Welcome to this year’s Christmas light extravaganza! I realize that this is a couple of weeks later than promised, but better late than never, right? This year’s “music and light” shows happen on each quarter hour from 6:00 pm until 10:45 pm, with a random selection playing at each 15 minute interval. And I apologize for the annoyingly oblique angle that I shot the video from, but there are giant piles of snow in front of my sidewalk and there is no other way to see the little one-meter trees that go around the edge of the lawn and do the “chase lights” thing during the songs.
The lights are controlled by three 16-channel PLC boxes, for 48 individually addressable items on the house and lawn. I could add more channels, but I think I am at my personal limit for now. I like to think that tasteful and understated goes a long way in keeping the neighbours happy. Certainly there are higher reaches to aspire to – pretty much everyone has seen Carson Williams’ excellent and inspiring “Wizards in Winter” routine, which uses 88 channels of control and took him two months to bring together, and this new entry here takes things to still another level. Having my yard that full, however, is not really my style.
If you have any questions, want pointers on doing this yourself, or just want to drop me a note, clicking here will probably accomplish that.
NOTE: For those that asked, you can indeed hear the music outside – ll-weather speakers provide the sound to folks passing by on the sidewalk, and next year I plan on adding a small FM transmitter for people watching from their cars. And yes, the neighbours on both sides are more than a bit hard of hearing.
I love music, on the other hand don’t wanna be fame.
This website was… how do I say it? Relevant!! Finally I’ve found something which helped me. Cheers!