Light O'Rama - anyone use it?

[ChadTower]

Does anyone here use Light O'Rama?  My son and I have been poking around the idea of a big halloween display this fall.  He's all set with trick or treating now, I think, so we'll be home for the first time Halloween night.

[Howard_Casto]

Well are you talking about the hardware or the software? 

I haven't used either but I've investigated both extensively.  (Unfortunately I've never had the time to take that final step and buy/make a rig.)

The software seems to be very good BUT the hardware is extremely overpriced. 

Example:  Their digital i/o board, which is nearly identical to a pacdrive/iowarrior costs 150 bucks! 

Your mileage will vary as to if you think that's a good price, but myself I decided that when I do it I'll just do the hardware end myself or at least buy more reasonably priced hardware.  I mean aside from a i/o board all you really need is a bank of relayed outlets.  You can buy outlets for around $1 and if you break the brass flags off the side they turn into two outlets (top and bottom).  Then you can go on to buy a bunch of 5v mini relays for around 60 cents a pop (if you buy a 20+ package from china via ebay).  You can get a teensy or arduino, which are cheap enough to be "throw away" PICs for under 20 bucks. 

It takes more work, but you can get a really nice rig going for 40-100 dollars instead of hundreds of dollars. 

There are also GE light strings that are super-hackable.  Some of the ge led sets have a pic controller embedded on each light socket.  You can cut off the ends and use a arduino or similar device to control each light serially.  Usually each "bulb" is a rgb led and you can control intensity and specific color mixing.  Just another idea. 

If you can afford it I don't think I've ever heard any complaints about the LOR system, it's just that it's really expensive to get even a basic setup working. 

[Howard_Casto]

Hold up... I missed that "halloween" part.  I shouldn't post when I can't sleep. 

For most haunters, halloween is more about props than lighting.  (Although some static lighting is certainly required.)  There are individual and inexpensive prop controllers available, that are generally just PIC's.  Light-o-rama is usually used for Christmas to do complex light mixing.  That sort of thing isn't really done on Halloween.  Unless your props are really complex, I actually suggest manually triggering them rather than using a sequence.  I've did my yard up for years and I can tell you that scares done on a loop or via motion sensors rarely ever startle or impress anyone.  What works better is a hidden remote in your pocket or a well placed switch that you can trip at just the right moment.  I like to let them walk up to the prop and examine it carefully, only to trip it when they are walking away.... works every time.   

[ChadTower]

Awesome, thanks, that's good starting info.  I know most people do props for Halloween but I don't want to have to dedicate my whole shed to a bunch of props that only get used 7 days a year.  I'm a lot more interested in lighting for storage reasons and also because that's just what we want to do.  My son loves lighting and working with light controllers.  I can see us getting into props later on, I suppose but for now I'm thinking of just a lighting setup.

I'm not surprised their hardware is overpriced.  That always seems to be the way with the most visible products for a niche hobby.  I could see us using their software along with someone else's hardware and maybe Hallowindow.  I would love to do the whole thing custom with arduinos and such but that would be an unrealistic commitment prior to finishing up my gameroom.  Hell, this might be unrealistic, but at least I'm way ahead of schedule with the research. 

[Karpro]

My old next door neighbor uses their products extensively for his Christmas display and raves about them. They usually do a big sale in the spring. Get on their mailing list and they'll email for the sale.

[lilshawn]

check out "DMX512". It's the same stuff DJ's and other professional lighting people use to sync lights and the like to music already. it might cost a bit more to start, but parts could be had cheap cheap at an auction or sale making for expansions in the future easy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMX512

[Donkey_Kong]

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,87650.msg920508.html#msg920508

Sadly, Marks videos are down. He had a great Light O Rama show. There are of course tons more to watch on youtube.

After Mark posted that thread I almost immediately started buying lights. I now have 10's of thousands of christmas lights. I took the recommendation of someone on the LOR forum that said something like 'baby steps'. First year; setup up a bunch of static lights, just to see if it's going to be your 'thing'.  I finally got around to that and put out a couple thousand lights (maybe not even that many). It was sort of fun, but took time. April came around and the lights that were still dangling by a thread (well the ones that the wind had yet to ravage), I finally found the time to take the rest down.

Needless to say..Christmas lights aren't my 'thing' and I have been pretty much banned from ever trying again.

[Howard_Casto]

Well you have to get off your butt.  It takes MUCH longer than you would possibly think. 

Halloween, which I do pretty big, requires me to start getting things ready during the summer.  (Haven't done it "right" in a couple of years.)  If you haven't started putting things out in the yard by mid September, you won't get finished in time.  The Christmas stuff, which is 99% store-bought, goes out around Thanksgiving.  I'm usually still fiddling with it in mid December and even though our winters aren't particularly harsh, lights require constant maintenance.  I've even switched most of my stuff over to LED lights... it doesn't help.... extreme moisture rusts the contacts off the leds over time and the sets often have wiring/assembly issues that allow a whole section to go out every time a good wind knocks them around too much.  Of course this is still preferred to ordinary lights which will, without a doubt burn out sometime during the month and if too many burn out it causes too much power to go to the good bulbs, causing the entire frikkin set to go out. 



There's no excuse for leaving your lights out too long though.  Even if you don't put them away very well how hard is it to get out a big storage box and throw the lights into the box?

[ChadTower]

Heh.  I've had this issue in the past with my wife and the xmas decorations.  I won't do Xmas lights, but she wants them, so I told her she can do what she wants but I won't help.  So the first year she puts some stuff out it sits there until mid april when I finally get tired of seeing the inflatable snowman lie in 2" of mud and offer to take it in for her.  I put it all in the trash instead of the shed.   

I'm thinking more like bent metal rod forms with rope lights on them.  I already have maybe 15 strings of rope lights that my son and I got at a yard sale.  That gives us the ability to prebuild them, store them flat in the shed, and make whatever shapes we want anchored in the grass.  "Animated neon" style signs should be easy enough even if I just go with some sort of timed controller instead of a complex setup.  There is a church here that puts out a display that it takes a half hour to walk through and I got to get a close up view of a ton of different ways to fab these things.  Maybe the only thing I'm not sure of at this point is a good way to join certain parts of the bent rods without welding them.  Maybe a short overlap and screw clamps?

[lilshawn]

Using an old microwave transformer, one can build a low voltage high current spot welder for less than $10 in parts.

[Howard_Casto]

Using an old microwave transformer, one can build a low voltage high current spot welder for less than $10 in parts.

I would be interested in a how-to on this. 

If you don't want to weld you can wrap the wire by looping it around the joints tightly.  You'll need thin gauge wire but since it's a home display it doesn't have to be super sturdy.  A bit of epoxy or whatever at each loop should keep it from sliding around. 

One note about rope lights is the non-led ones use a ton of electricity.  Also I've yet to buy one that's lasted more than 5-7 years, which is actually pretty good, but you'll have to throw the whole rope out when a section goes bad as there isn't a cost-effective way to repair them. 

There are these remote controlled boxes to "animate" your lights that they sell every year for around 20 bucks.  All it really consists of is a switch box with three outlets that allows you to blink each outlet in sequence, fade them all, do "demo" effects, or fade from one to the next.  For simple neon-style effects that shold be more than enough... thrre frames of animation essentially.  You'd just need cords to hook all the frame one strings into the first plug, ect....  I use them and they are pretty reliable. 

The only thing is when ever the switch box turns on, it defaults to all on, so you have to get out the remote and set it.  This could easily be fixed by wiring a ac switched relay to the proper button on the remote and hooking it up to your timer. 

I hope some of that is useful. 

[lilshawn]

WARNING!

standard hazards regarding high voltages that can kill you. don't be dumb. etc. i absolve all responsibility for your dumb actions. Provided you proceed with caution and common sense...you'll come out alive.

This project uses 110V AC. There are sections of the device that can deliver a deadly shock to the operator. One should take all the necassary precautions both when building or operating. If possible wires carrying 110V should never be exposed as casual contact can lead to a shock.
Mar connectors, soldering, junction boxes and electrical tape used properly can save your life.

If you don't know what you are doing or if you have never attempted projects involving 110V please don't learn the hard way. Go to Home Depot and take a wiring work shop or something.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Homemade-Spot-Welder/

it's not pretty, but it gives you the basics. make yourself a nice wooden clamp with some HEAVY copper wire.

i would also reccomend some nice heavy carbon brushes as contacts...copper will heat up and oxidize on you.

[Howard_Casto]

Looks easy enough but man, I don't like the bit about sawing off the secondary coil.  Nick the pirmary too much and you'd get errant sparks all over the place. 

I also don't like the copper pipe either.  You could use it, but I would reccomened running a heavy gauge, insulated wire inside the pipes instead (I'm talking massive, like those used to wire the main lines into your house's electrcial box.) and maybe use a bit of ceramic or plastic on the ends to electrically isolate the contact tips from the pipe.  I'd wrap the crap out of them with electrical tape anyway.  Still that's pretty awesome.  I never knew that a spot welder was just a glorified transformer. 

[ChadTower]

Heh, I think I'll just wire wrap and put some epoxy to hold it or use screw clamps. 

I am going to try and find a couple of those boxes Howard mentioned and play around with them. 

This one looks promising for a prototype.

[Howard_Casto]

You've got to be careful with the ones with a single pushbutton.  Much like the ones with a remote, they usually don't remember the settings when the power is turned off.  With a remote you can change it while in the house, but with a button, man... that would be annoying. 

I'm not familiar with that particular box, so I'd ask around if I were you.

[Ed_McCarron]

Looks easy enough but man, I don't like the bit about sawing off the secondary coil.  Nick the pirmary too much and you'd get errant sparks all over the place. 

I also don't like the copper pipe either.  You could use it, but I would reccomened running a heavy gauge, insulated wire inside the pipes instead (I'm talking massive, like those used to wire the main lines into your house's electrcial box.) and maybe use a bit of ceramic or plastic on the ends to electrically isolate the contact tips from the pipe.  I'd wrap the crap out of them with electrical tape anyway.  Still that's pretty awesome.  I never knew that a spot welder was just a glorified transformer.

I just did this.  Took the secondary off with a band saw.  1/4" gap between the coils.  Easy peasy.

I needed a battery tab welder.

[ChadTower]

You've got to be careful with the ones with a single pushbutton.  Much like the ones with a remote, they usually don't remember the settings when the power is turned off.  With a remote you can change it while in the house, but with a button, man... that would be annoying. 

I'm not familiar with that particular box, so I'd ask around if I were you.

You're right, of course, if one were planning to use that "in production".  I'm probably going to build one or two simple displays and see how we like them.  That thing is only $15 so would make a decent prototype controller.  It's easy enough to start with that and then switch to a better controller later on if we move forward with the idea.  I'm sure my son will find a use for that thing in his room afterwards.  He's all about light displays now especially with that awesome neon sign dominating his room.  We put it in his bedroom window for a bit and you can see it a quarter mile down the street.   

[Donkey_Kong]

Though I may never build a LOR display, I'm still a big fan and love watching the videos. If you check the LOR website they have a video section showing some of the best of the best out there.

[eds1275]

You can run some software on a computer for programming your lighting shows, one free example of software is

http://www.dmxcontrol.org/

Then you need to send the DMX signal from your compy from somewhere, that can be done pretty cheaply - for example http://www.enttec.com/?main_menu=Products&pn=70303

And then you can grab some dmx-controllable lights and connect them OR get a dimmer and connect non-dmx lighting to that. This is how is works on stages and whatnot [I'm a sound guy but in a punch I can run lights.]

[lilshawn]

Just thought I'd post a off topic update...

The other day I built a transformer welder from a microwave transformer.


 Used Some super heavy 2 gauge wire. Got 2.2 volts....just tested the maximum amps produced by a dead shorting the output.

Ready?

Ready??

Over...1300 amps.

Yeah.