Frequently Asked Questions

Why?

I mean... why not? Music is awesome. Flashy lights are awesome. Puzzling out complex systems and coordinating them to do what you want is rewarding. On top of it all, watching the enjoyment other people get from experiencing this is very heart-warming.

How much power does this draw?

Less than 400 watts/hour, or five 80-watt bulbs, or less than a refrigerator.

The show is using exclusively 5V pixels to reduce the power draw. Currently (2021 season) there are about 4300 pixels, and they are limited to only go to 30% brightness. If every pixel were always at full white (which is obviously not the case), then the total power consumption would be about 380 watts.

How long did it take to set this up?

The first purchases for hardware were made December 2020, with the full light show being ready before December 2021. A decent portion of that time is waiting for shipping, as the pixels and many of the connecting cables came direct from China via AliExpress.

Building the props is not too bad; one star with 90 pixels would take around 40 minutes to install the pixels into the backing material (usually a corrugated plastic) and solder in power injection and incoming and outgoing data connectors; call it 150 pixels an hour. Figuring out how to connect them to the house would take another 30 min each or so, all told.

Building the connecting cables for power injection was very time consuming; due to how the power is injected, and the desire to keep the show modular, there is a tee connector - which was built by hand - for every prop; this amounts to approximately 50 or so tees, plus the cables that connect the tees.

Overall, assuming one has all the raw components (pixels, prop blanks, connectors, wire, etc) and is wiling to work at this for two hours every day, they could probably go from nothing to fully running in three weeks, assuming they don't have to do research along the way, and assuming they have sequences, the next question ;-)

What was the hardest part?

Coming up with songs/sequences. To be clear, one can purchase or download sequences, map the sequence models to the models in one's own show, and be done with it; there's nothing wrong with that, and this is how many of the songs for Glenmont Lights were built. However, they are not cheap; one song usually runs between $50 and $150 for the sequence. Once you start building a sequence, you understand why they cost so much; it's easy to spend multiple hours getting the effects just right, the timing perfect, trying different things to see what looks good together. It took about 30 hours to build up the sequences for a playlist of seven songs, and most of them started with an already-well-thought-out sequence.

How can I get started with this?

Take a look at the resources page; it is full of references which were helpful in setting up this display. Also, feel free to peruse the blog; there are some tips and tricks contained within.