 26 strands of 50 LEDs totaling 1300, plus 100 for the current star on top. 1400 Total.

The ten “mini mega trees” along the front porch (named “The Little Trees”) each contain 200 LEDs. There are 10 trees so the light count totals 2000 LEDs.

The ground lights of “Snowman Island” are 6 strands of 200 LEDs. That is 1200 more LEDs.

The matrix contains 2400 RGB LED pixels. Each pixel is comprised of 3 LEDs (a Red, a Green, a Blue) which totals 7200 LEDs, but personally, that feels like a cheat, so I count it as 2400.

The arches are made up of 50 RGB LED pixels each. So either 150 LEDs, or again, as I count it, 50. There are 8 arches total so 400 pixels. (or 1200 LEDs.)

As we gather numbers on different props, we will update the list here. And MAYBE some day we will have a total.

Zero! Zip! Zilch! Nada!

This is a 100% free event that is open to the public. Any donations made go to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

We have a special night (Dec 13th every year) set aside for this event. We have Santa stop by the house (even though he is VERY busy this time of year) and spend 2 hours just relaxing and hanging out in the hopes of seeing some children.

This is a very laid back and low pressure setting for your children to see and speak with Santa. And even if your child just wants to see Santa from a distance, that is OK too.

We have an area fully prepared and decorated for old Saint Nick and it makes for a wonderful photo opportunity. (We do not take the photos, so bring a phone or camera!)

While supplies last we will have hot cocoa and cookies available at no cost. (There is no cost for the entire event.)

Please note that the animated light show does not run during these 2 hours. Although, with enough requests, a song or 2 might just happen.

(Please let us know if there is anything we can do to assist any special needs during your visit. We will do our best to help out.)

This event takes place on December 13th every year and runs from 7pm to 9pm.

Another thing that has never been calculated, mainly because it changes, but well over 1000ft. A lot of our cords are custom made to length and each prop gets a cord.

The “Big Tree” has 26 connections for the body and each of those are about 10ft in length. Plus the 30ft cord to run the star.

Then there are the 2 100ft cords that feed the controllers from the wall outlet. That is 490ft of power cord alone!

So as you can see, the lengths add up and fast!

There are also network cables and security cable running throughout the show as well, so that adds to the totals. Maybe some day, we will actually calculate it.

The bulk of the show is run through hardware from Light-O-Rama. The matrix is run through a Falcon F16V4.

Our current LOR hardware:
7 – CTB16PC 16 Channel A/C controllers (The ones that make everything blink on and off.)
2 – Pixie2 RGB Pixel controllers (These run the 8 RGB arches.)
2 – USB485 adapters
1 USB-RS485 Adapter with Booster and 1 Standard adapter.

Current Falcon Hardware:
1 – Falcon F16V4

Computer Hardware:
The show is run from an HP Z230 Workstation PC (i7-4790 @ 3.6GHz) running 24GB ram, 250GB SSD hard drive. It runs an additional PCI network adapter for the DMX network to control the Falcon.

Sound:
Sound comes from the PC and splits the feed into a Yamaha home theater receiver out to the speakers in the yard, and a CZE-05B FM transmitter that broadcasts on 107.3FM.