# Christmas lighting kits



## alewolf (Nov 5, 2012)

I am curious, curious about using one of the lighting systems for halloween. Nothing as fancy as a light show, simple things like motion sense, setting pulse or flash rates, setting to music and setting areas to go off independent or patterned.

Anyone have any opinions on what christmas lighting systems work well, any to avoid or any overpriced?


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## corey872 (Jan 10, 2010)

Not sure on what you mean by "the lighting systems"? Can you give some names, brands, etc?

For me, I use an RGB node based 'lighting system'. I have an old laptop which runs X-lights. This is where you tell the lights what to do, what color, flashing, strobing, twinkling, etc. You can set that to music, triggers or what ever you want. I typically go pretty basic!. But this is 'creating a sequence'. Once that is done, I run a couple of Falcon F-16 control boards. They take the computer output and convert to data the nodes can understand. The boards also supply 12V power. The node strings then plug into these boards and the show is on.

I was hanging some nodes for Halloween - testing the orange and violet - and a guy stopped by and mentioned something like, "You're going to have fun tearing all those down and putting up Christmas lights in a few weeks!" I said, "Nope - they change color, so I just program them to red and green next!" 

All of this is pretty heavily on the DIY side - so relatively cheap in the overall scope of things. Though obviously a bet heavier on the personal labor side. There are likely more 'plug and play' systems but the price goes up. Though I must say, even the DIY systems are a lot more refined now than even 5-7 years ago.


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## alewolf (Nov 5, 2012)

That was helpful. Really don't have specific brands. Think in terms of the various controllers sold at walmart, home depot, lowes etc. Think a big part of my question should of been...what features should I look for to do a simple hallowewn light display. What features are potential problems etc. I am kind of at a loss on what to start with. Feel like people here can give me insight so I know what to ask and look for


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## corey872 (Jan 10, 2010)

I see. Would be good if someone with experience on those can comment. I don't know much about them. 

The one big thing I have seen, though - was someone had a color changing light / controller and mentioned it was a pain that it did not 'remember' what was set. Apparently, they got it set up for 'Halloween' but every time the power was shut off, it would go back to a display / color cycle mode the next time it would come on and they'd have to run back out and reprogram!

I guess the thought also occurs to me that you might consider how (or if) you are going to turn the display off during the day. If you can program off/on cycles in the controller, that might be different than if you cut power by an external controller or switch. Thinking if the controller had a programmed off/on it would likely transition through that fine and maintain the programmed light show. But if power is cut externally, it _may_ reset to a default program. 

I know I have some simple multi-color spot lights that do this. If you turn off/on with their remote, they maintain what ever color was programmed, but if you cut power with say, a wall switch, then they come back on in 'demo' mode which cycles through all effects. Interestingly, though - the timing seems to be very accurate. As long as you turn on both lights at the same time, they will still be synced in their color displays hours or even days later.


So I guess a couple of considerations!


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## fontgeek (Jul 24, 2006)

I think the big question for you is; What do you want or need the lights to do, and how big of an area do you need to cover?
Your budget and your skills also play a big part in the equation.


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