Good to see an update from you! I use a fibre run out to my garden to help electricaly isolate that area from my other network devices. While power could go through the mains I have conditioning and a UPS on the main network. As fibre optic doesn't conduct electricity chould any high voltage get sent in to it it wouldn't go back to a switch port in my network.
Yeah, I thought about that as being a bonus if the other end was hit by lightening. Extra Ethernet distance was my main driver for this and I just wanted to get a better understanding of how it worked.
Glad you all made it through the cold. We lost power for 3 days last April when we had a storm roll through with 100 MPH down bursts. Our town’s power infrastructure was destroyed. Had a whole army of linemen come in from other states and got us all back in order. What made it worse is the next two nights without power, it got down to about 20 degrees.
@@CanispaterChristmas definitely! They were great! My neighbors across the street had their line ripped off their house. We brought snacks and drinks out to them while they hung a new line up.
Good to see you back glad all are well. We have the opposite in N Zealand Xmas hot and sunny play havoc with cables high uv light. If you move to the country think of the size oh your display it will be wow size. I am out country display takes 4 weeks to build (I am 70+) kids love. Stay safe in these weird times.
Hi I'm a new subscriber, really enjoying the way you clearly explain all the details in your videos, informative and entertaining! I've done static Christmas display for about 8 years, moved to synchronized to music light show in 2019, using my static pieces, (2 wire system), then added dump RGB in 2020. I just had invested so much money in my static pieces over the years, that I didn't just want to sell them all and go deep into pixels, I'm eassinngg my way into it. 2021 will be my first year with pixels, mixed with dump RGB, and I'm going to convert some of my static pieces, rope light motifs, fairy light displays etc into pixel and dump RGB pixels. Like you said previously, the learning curve to understand pixels, controllers and the software is very intense when you're first learning, but your videos are helping me a ton, thank you :)
Hi Jeff. Yeah cold weather and TX do not mix! My sister and brother in law live just outside Fort Worth, temps dropped to zero and pipes in the walls froze. TX houses are not built with cold weather in mind, many of the water pipes are run inside the exterior walls. It was a mess! My brother in law, with a propane torch in one hand and a phone in the other hand, learned how to cut out the burst sections of copper pipes and sweat in a new section using slip couplings! I talked him through it and he did great, after cutting out 4 burst sections of pipe they got the water back on and didnt have to stay at a hotel. Vertical learning curve for the B in law!
Enjoyed the update, second the move out to the open country as we enjoy having a few acres to ourselves. With 500 feet between the house and street, I did use 200 ft. of Cat5 this past season to run nine arches. I use Holiday Coro long-range receivers and had no issues. I Will add, however, I did not test down to the millisecond if the arches had any lag, did not visibly notice any. Might have to test fiber versus Cat5 since I want to run candy canes down the driveway which I am sure will stretch the capabilities of my system. My best to you and yours, completely understand being down the rabbit hole as a BA/Tester.
Hey Jeff, really appreciate your videos. I started my journey with projection mapping but slowly want to get into addressable LEDs. I’d like to get started with some small flood lights I saw on Ray’s store. 3 sides of my backyard are fenced and I’d like the lights to be on the ground shining up at the fence every 10 feet or so for 20ish lights. When nothing’s going on I’d like them to be warm white, 4th of July red white blue, football season purple and gold, christmas red and green, etc. Do you think I’m barking up the wrong tree to try and use this type of system for year round relatively simple landscape lighting?
No. There’s a few options for that depending on your skills & willingness to ask questions from the community. A pixelStick might be able to drive those which is relatively inexpensive and may do what you want. You can go up from there if you want them part of a show.
Glad to see you back and can't wait to see your future pixel projects! And don't worry, I'll expect my heart in a few days, but I'll wait 3 years for a reply! 😁
Hey Jeff, I am starting my display planning. Watching your previous video you said you are going to change your yard outline. Can you please post an update on what you are planning to do so we can get ideas as well. My wife and I are looking forward to seeing your great work.
@@CanispaterChristmas Cool thanks. Hey when you do can you also redo the info video. You showed ur windows took lets say 400 pixels ur mega tree too 1200 pixels. You did that with ur display and it was helpful on seeing how much you have for your show and helped me buy 3000 pixels. Keep up the awesomeness.
Thanks for all the help this year. Order 4000 more pixels for next year show. Which will bring me to 6000 total. Also, bought a 3d printer to print out custom props as well.
Great to see you back. The fiber media converters are pretty awesome and come in handy. I've used them before to connect an IDF closet to our MDF many many feet away. If u need any pointers on networking or wireless, feel free to reach out to me... I work for a fortune 500 company and play with it more often than not. Sounds like u don't need the help, but if you do, hit me up. I'd be glad to help! Take care and looking forward to your updates and projects!
Thanks! Are these kinda ubiquitous or are there differences between these and "pro" versions? I've seen where they are multiplexing signals to get more throughput, but I don't need that. Just might want a longer Ethernet connection than 328-feet.
@@CanispaterChristmas To my knowledge every device would be no different than the other. It's sort of like a usb is a usb cable between mac and pc. The part that matters is the quality. In order to operate they still need to adhere to ieee standards so you're probably paying more for the name than anything. Tp-link in my opinion are leaps and bounds to reliability based on quality. Far superior than netgear, but lower than cisco. The other part of the puzzle is the compatibility to sfps or gbics. Some work with all vendors, others have issues with other vendors. Case in point:. Aruba Networks, an HP Enterprise wireless solution...the sfps/gbics work great with finisar and another vendor (name escapes me atm), not so much with cisco and it's not understood why. Single mode vs Multimode is huge as well. Single mode is used for longer runs because the core of the fiber is thinner leading to smaller reflection angles within the core. As for pro vs other... No clue other than higher quality? For circuits from isp's, I've seen various brands used. Even as far as netgear... Which I may have choked at a little bit. Lol. But from a functionality standpoint, if you're just looking at basic functionality, I personally think you'll be fine with the tp-link or other brand. What's remaining now is 10gig vs 1 gig...or if u need a managed converter. Those decisions are based on whether u have that much traffic being generated and or if you want to be able to log into the converter to control things or see stats. For light controllers and displays, I don't think you'll need anything larger than 1 gig unless you're doing something like world of lights. Just my opinion... Hope it helps
@@CanispaterChristmas Do you think you could do a video explaining universes, pixels, nodes, strings and channels? It is pretty confusing for a newbie. On the Falcon F16V3 I know each pixel port can handle 1024 pixels using 3072 channels, but I really do not know how universes come into play. I am sure I am not the only one.
@@artcate4689 Art if you are using x-lights just let x-lights configure it for you so much simpler and sounds like you have a falcon controller x-lights supports that you just download to the controller and all is golden
LOL. Well, no new house just yet so I don't have a lighting plan, but I may be able to put "something" out there. Just had knee surgery so recovering from that currently. I'd like to at least get something going to see how the cows react. Their acceptance is kinda important. 😂
Please Help me ... When I go to Create New Download. It shows only Boscoyo Models. When I click on a Model NOTHING happens. it wont bring up the model or anything. What do I do? Do I have to download all the Models from Boscoyo and Holidaycoro First?
Might be a question for the Facebook group. You click the custom model button, draw an area, wait a few seconds and the window should open with options to choose which model it is. Can't remember which all is included now. Pick the model from the list and it should populate the area you drew earlier. How are you going about this?
Trying to stay outside city limits basically. Waco to SA, College Station to Kerrville-ish. Of course, it also has to meet with Cathy's and my banker's approval. 😂
Thanks Jeff - I am looking for a video that would give steps on how to add many props (for my year 2 show) to existing Sequences. No, not sure I saved off my mappings ;( but am about doubling my show props/pixels and I'm seeing a lot of work to add them to existing 3rd party sequences. Thoughts or a video?
Yeah, saving off the mappings is needed. You'll have to re-create the mapping. Not a huge deal, but might mess up something you liked if you map it to something else.
And you'll need to add the new props to your sequence. Right-click where you see your props, choose "Edit Display Elements" then move the new props into the sequence.
Maybe try re-creating the mapping first on a new sequence (same as the old one) then add the new props to the old sequence with the new mapping. Piece of cake right? 😂
@@CanispaterChristmas thank you Sir. I have added all new Props, and will try your steps. I have been adding them one at a time. BTW: hope the Book App is doing well. Kubernetes I would assume? Do you use Scrum or Kanban?
Awesome! Oh, exciting things on the Book app. Not completely sure what the back-end stack is, but I think they're using Kubernetes for something. Also, not real strict on process, but mostly resembles scrum.
Looking forward to your video on the issue with pixel fires. I was looking to start this year with my first display and needless to say all this discussion has put a bit of a halt on the idea
Beautiful display especially in the snow! So the whole thing is run off FPP? I am a little skeptical of FPP because it seems crazy that a Raspberry Pi can run a whole light show. Seems to work good for you!
Thanks! FPP runs fine. All it's really doing is playing a data file out to the network. Use xLights to create the sequence and FPP plays it. If you saturate the network (not likely for residential stuff) you can run FPP remotes to segment things further. I've not had to do that.
I've asked in the past about fiber convertors to extend my xlights data for adding props to my show across the street. I prefer everything hard wired rather than wireless if I had the choice. I was told (on FB group) it won't work because it's DMX data spec and wiring, not Ethernet/pc data level so it can't technically be converted to transmit across fiber. Was it bs? I don't know because I never tried it after asking and getting that response. I use these media converters at work everyday - multimode (62.5 micron) can go 1.2km, single mode (50 micron) can go for miles. I thought it should work for connecting a controller... I'm not sure if it would work for a controller to diff receiver board. Let us know if it does work, how you tested it (single/multi won't matter but give specs of your gbic transceiver and fiber cable - yellow is usually single mode, orange is multimode).
The items are listed in the description. I wasn't transferring E1.31 across the link so can't speak to that, but I can give it a try. I was just using the controller's web interface over fiber. The receivers are RS-485 or something like it so wouldn't think they'd work either.
Hi Jeff, Congrats on the new job. i have a question about X-lights. i've been watching your videos for about 2 yrs now and I decided to put up pixels last year but I could not get the box connected to my computer. now that I got it hooked up to my computer my newest version of X-Lights does not have the "output to lights button" do you know how or where I can go to find it? thank you in advance. any information is helpful.
Thanks! I noticed that problem on a low-resolution monitor. It's in a toolbar that may be off the screen. If you move the entire xlights window to the left (off your screen), the toolbar should appear and you can move it to a better location, then put the window back in the right place on your screen.
I grew up on a dairy farm in northern Wisconsin, and we had a PTO driven generator to run the milk house and coolers, and a 35kWh four cylinder diesel gen set for the house, and 3,000 gallons of diesel fuel on hand always. You just can not be without power for any real length of time. I'm buying a ranch and moving to Texas myself in a few months, and I will have another diesel gen set to run the entire home, and at least 1,000 gallons of treated fuel for long term storage. Some friends of mine are from Round Rock, and they were without power for just a day. Like you, they were very lucky and they know it, and are getting a diesel gen set themselves, around a 10kWh with a 265 gallon tank of treated fuel. He wanted to get a 3kWh and I said if you do that, the wife will have her coffee pot going, then throw some thing in the microwave and then run to the bathroom, and turn on the light and kill the gen set, and she'll be mad cause she's still peeing in the dark, and asking you why, when you have a gen set. Just like you don't want to hear about the labor pains, you just want to know if it's a boy or a girl, she doesn't want to hear about watts, she just wants a hot cup of coffee, hot bagel, and pee with the lights on. Spend the money so she doesn't yell at you for having to pee in the dark, and you're not yelling at her or the kids for every light they turn on. It's just an insurance policy you pay for once and hope you never need, just like all your other insurances you pay for every month and hope you never need. You never want to be under insured or under powered. Keep up the great work.
@@CanispaterChristmas "Kinda-diesel"?? I kinda don't know what that is...lol...No, and it would get cold cold cold there, plus I learned many tricks as a mechanic, as well as spending 367 long cold days at the South Pole in Antarctica where we hit 103 below zero. Up north, I had a battery heater, and a block heater for the diesel. I would start it every week and run it for an hour and then in the summer do the same but only once a month. This was just to exercise the engine, cook off any moisture, keep mice from making a home in the air cleaner, and to excite the alternator as well. Some times if you do not run a larger gen set often, like for years, the alternator may not start producing electricity and now you need to "FLASH IT" to get it going and in an emergency, you just want power and not screw around with it, because of the lack of maintenance and exercising it. Seriously, check your air cleaner before starting so you don't suck a mouse nest into the engine....it's a MESS when you do. When I knew a storm was on the way, I just plugged the heaters in on the gen set, and warmed everything up, and then "IF" the power went out, it was easy to start. They're pretty easy to start anyway, but hey, a warm engine doesn't mind a load, like a cold engine does. NEVER put a load on a cold engine. I always let my diesels run until warm....usually 15 minutes or so before I EVER put a load on the,. and then I let them run without a load for 5 minutes to cool off and get as much heat out of the engine as possible before shutting it down when the power came back on. If all else fails, I have an LP heater that I can start up and let it run close to the engine and oil pan, and warm everything up, and that always works. Before the LP heater, I used my Weber grill, and filled it with charcoal and fired it up and that warmed up the building nicely...well nice enough to start a diesel engine. NEVER buy a diesel with a plastic air cleaner housing either. I've seen then crack in the cold weather when the engine is running and vibrating. Plus with plastic, you can't use the next trick. If it's really REALLY cold, remove the air filter, and in the STEEL housing and intake manifold, spray in some starting fluid, and light it on fire. Let it burn and heat up the manifold. Do this a couple times, and then try to start it. Now the engine is sucking in warmer air and not freezing cold air. I've even cranked the engine over while the fire is burning when it was REALLY cold, just to heat up the cylinders some. It doesn't hurt a thing, but do it in front of some sheeple crybabies and watch them panic....it's always a good chuckle. I like to act really mad while trying to start it, and spray starting fluid in the engine, and say I'll burn this thing up...lol Whatever you do, do NOT spray starting fluid into a diesel and then try starting it. That's bad. The fuel, is another thing I like. It is VERY stable and all but impossible for it to start a fire, in fact when it's in liquid form, you just can not get it to burn with a match. It also stores VERY well and I mean years and years when the fuel tank is air tight. I treat ALL my fuel with a product called PRI-D or G. The "D" is for diesel, and the "G" is for gasoline. This product is what the gooberment uses to treat longer term strategic fuel reserves for the military. One treatment will last 10 years or so, and then you retreat it for another 10 years. I actually opened up a couple tanks to check my stored emergency fuel 16 years after I treated it and sealed it up, and it was still the same pink as the day I bought it, but I did add in more PRI-D treatment since I had them opened. One QUART, 32 ounces, will treat 500 to 520 gallons of diesel. A little goes a long way. You can store fuel forever. When I moved from Wisconsin, I gave my friend about 1,500 gallons of diesel that I bought back in the early 90's, and I looked at my records, and I paid $0.63 a gallon for it back then. So it was pretty old fuel. You can also get PRI products for cold weather, but if you have your fuel tank inside with the gen set, and you have a small LP heater, the diesel will flow like water and never gel. At least not until it gets well below zero and that's just not reality in Texas, and I've been in some REALLY cold areas, so if it was some thing to really worry about, I'd tell you, but for "ME", it's a non issue, cause even though it was cold-ish in Texas a few weeks ago, it was not COLD COLD to where a diesel would have trouble starting. I'm more concerned with storms and the power going out, than I am with cold weather, but either way I'm ready. Also, buy FARM or OFF ROAD diesel and you do not have to pay the high road tax. Back in Wisconsin, I think that was almost $0.30 a gallon I saved and for a 1000 gallons that $300 in my pocket. I would not run anything but #2 fuel as it has more oil in it and you need that for the injector pump to have a long life. Another thing I did, was I had custom pipes made for it at a muffler shop, so I could put a truck muffler on it and now it runs as quiet as any vehicle, and not like a dang lawn mower screaming all day and night. Finally, get a LONG stroke diesel that runs at 1800 RPM and NOT those 3600 RPM engines. They do NOT last and you'll run the guts out of them. The long stroke slow runners have so much power and will last literally forever. Put it in your will. Some thing nice to have, is a separate circuit that's BEFORE the gen set with a small night light plugged in and turned on, so when the power comes back on, you'll know because now the light is on now, and you don't have to keep guessing or flipping the transfer switch and checking for power when out in the country, and no one is around to see if they have lights on. What ever you decide to get, hard wire it right into your breaker panel with a transfer switch, and you can run the whole house just like normal, to include deep well pumps, water heaters, electric driers, and AC, all of which require 220 vac. Now everyone is happy, and that's key, but what the hell do I know...lol
Bio-diesel is what I was calling "kinda-diesel" which I understand turns to gel in cold weather. Good to know the real stuff doesn't have that problem. I already knew about getting a lower RPM genny, but I can't decide between diesel or propane as we'll likely have other propane needs for the house. I know propane is less energy dense than diesel so would need more for the same output and having two fuels wouldn't be a big issue on land. It's still early in the process and I have plenty of time to figure it out. Any brand preferences?
@@CanispaterChristmas OOOOH, I thought you were talking about the engine, not the fuel. Yeah, I'm not a fan of that stuff when it comes to my family and emergencies. I do know a guy up north who had a Ford Ranger with a diesel and he drove like 1,300 miles on bio-diesel that he made himself. He loves it, but he still said he has to start his truck with regular diesel, and then switch over as the engine warms up. Plus he has some sort of heater that runs off the cooling system, just like a cab heater, and the bio-diesel runs through that heater to warm it up....A LOT so it burns much more completely. He does get great mileage with it though, and it smells like french fries once it's set up correctly. I'm not a propane fan at all. I just hate having to rely on a special truck to bring me fuel, and in the cold, it can freeze up for sure. Plus it runs at 3600 RPM again, and heavy duty long term engines are the slow runners, that run half as fast and last twice as long. Natural gas...no way. Again, I'm relying on way too much infrastructure to remain operational for me to have power, and it kinda defeats "MY" purpose anyway. For a home HEAVY DUTY gen set that will always be around and you can get parts for, but still affordable for the normal man, a Perkins 10 or the 21kWh. They make a great engine that will last and last, and are VERY good on fuel. You just have to figure out what kind of loads you'll be seeing and do the math, and add at least 10% to that figure. Here's a website that has a lot of good info on each gen set and I really like how they lay it out for you, and they include fuel consumption at different loads. I would not buy from them, but they have great info and very well laid out for comparing a lot of different gen sets. www.centralmainediesel.com/perkins-generators.asp
@@CanispaterChristmas Oh and I forget. My home insurance went down with a diesel gen set since we didn't have to worry about pipes freezing, food going bad and what not, BUT with a gasoline gen set, they were VERY interested in how much gas was being stored, and how close to the home it would be. Some thing else to consider, and check with your insurance company.
I suppose it depends on what you're hanging, but I use the strips from Boscoyo for a lot of things and free-standing props. I've seen some clips people have "printed", but there's not really a single solution (I've drilled a lot of holes). You might ask around in the Facebook group to see what people are using.
@@CanispaterChristmas yes sir I’m using Boscoyo strips my parents just don’t want me to drill into the house. As a 14 year old 2 years ago I enjoyed going to see the dancing lights you drive trough and it was amazing! Last year I decided that I wanted to do them. I found your videos and they taught me everything so I just wanted to Thank you for one answering my question and two for teaching me about this hobby I hope to continue and teach other people about!
Hi Jeff, I know this isn't the right spot but I think you did a video on adding multiple power supplies to a controller and wondered if you could send me a link to that video. I have a f16 and think that I need to add a 2nd power supply to it, but have no idea how without blowing stuff up :) Thanks
You mean this one? ua-cam.com/video/EcAXycWNSxM/v-deo.html There are two input terminals on the F16. Each one handles half of the board. V2 also powers the board.
@@CanispaterChristmas Hi Jeff, no I though you did a video where you actually connected 2 power supply's to 1 f16 controller. Maybe I am incorrect on this.
@@ducebigalow8834 I always connect 2 power supplies to an F16. One to V1 and the other to V2. You mean 2 power supplies and one string? Cut the positive between the two.
If you you simply need more power per side of your board (assuming you use a Falcon), I would recommend the used HP server power supplies. They supply a clean - constant 12V and are available in 750W and 900W models for about $30 each on ebay. Some of the kits include the breakout board. I also see some 750W units on ebay for less.
Hey Jeff. Have you ordered from Boscoyo this year? I placed an order on April 19 and its still "processing". Emailed them twice with no response. I know you are not affiliated with them, but just wondering if my experience is isolated or if it is Boscoyo "normal".
Like magic, I get an email from them about 1 hour ago. My order will ship next week. This was my first order with them, so I didn't know what to expect or if 4 weeks and no info was normal for them. I have ordered from Wired Watts on a Monday and received the order by Friday. Didn't figure you had secret access, just some insight on their turnaround times. Thanks!
Jeff. ♥️ I am not disgraced by your ♥️ ♥️Or no ♥️ I am overjoyed for your ♥️ moment Ha. You do need to add to the end of your video montage the new low temp that you experienced instead of the one you have now. ♥️ 🤣
I was wondering what was up with the late acknowledgements. Most you tubers don't respond to comments. I was expecting to see snowmageddon snuck into the outro. 😂
Great to here from, even though it was probably only a few weeks since I last spoke to you! Lol! In regards to the move, will people be able to see your display easily like you would if living in suburbs?
that megatree came down and boxed in about 20 seconds!
Always seems to come down much faster. 😂
Great update Jeff glad y'all came through the snow and cold! Make the move! you will love it!
Thanks! We are excited about it.
Don’t know how I missed this video until now. Great to see your face again!
Thanks! A lot going on around here. lol
It is so good to see you back!!!!
Thanks!
Good to see an update from you! I use a fibre run out to my garden to help electricaly isolate that area from my other network devices. While power could go through the mains I have conditioning and a UPS on the main network. As fibre optic doesn't conduct electricity chould any high voltage get sent in to it it wouldn't go back to a switch port in my network.
Yeah, I thought about that as being a bonus if the other end was hit by lightening. Extra Ethernet distance was my main driver for this and I just wanted to get a better understanding of how it worked.
Glad that you are ok.
Thanks!
Glad you all made it through the cold. We lost power for 3 days last April when we had a storm roll through with 100 MPH down bursts. Our town’s power infrastructure was destroyed. Had a whole army of linemen come in from other states and got us all back in order. What made it worse is the next two nights without power, it got down to about 20 degrees.
WOW! I believe we had similar out-of-state assistance. I'm glad they do what they do.
@@CanispaterChristmas definitely! They were great! My neighbors across the street had their line ripped off their house. We brought snacks and drinks out to them while they hung a new line up.
Good to see you back glad all are well. We have the opposite in N Zealand Xmas hot and sunny play havoc with cables high uv light. If you move to the country think of the size oh your display it will be wow size. I am out country display takes 4 weeks to build (I am 70+) kids love. Stay safe in these weird times.
Thanks! Yeah, it's been 30-40 years since we've had this kind of cold. Total chaos.
Hi I'm a new subscriber, really enjoying the way you clearly explain all the details in your videos, informative and entertaining!
I've done static Christmas display for about 8 years, moved to synchronized to music light show in 2019, using my static pieces, (2 wire system), then added dump RGB in 2020. I just had invested so much money in my static pieces over the years, that I didn't just want to sell them all and go deep into pixels, I'm eassinngg my way into it.
2021 will be my first year with pixels, mixed with dump RGB, and I'm going to convert some of my static pieces, rope light motifs, fairy light displays etc into pixel and dump RGB pixels.
Like you said previously, the learning curve to understand pixels, controllers and the software is very intense when you're first learning, but your videos are helping me a ton, thank you :)
Welcome and thanks! Yeah, you don't have to dump your current investment. Just add pixels each year.
Hi Jeff. Yeah cold weather and TX do not mix! My sister and brother in law live just outside Fort Worth, temps dropped to zero and pipes in the walls froze. TX houses are not built with cold weather in mind, many of the water pipes are run inside the exterior walls. It was a mess! My brother in law, with a propane torch in one hand and a phone in the other hand, learned how to cut out the burst sections of copper pipes and sweat in a new section using slip couplings! I talked him through it and he did great, after cutting out 4 burst sections of pipe they got the water back on and didnt have to stay at a hotel. Vertical learning curve for the B in law!
Haha. Sorry to hear that. Yes, we may still have people without water due to busted pipes. It was a concern of ours.
Enjoyed the update, second the move out to the open country as we enjoy having a few acres to ourselves. With 500 feet between the house and street, I did use 200 ft. of Cat5 this past season to run nine arches. I use Holiday Coro long-range receivers and had no issues. I Will add, however, I did not test down to the millisecond if the arches had any lag, did not visibly notice any. Might have to test fiber versus Cat5 since I want to run candy canes down the driveway which I am sure will stretch the capabilities of my system. My best to you and yours, completely understand being down the rabbit hole as a BA/Tester.
Cool. Glad to hear the long-range stuff worked out well. Still hunting for our perfect spot. :)
Hey Jeff, really appreciate your videos. I started my journey with projection mapping but slowly want to get into addressable LEDs. I’d like to get started with some small flood lights I saw on Ray’s store. 3 sides of my backyard are fenced and I’d like the lights to be on the ground shining up at the fence every 10 feet or so for 20ish lights. When nothing’s going on I’d like them to be warm white, 4th of July red white blue, football season purple and gold, christmas red and green, etc. Do you think I’m barking up the wrong tree to try and use this type of system for year round relatively simple landscape lighting?
No. There’s a few options for that depending on your skills & willingness to ask questions from the community. A pixelStick might be able to drive those which is relatively inexpensive and may do what you want. You can go up from there if you want them part of a show.
Glad to see you back and can't wait to see your future pixel projects! And don't worry, I'll expect my heart in a few days, but I'll wait 3 years for a reply! 😁
😂
So guess you must have move. So i hope the cows like what ever lights you set up thanks for getting back to me and you be safe
LOL. It's a longer-term project than originally planned. Still doing things, but added a knee surgery to the pile. 😂
Hey Jeff, I am starting my display planning. Watching your previous video you said you are going to change your yard outline. Can you please post an update on what you are planning to do so we can get ideas as well. My wife and I are looking forward to seeing your great work.
Not sure I’ve figured that out yet, but I’ll post a video when I do. 😂
@@CanispaterChristmas Cool thanks. Hey when you do can you also redo the info video. You showed ur windows took lets say 400 pixels ur mega tree too 1200 pixels. You did that with ur display and it was helpful on seeing how much you have for your show and helped me buy 3000 pixels. Keep up the awesomeness.
Happy that you made it through snowmageddon relatively unharmed!
Thanks!
Welcome back
Thanks!
Thanks for all the help this year. Order 4000 more pixels for next year show. Which will bring me to 6000 total. Also, bought a 3d printer to print out custom props as well.
Cool. Let me know how that goes. I haven't moved into the 3D print world yet.
@@CanispaterChristmas will do good sir. Are you attending the virtual conference that is coming up?
@@Aion_00 Yes. I believe I will be doing a show-and-tell on my tune-to sign.
@@CanispaterChristmas Awesome. I may take the day off to make sure I don't miss anything.
U should have posted a video so we can see ur display. 😊
Hello from Round Rock Jeff! A lot of us pixel pros here in this area I am finding out!
Greetings! Great to hear!
BTW congrats on the new position and I wish you all the best !
Thanks!
Welcome back!
Thanks!
Great to see you back. The fiber media converters are pretty awesome and come in handy. I've used them before to connect an IDF closet to our MDF many many feet away. If u need any pointers on networking or wireless, feel free to reach out to me... I work for a fortune 500 company and play with it more often than not. Sounds like u don't need the help, but if you do, hit me up. I'd be glad to help! Take care and looking forward to your updates and projects!
Thanks! Are these kinda ubiquitous or are there differences between these and "pro" versions? I've seen where they are multiplexing signals to get more throughput, but I don't need that. Just might want a longer Ethernet connection than 328-feet.
@@CanispaterChristmas they are pretty much a commodity item. are you going to get better performance or lifespan out of a cisco? probably not.
Good to know. Thanks!
@@CanispaterChristmas
To my knowledge every device would be no different than the other. It's sort of like a usb is a usb cable between mac and pc. The part that matters is the quality.
In order to operate they still need to adhere to ieee standards so you're probably paying more for the name than anything. Tp-link in my opinion are leaps and bounds to reliability based on quality. Far superior than netgear, but lower than cisco. The other part of the puzzle is the compatibility to sfps or gbics. Some work with all vendors, others have issues with other vendors. Case in point:. Aruba Networks, an HP Enterprise wireless solution...the sfps/gbics work great with finisar and another vendor (name escapes me atm), not so much with cisco and it's not understood why.
Single mode vs Multimode is huge as well. Single mode is used for longer runs because the core of the fiber is thinner leading to smaller reflection angles within the core.
As for pro vs other... No clue other than higher quality? For circuits from isp's, I've seen various brands used. Even as far as netgear... Which I may have choked at a little bit. Lol. But from a functionality standpoint, if you're just looking at basic functionality, I personally think you'll be fine with the tp-link or other brand.
What's remaining now is 10gig vs 1 gig...or if u need a managed converter. Those decisions are based on whether u have that much traffic being generated and or if you want to be able to log into the converter to control things or see stats. For light controllers and displays, I don't think you'll need anything larger than 1 gig unless you're doing something like world of lights.
Just my opinion... Hope it helps
Awesome! Thanks!
Glad to hear it’s getting better there! My father has some family down there and it ended up getting -3 in their home!
Oh man! Sorry to hear that. I hear there are still people without water or have busted pipes.
If you make it out to the country , momma may not have to climb steps and that would be much better health wise. Glad y’all’re ok
She tells me that every day. 😂
Thanks for the updates. 👍
👍Thanks!
Hows things and hows the family and dogs ...I hope to jump in to pixels soon so I can see if I can figure it out for this year
All good. Jobby job has been keeping me quite busy, but there is some light at the end of the tunnel so hoping to get back to making videos soon.😂
Hi Jeff, I am new to pixel lighting and your videos have been great. I just ordered your Udemy course. Looking forward to digging in.
Awesome & welcome! Let me know if you have questions.
@@CanispaterChristmas Do you think you could do a video explaining universes, pixels, nodes, strings and channels? It is pretty confusing for a newbie. On the Falcon F16V3 I know each pixel port can handle 1024 pixels using 3072 channels, but I really do not know how universes come into play. I am sure I am not the only one.
Sure! I’ll put something together.
@@artcate4689 Art if you are using x-lights just let x-lights configure it for you so much simpler and sounds like you have a falcon controller x-lights supports that you just download to the controller and all is golden
@@mklabunde thanks for the info, that is actually what I did. I know a lot more since I asked Jeff about making a video for this.
I think you would love being outside of town. Glad you didn't turn into a cannispater popsicle!
Me too! Yeah, we're looking forward to it.
So Jeff are you finely moved and in the new house that you were talking about and if so have you make up a plan for you lights ?
LOL. Well, no new house just yet so I don't have a lighting plan, but I may be able to put "something" out there. Just had knee surgery so recovering from that currently. I'd like to at least get something going to see how the cows react. Their acceptance is kinda important. 😂
I love your videos! I’m 13 and my mom says that you are not a celebrity and not world famous, but I don’t believe her!
Thanks! Not a celebrity, but I have subscribers in several countries so maybe world-famous. 😂
You are one of the coolest people ever!
Haha. Thanks!
Please Help me ... When I go to Create New Download. It shows only Boscoyo Models. When I click on a Model NOTHING happens. it wont bring up the model or anything.
What do I do? Do I have to download all the Models from Boscoyo and Holidaycoro First?
Might be a question for the Facebook group. You click the custom model button, draw an area, wait a few seconds and the window should open with options to choose which model it is. Can't remember which all is included now. Pick the model from the list and it should populate the area you drew earlier. How are you going about this?
Where is "out in the country" for you? There's some gorgeous places out around Buda. Hill country living doesn't sounds too bad.
Trying to stay outside city limits basically. Waco to SA, College Station to Kerrville-ish. Of course, it also has to meet with Cathy's and my banker's approval. 😂
@@CanispaterChristmas Take off that silly hat you wear and get thyself to College Station, TX! Gig Em
@@aggiejames3679 Haha!
Thanks Jeff - I am looking for a video that would give steps on how to add many props (for my year 2 show) to existing Sequences. No, not sure I saved off my mappings ;( but am about doubling my show props/pixels and I'm seeing a lot of work to add them to existing 3rd party sequences. Thoughts or a video?
Yeah, saving off the mappings is needed. You'll have to re-create the mapping. Not a huge deal, but might mess up something you liked if you map it to something else.
And you'll need to add the new props to your sequence. Right-click where you see your props, choose "Edit Display Elements" then move the new props into the sequence.
Maybe try re-creating the mapping first on a new sequence (same as the old one) then add the new props to the old sequence with the new mapping. Piece of cake right? 😂
@@CanispaterChristmas thank you Sir. I have added all new Props, and will try your steps. I have been adding them one at a time. BTW: hope the Book App is doing well. Kubernetes I would assume? Do you use Scrum or Kanban?
Awesome! Oh, exciting things on the Book app. Not completely sure what the back-end stack is, but I think they're using Kubernetes for something. Also, not real strict on process, but mostly resembles scrum.
you know i thought about moving once, then i realized i would have to re -do my entire light show setup.
It will be worth it. 😂
Looking forward to your video on the issue with pixel fires. I was looking to start this year with my first display and needless to say all this discussion has put a bit of a halt on the idea
There is a great xEssentials video/discussion about the problem. If you're in the US, check out wiredwatts.com for your pixel needs.
How can pixels catch fire if they are only 12v?
@@CanispaterChristmas I'm in the land down under so don't really have too many options
OK. Seemed to be a bad production run in China. Check in with the auschristmaslighting folks.
Regulators can overheat.
Beautiful display especially in the snow! So the whole thing is run off FPP? I am a little skeptical of FPP because it seems crazy that a Raspberry Pi can run a whole light show. Seems to work good for you!
Thanks! FPP runs fine. All it's really doing is playing a data file out to the network. Use xLights to create the sequence and FPP plays it. If you saturate the network (not likely for residential stuff) you can run FPP remotes to segment things further. I've not had to do that.
Need more videos!!
Haha! Greetings! Been playing too much Star Trek Fleet Command! 😂
Well hell. Now I’m wondering if y’all are ok again? Its been awhile again. Your adoring fans are missing you! At least this one is! 😂😂
Haha. All good. Jobby job is sucking up my spare time atm, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.
I've asked in the past about fiber convertors to extend my xlights data for adding props to my show across the street. I prefer everything hard wired rather than wireless if I had the choice. I was told (on FB group) it won't work because it's DMX data spec and wiring, not Ethernet/pc data level so it can't technically be converted to transmit across fiber. Was it bs? I don't know because I never tried it after asking and getting that response. I use these media converters at work everyday - multimode (62.5 micron) can go 1.2km, single mode (50 micron) can go for miles. I thought it should work for connecting a controller... I'm not sure if it would work for a controller to diff receiver board. Let us know if it does work, how you tested it (single/multi won't matter but give specs of your gbic transceiver and fiber cable - yellow is usually single mode, orange is multimode).
The items are listed in the description. I wasn't transferring E1.31 across the link so can't speak to that, but I can give it a try. I was just using the controller's web interface over fiber. The receivers are RS-485 or something like it so wouldn't think they'd work either.
Hi Jeff, Congrats on the new job. i have a question about X-lights. i've been watching your videos for about 2 yrs now and I decided to put up pixels last year but I could not get the box connected to my computer. now that I got it hooked up to my computer my newest version of X-Lights does not have the "output to lights button" do you know how or where I can go to find it? thank you in advance. any information is helpful.
Thanks! I noticed that problem on a low-resolution monitor. It's in a toolbar that may be off the screen. If you move the entire xlights window to the left (off your screen), the toolbar should appear and you can move it to a better location, then put the window back in the right place on your screen.
Thanks Jeff, I found the button and moved it. Have a good one.
I grew up on a dairy farm in northern Wisconsin, and we had a PTO driven generator to run the milk house and coolers, and a 35kWh four cylinder diesel gen set for the house, and 3,000 gallons of diesel fuel on hand always. You just can not be without power for any real length of time. I'm buying a ranch and moving to Texas myself in a few months, and I will have another diesel gen set to run the entire home, and at least 1,000 gallons of treated fuel for long term storage.
Some friends of mine are from Round Rock, and they were without power for just a day. Like you, they were very lucky and they know it, and are getting a diesel gen set themselves, around a 10kWh with a 265 gallon tank of treated fuel. He wanted to get a 3kWh and I said if you do that, the wife will have her coffee pot going, then throw some thing in the microwave and then run to the bathroom, and turn on the light and kill the gen set, and she'll be mad cause she's still peeing in the dark, and asking you why, when you have a gen set.
Just like you don't want to hear about the labor pains, you just want to know if it's a boy or a girl, she doesn't want to hear about watts, she just wants a hot cup of coffee, hot bagel, and pee with the lights on.
Spend the money so she doesn't yell at you for having to pee in the dark, and you're not yelling at her or the kids for every light they turn on. It's just an insurance policy you pay for once and hope you never need, just like all your other insurances you pay for every month and hope you never need. You never want to be under insured or under powered. Keep up the great work.
Cool! Any problems with diesel and cold weather or is it just "kinda-diesel" that has a problem? (I forget what it's called).
@@CanispaterChristmas "Kinda-diesel"?? I kinda don't know what that is...lol...No, and it would get cold cold cold there, plus I learned many tricks as a mechanic, as well as spending 367 long cold days at the South Pole in Antarctica where we hit 103 below zero.
Up north, I had a battery heater, and a block heater for the diesel. I would start it every week and run it for an hour and then in the summer do the same but only once a month. This was just to exercise the engine, cook off any moisture, keep mice from making a home in the air cleaner, and to excite the alternator as well. Some times if you do not run a larger gen set often, like for years, the alternator may not start producing electricity and now you need to "FLASH IT" to get it going and in an emergency, you just want power and not screw around with it, because of the lack of maintenance and exercising it.
Seriously, check your air cleaner before starting so you don't suck a mouse nest into the engine....it's a MESS when you do.
When I knew a storm was on the way, I just plugged the heaters in on the gen set, and warmed everything up, and then "IF" the power went out, it was easy to start. They're pretty easy to start anyway, but hey, a warm engine doesn't mind a load, like a cold engine does. NEVER put a load on a cold engine. I always let my diesels run until warm....usually 15 minutes or so before I EVER put a load on the,. and then I let them run without a load for 5 minutes to cool off and get as much heat out of the engine as possible before shutting it down when the power came back on.
If all else fails, I have an LP heater that I can start up and let it run close to the engine and oil pan, and warm everything up, and that always works. Before the LP heater, I used my Weber grill, and filled it with charcoal and fired it up and that warmed up the building nicely...well nice enough to start a diesel engine.
NEVER buy a diesel with a plastic air cleaner housing either. I've seen then crack in the cold weather when the engine is running and vibrating.
Plus with plastic, you can't use the next trick. If it's really REALLY cold, remove the air filter, and in the STEEL housing and intake manifold, spray in some starting fluid, and light it on fire. Let it burn and heat up the manifold. Do this a couple times, and then try to start it. Now the engine is sucking in warmer air and not freezing cold air. I've even cranked the engine over while the fire is burning when it was REALLY cold, just to heat up the cylinders some. It doesn't hurt a thing, but do it in front of some sheeple crybabies and watch them panic....it's always a good chuckle. I like to act really mad while trying to start it, and spray starting fluid in the engine, and say I'll burn this thing up...lol
Whatever you do, do NOT spray starting fluid into a diesel and then try starting it. That's bad.
The fuel, is another thing I like. It is VERY stable and all but impossible for it to start a fire, in fact when it's in liquid form, you just can not get it to burn with a match.
It also stores VERY well and I mean years and years when the fuel tank is air tight. I treat ALL my fuel with a product called PRI-D or G. The "D" is for diesel, and the "G" is for gasoline. This product is what the gooberment uses to treat longer term strategic fuel reserves for the military. One treatment will last 10 years or so, and then you retreat it for another 10 years. I actually opened up a couple tanks to check my stored emergency fuel 16 years after I treated it and sealed it up, and it was still the same pink as the day I bought it, but I did add in more PRI-D treatment since I had them opened.
One QUART, 32 ounces, will treat 500 to 520 gallons of diesel. A little goes a long way. You can store fuel forever. When I moved from Wisconsin, I gave my friend about 1,500 gallons of diesel that I bought back in the early 90's, and I looked at my records, and I paid $0.63 a gallon for it back then. So it was pretty old fuel.
You can also get PRI products for cold weather, but if you have your fuel tank inside with the gen set, and you have a small LP heater, the diesel will flow like water and never gel. At least not until it gets well below zero and that's just not reality in Texas, and I've been in some REALLY cold areas, so if it was some thing to really worry about, I'd tell you, but for "ME", it's a non issue, cause even though it was cold-ish in Texas a few weeks ago, it was not COLD COLD to where a diesel would have trouble starting. I'm more concerned with storms and the power going out, than I am with cold weather, but either way I'm ready.
Also, buy FARM or OFF ROAD diesel and you do not have to pay the high road tax. Back in Wisconsin, I think that was almost $0.30 a gallon I saved and for a 1000 gallons that $300 in my pocket. I would not run anything but #2 fuel as it has more oil in it and you need that for the injector pump to have a long life.
Another thing I did, was I had custom pipes made for it at a muffler shop, so I could put a truck muffler on it and now it runs as quiet as any vehicle, and not like a dang lawn mower screaming all day and night.
Finally, get a LONG stroke diesel that runs at 1800 RPM and NOT those 3600 RPM engines. They do NOT last and you'll run the guts out of them. The long stroke slow runners have so much power and will last literally forever. Put it in your will.
Some thing nice to have, is a separate circuit that's BEFORE the gen set with a small night light plugged in and turned on, so when the power comes back on, you'll know because now the light is on now, and you don't have to keep guessing or flipping the transfer switch and checking for power when out in the country, and no one is around to see if they have lights on.
What ever you decide to get, hard wire it right into your breaker panel with a transfer switch, and you can run the whole house just like normal, to include deep well pumps, water heaters, electric driers, and AC, all of which require 220 vac. Now everyone is happy, and that's key, but what the hell do I know...lol
Bio-diesel is what I was calling "kinda-diesel" which I understand turns to gel in cold weather. Good to know the real stuff doesn't have that problem. I already knew about getting a lower RPM genny, but I can't decide between diesel or propane as we'll likely have other propane needs for the house. I know propane is less energy dense than diesel so would need more for the same output and having two fuels wouldn't be a big issue on land. It's still early in the process and I have plenty of time to figure it out. Any brand preferences?
@@CanispaterChristmas OOOOH, I thought you were talking about the engine, not the fuel. Yeah, I'm not a fan of that stuff when it comes to my family and emergencies. I do know a guy up north who had a Ford Ranger with a diesel and he drove like 1,300 miles on bio-diesel that he made himself. He loves it, but he still said he has to start his truck with regular diesel, and then switch over as the engine warms up.
Plus he has some sort of heater that runs off the cooling system, just like a cab heater, and the bio-diesel runs through that heater to warm it up....A LOT so it burns much more completely. He does get great mileage with it though, and it smells like french fries once it's set up correctly.
I'm not a propane fan at all. I just hate having to rely on a special truck to bring me fuel, and in the cold, it can freeze up for sure. Plus it runs at 3600 RPM again, and heavy duty long term engines are the slow runners, that run half as fast and last twice as long.
Natural gas...no way. Again, I'm relying on way too much infrastructure to remain operational for me to have power, and it kinda defeats "MY" purpose anyway.
For a home HEAVY DUTY gen set that will always be around and you can get parts for, but still affordable for the normal man, a Perkins 10 or the 21kWh. They make a great engine that will last and last, and are VERY good on fuel. You just have to figure out what kind of loads you'll be seeing and do the math, and add at least 10% to that figure.
Here's a website that has a lot of good info on each gen set and I really like how they lay it out for you, and they include fuel consumption at different loads. I would not buy from them, but they have great info and very well laid out for comparing a lot of different gen sets.
www.centralmainediesel.com/perkins-generators.asp
@@CanispaterChristmas Oh and I forget. My home insurance went down with a diesel gen set since we didn't have to worry about pipes freezing, food going bad and what not, BUT with a gasoline gen set, they were VERY interested in how much gas was being stored, and how close to the home it would be. Some thing else to consider, and check with your insurance company.
Hey Jeff what’s the best way to hang the lights on your house without drilling into brick and stone? Thanks and looking forward to your response!
I suppose it depends on what you're hanging, but I use the strips from Boscoyo for a lot of things and free-standing props. I've seen some clips people have "printed", but there's not really a single solution (I've drilled a lot of holes). You might ask around in the Facebook group to see what people are using.
@@CanispaterChristmas yes sir I’m using Boscoyo strips my parents just don’t want me to drill into the house. As a 14 year old 2 years ago I enjoyed going to see the dancing lights you drive trough and it was amazing! Last year I decided that I wanted to do them. I found your videos and they taught me everything so I just wanted to Thank you for one answering my question and two for teaching me about this hobby I hope to continue and teach other people about!
Awesome! Glad the videos helped! Let me know if you find a solution.
Are you attending the Florida Mega Mini?
Not this year. Too much going on. 😀
Hi Jeff, seem like every time I think its been a while since you did a video you post one the next day :D
Reminds me of an advertisement. "When's the last time you posted a video - that's too long." 😂
Hi Jeff, I know this isn't the right spot but I think you did a video on adding multiple power supplies to a controller and wondered if you could send me a link to that video. I have a f16 and think that I need to add a 2nd power supply to it, but have no idea how without blowing stuff up :) Thanks
You mean this one? ua-cam.com/video/EcAXycWNSxM/v-deo.html
There are two input terminals on the F16. Each one handles half of the board. V2 also powers the board.
@@CanispaterChristmas Hi Jeff, no I though you did a video where you actually connected 2 power supply's to 1 f16 controller. Maybe I am incorrect on this.
@@ducebigalow8834 I always connect 2 power supplies to an F16. One to V1 and the other to V2. You mean 2 power supplies and one string? Cut the positive between the two.
@@CanispaterChristmas yah I think that's it 😀
If you you simply need more power per side of your board (assuming you use a Falcon), I would recommend the used HP server power supplies. They supply a clean - constant 12V and are available in 750W and 900W models for about $30 each on ebay. Some of the kits include the breakout board. I also see some 750W units on ebay for less.
Hey Jeff. Have you ordered from Boscoyo this year? I placed an order on April 19 and its still "processing". Emailed them twice with no response. I know you are not affiliated with them, but just wondering if my experience is isolated or if it is Boscoyo "normal".
I haven't ordered yet. I also don't have secret access. 😂 Have you tried contacting James on FB?
Like magic, I get an email from them about 1 hour ago. My order will ship next week.
This was my first order with them, so I didn't know what to expect or if 4 weeks and no info was normal for them. I have ordered from Wired Watts on a Monday and received the order by Friday. Didn't figure you had secret access, just some insight on their turnaround times. Thanks!
LOL! They may have been away at a gathering/convention of some sort and just now working the queue.
Jeff. ♥️ I am not disgraced by your ♥️ ♥️Or no ♥️ I am overjoyed for your ♥️ moment
Ha. You do need to add to the end of your video montage the new low temp that you experienced instead of the one you have now. ♥️ 🤣
I like your thinking. 👍
Love your videos. Hope to meet you someday.
Thanks! I hope to attend Expo this year. We'll see if I can get on a plane. 😂
Is it true jeff? Pixel controller is coming out with a new controller?
Falcon controller
That is my understanding. I haven't seen anything yet tho.
I was wondering what was up with the late acknowledgements. Most you tubers don't respond to comments. I was expecting to see snowmageddon snuck into the outro. 😂
Haha. Many have asked so I included it in the video. I'll have to work on that. 😂
Did you read this? I want my Heart. :P
Yes. I'll respond in three years. 😂😍
sorry about all the power issues
Thanks! We were extremely fortunate, but others nearby were not. I'm hoping to plug that hole soon. :)
Great to here from, even though it was probably only a few weeks since I last spoke to you! Lol! In regards to the move, will people be able to see your display easily like you would if living in suburbs?
I'm sure I could set it up on near the road. 😂
Just think what it will be like when everyone has an electric car to charge! They will have to ration electricity to keep the grid from going down. 🤣
I believe that's closer than you think! 😂
The only Model that will work is the Berny sanders Model. AAnd I will not be using that Model. lol
Understood. 😂