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| PICTURES |
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| TECHNICAL DETAILS |
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Our display uses 9 light controllers made by Light-O-Rama.
Each control board controls 16 channels of lights and pulls up to 20 amps. Our display currently uses 140 channels and pulls well over 100 amps when all the lights are on!
The light controllers connect to a computer via RS-485 over Cat 5 cable. More than 150 extension cords distribute power throughout the yard!
The Light-O-Rama control software is used to sequence our lights and schedule the light show.
A significant amount of time is spent sequencing the songs. The first step to sequencing is marking the rhythm and tempo of each song. This allows
lighting events to be set to occur with the beat of the music so that the lights will match the music.
At this point many hours are spent going through these events and deciding which lights should come on when.
The lights can be set at any intensity from 0-100% and do fades, twinkles, etc.
It turns out that this sequencing process is very time consuming and ends up taking as much time as putting up the lights!
If you're looking at creating your own display, feel free to contact me. I'd be more than happy to share details on how I got started on my display and what is involved.
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| TOYS FOR CHILDREN |
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Once again, we will be collecting toys for Children's Medical Center of Dallas for the 2010 Christmas season. They have a need for toys for all ages of children from infants through teens.
We have a collection box for the toys on our front porch.
Here's a wish list from Children's Medical Center indicating which toys they are specfically needing:
 Toys Wishlist
This is a great way to help make Christmas brighter for a child in the hospital.
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| OUR DISPLAY |
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2010 Light Show |
Located on Brown Trail in Coppell, TX
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November 28th, 2010 - December 31st, 2010
5:30PM - 10:30PM
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(except during heavy rain)
The music can be heard through speakers in the yard,
or at 92.3 FM on your car stereo.
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2006 was the first year for our animated Christmas light display, using 32 channels of computer-controlled lights. We synced our Christmas lights to several Christmas songs, including two from
"A Charlie Brown Christmas."
In 2007 we doubled the number of lights and had 64 computerized light channels synced with six different songs.
2008 marked the addition of 16 light channels, for a system capacity of 80 channels. These additional channels are mainly used to provide additional colors (red, green, and white) for every tree and shrub. Several additional songs are also added to the mix.
In 2009 we moved to a different house about a mile away from our old address in Coppell. Our display changed to match the new house, and we added more controllers for a total of 112 channels.
For 2010, we have added two new songs, a few more controllers, and a large Christmas tree.
I was inspired during the 2005 Christmas season from an
internet video of
Carson Willliams' display "Wizards in Winter."
After I first saw the video I was immediately intrigued, and did a quick google to find the software Carson used along with his sequence file.
I knew at that point that this was the hobby for me!
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| ABOUT US |
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We love Christmas and celebrate it as the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ.
It is by far our favorite holiday and we love to decorate and get into the Christmas spirit.
I've always had an interest in computers, electronics and Christmas lights - what a fun way to bring it all together!
I'd like to hear from you whether you'd like to comment, ask a question, or just say hello.
E-Mail: bretharrell@hotmail.com
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