Getting things setup for the inaugural year at the new house. Helpers had to take a ride in the lift!
Continue readingThe Show Must Go On!
I had it all planned out down to the day. I knew I would miss out on some of the setup time due to my baby girl being born and taking care of her (which I happily gave up). I was right on schedule when WHAM! the cold of death hit and knocked me out for five days! As I type this, I sound like a life long chain smoker hacking a lung. This make it impossible to do anything. Needless to say the show is late starting this year. Tonight is the first night that we have something running, one song.
2012 Tour of Lights
Thanks to a friend for the heads up! The 2012 Tour of Lights nominations are now being taken on the Chico Enterprise Record’s (ER) website. If you like the show that we put on and would like others to see it as well this is an easy way to spread the word. There are a couple homes in the Nob Hill area (West of California Park) that I plan to nominate that have their lights up already.
2013 Light Show Shopping List
I know what you are thinking… the 2012 season is not even over! I know! But I need to start thinking of next year to purchase all the needed stuff.
The Plan
Greek (DIY Christmas style): PC to Ren64 to RenC to Grinch totaling 128 channels!
English: I will be building a new board/controller that is called a Renard 64 (Ren64). This board has 64 channels to control lights with (made by a guy with the last name Renard). I can then daisy-chain the Ren64 to the Grinch (Controller that I already have) through the Renard-595 Converter (RenC). This doubles the amount of channels that I have now!
The List
Ren64:
- Enclosure – CG-1000 Cable Demarc Enclosure
- PCB – $10.50 Through doityourselfchristmas.com
- Parts – 1x Mouser (list or Ren64 csv)
RenC:
- PCB – $8.00 Through doityourselfchristmas.com
- Parts – 1x Mouser (list or RenC csv)
- PIC Programmer: Parts – 1x Pickit2
SSRez:
- PCB – 16x $1.80 Through doityourselfchristmas.com
- Parts – 16x Mouser (list or SSR)
Continue reading
We’ve Moved
2012 Has come with a flood of changes! To summarize… Jessica is now staying home with the boys full time, I got a job at Build.com and to top it all off, we moved to Chico, CA. All that said we will be having a 2012 show IN CHICO!
Christmas light show 2011 has begun!
Our 2011 show has begun! Please come by if you are in the area to see the show. We’ve done a different set up this year and added a few new songs. The show will run from 5pm to 10pm daily. If you live in the area please stop by! If you see us out there working on the lights feel free to say hi!
Let the fun begin!
I had only planned on taking a short break from the fun that is Christmas lights, but that turned into 6 months! Where has the time gone? Now that I am behind the curve, I guess I better get it in gear and do something.
Two more songs
We have 2 additions to our program. First "What Child is this" by Sojourn and second Linus explains Christmas from the Charlie Brown Christmas.
