Lots of Snow Again

Snow has fallen and more keeps falling. Some of the decorations are buried in snow drifts. It kind of looks like last year; although, only half as much snow (42 inches last year). At least people were able to enjoy the show up until Christmas. Last year, the snow fell a week before Christmas so viewer turnout was minimal.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve 2007

Merry Christmas...Eve! The night is warm and calm, a great evening to watch a holiday light show. I have seen up to ten cars at one time parked in front of the house. With such a pleasant evening some people are getting out of their cars and watching from the sidewalk. I put a radio outside so they could hear the music.

I am glad so many people are enjoying the show. That's one of the things that makes all the hard work worth while.

Happy Holidays!

Music Sounds Great

Well, I solved the distortion problem. I wasn't able to make any adjustments on the MP3 controller or the FM transmitter; however, I fixed the problem by remixing the music with lower gain. The show is awesome now!

Music Synchronized Show Is On Display

The new show is working now! Music is playing and lights are dancing. The problem was the sync cable. I searched a forum on Animated Lighting's website and found a thread that mentioned which pins the two wires should connect to on the Monster Brain. Sure enough, Animated Lighting configured the wire incorrectly so that when plugged in one wire was on the wrong pin. I reconfigured the wires and now everything works. I'm so glad the information was in the forum because it wasn't anywhere in Animated Lighting's documentation.

One problem left: The music is distorted especially on louder parts of the songs. I guess this is the next challenge to figure out.

Sync Complete, But Won't Play

The synchronization is complete except for Carol of the Bells. I connected the MP3 controller, downloaded the show, but only the first song plays and the lights do not turn on. I hope the MP3 controller isn't bad. I've tried various things, but no luck. I suspect a problem with the sync cable between the Monster Brain and the MP3 controller. It's the only thing that I'm not sure is connected correctly. It has two wires, but three pins to connect to. I can't work on this any more tonight so I'll continue tomorrow. I have to figure this out to meet the contest deadline. I'm also having coworkers stop by Friday to see the show.

Music Sync Continues

Well, it's Sunday night. I mixed the music, but still have some synchronization to do. This sure takes quite a while to do! It will be worth it when it is finished. I want to finish as soon as possible because some radio stations are having a contest for the best Christmas light display. I want to enter before it is too late.

Q11 Installed

I installed one of the new controllers, Q11 in the network today. I also finished running extension cords from the bells and the music tree to Q11. Now I need to finish the music synchronization now that this controller is online. I hope that won't take too long.

I also installed a few lights in the backyard where needed. The show is just shy of 60,000 lights.

Controllers are Here!!!

Finally, the controllers are here. To my surprise, they supplied power cords for all of the circuits. This is nice except that I have already built light controller boxes with household outlets just like past controller boxes. See the technical information section on my website. Oh well, I'll use what they sent since the power cords are already attached to the circuits.

More Disappointment From Animated Lighting

Well, Animated Lighting did not ship the controllers yet. They promised to ship them today for next day delivery at their cost. I guess we'll find out tomorrow.

Installation Almost Done

I installed another 3,270 lights all in the backyard on the deck and the landscape. I just have the four Austrian pines left to decorate. I may get to that tomorrow depending on if the controllers arrive tomorrow. Yes, they were not delivered yesterday. I will call Animated Lighting tomorrow morning to see what's wrong this time. Maybe I should travel to Kansas City and pick them up. I may get them faster!

I updated the website today with more information and full versions of the scene songs. Check it out.

Anxiously Frustrated

Well, it is almost noon on Saturday and the controllers have not arrived. I thought shipments on Saturday arrived around 1000. I hope I'm wrong and the shipment will arrive soon. In the meantime, I will try to program as much of the music synchronization as I can. I had hoped to premiere the new show this evening.

I also have to finish the backyard installation. The weather is cold, but the sun is out. Tomorrow is suppose to be warmer. I hope to have all installation completed by tomorrow night. I also have some lights to fix in the front yard. I noticed some lights out and the wind on Wednesday knocked over a few things.