# Computer controlled lights?



## pennywise (Aug 5, 2008)

For our haunt in 2014, we are looking to add computer controlled lights. We would like to use the 12V LEDs from LED Lighthouse. What program and device would we need to attach lights to a computer? Thanks


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## Haunted Spider (Sep 6, 2010)

I think that depends on what you are hoping to do. If you want a light show like the Christmas light displays or set to music, a light o rama is what you need to control it. They have knock off versions at Home Depot this time of year as well. 

If you are looking to control a certain prop and lighting at the same time then an array of controllers are available. What are you wanting to do exactly?


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## hauntedyards (Mar 24, 2005)

You could also use MIDI. That allows you to use the same computer set up for Halloween props and lights, it would also do Christmas lights if you wanted as well using a relay card you'd even handle 120v. Depends on your DIY abilities and "what your time is worth". AnimatedLighting.com have a few more options than the light-o-rama as far and just buying and plugging in. Start researching!


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## halstaff (Nov 18, 2009)

I went the DIY method and am running DMX on Renard boards. A fraction of the cost of Light O Rama but certainly more work to put together.
Here's a place to start with - http://diychristmas.org/vb1/forum.php


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## scubaspook (Dec 16, 2010)

I'm with Halstaff. I would use vixen program (free ) from the Christmas site and any number of controllers from the site. I use the renards SS8,SS16, SS24 to operate 120v ac and the 48LSD for RGB lights or dc stuff. I built my controllers myself as many do but you can find some already prebuilt fairly easily as folks on the xmas side are slowly converting to pixels (controlling each individual led separately) and selling off stuff that they no longer need. If I ever decide to quit doing a walkthru and do a scene instead I will run my entire haunt thru this system.


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## HomeyDaClown (Oct 3, 2009)

Grab a copy of Vixen (free program). it supports many options for lighting control.


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## pennywise (Aug 5, 2008)

Thanks Guys! I'll check those out. Basically we are looking to have lights fade on and off, fade from color to color and also a few effects like lightning and flickering.

EDIT: On the Vixen site right now. This looks like it work fine


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## halstaff (Nov 18, 2009)

Here's the DIY controllers I built that are running my Christmas lights with Vixen. This is my first year with computer controlled Christmas lighting but the controllers in the top enclosure are the same ones I use to control my LED floods for Halloween.
This setup will control 16 red, green, blue and white LED floods from the top box and 16 channels of AC from the bottom one.


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## Hippofeet (Nov 26, 2012)

So, Halstaff, I'm guessing you had a couple to kill... lol.


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## ScaryLane (Jun 3, 2013)

pennywise said:


> Thanks Guys! I'll check those out. Basically we are looking to have lights fade on and off, fade from color to color and also a few effects like lightning and flickering.
> 
> EDIT: On the Vixen site right now. This looks like it work fine


For CalHaunts, I create the Thor Lightning and Thunder controller. This controller used 12 volt LED lights for the two channels of Lightning and two channels of ambient (flickering) fire Light. It thunder sound effects are real thunder professionally recorded out in nature.

I've been working on a Super version and this last Halloween I drove 16 ten watt LEDs for the flash of Lightning. The was so bright that it cast a shadow in the daytime on my outdoor display. Every effective lightning display at night with a my 100 watt sound system with good sub-woofer.

I hoping to produce The Super Thor in time for next Halloween.


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## halstaff (Nov 18, 2009)

Hippofeet said:


> So, Halstaff, I'm guessing you had a couple to kill... lol.


I have room for 4 more of the rgb+w floods on 1 controller. I'll remedy that by building more this year.
I've got controllers for 80 more channels so just have to build the elements. I'm hoping to have some arches, a large tree and some mini trees for next year as well as start synchronizing the display to music.


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## HomeyDaClown (Oct 3, 2009)

It's amazing what you can do with flipped over tomato cages and saran wrap with RGB spots inside...work well here with all the snow we get.


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## corey872 (Jan 10, 2010)

There are certainly a bunch of options around out there. Anything from making a few lights or 'channels' fade up/down or blink on/off to a timer or a basic peek and poke program on an arduino, to having multiple thousands of RGB channels driving doing 65K color LED 'nodes' and synchronized to sound / music with semi-pro or pro grade software.

I would only encourage the OP to do a lot of searching and decide what you are actually wanting to do now and in the future, how much time, money and effort you want to spend, what type of scalability you're looking for, etc. And most importantly, what type of community support is offered. (especially important as the complexity increases)

I've got 4,000 channels of RGB nodes doing some Christmas light right blinking now on the ever-impressive XLights/Nutcracker software. (ie literally right now, as I just remoted into my show computer and did some updates!) In 2014, I'm hoping to convert these over to a Halloween display timed to my haunted music using Light show pro - which is buggy and very slow, though current releases are getting a bit better.

As far as the lights, I won't mention any names, but I did some research a few years ago and bought into a semi low budget DIY set up. Turns out the light controllers were pretty much junk from the beginning. The lights were always flaking out, locking up, displaying the wrong colors, etc. 

To make matters worse, that specific community is run in sort of a 'Wizard behind the curtain' mode - where any technical talk is banned and deleted from the forums. Users were trying to relate issues they were having, observations they were making and propose possible additional tests or solutions, but much of it was deleted from the forums, with the assurance the issues would be fixed when a new controller was revealed from behind the curtain. But the second controller version was even worse than the first.

So long story short, after my 'show' setting on the bench unusable for 2 years, I finally took on a project to reverse-engineer the controller, figure out the issues and come up with a hardware fix. Another user took on the software/code side of things and together we have a pretty dang rock solid controller. Though tons of headaches, crappy performance and countless hours of troubleshooting by all the users on the forum could easily have been averted by a little collaborative working in the very early stages.

So I'm probably venting a bit much, but do some research in the beginning and decide what system/software/hardware fits your need the best. Remember - light control is addictive! so plan ahead!


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## halstaff (Nov 18, 2009)

DIY is much less expensive than a complete package such as LOR but it does take a lot of extra time to put together. I like to work on stuff in the evenings all year long so DIY is perfect for me but maybe not so much for some others.
It can be a very time consuming hobby, especially if you want to synchronize your lights to music. However new software such as Nutcracker is certainly speeding up the process.


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## corey872 (Jan 10, 2010)

halstaff said:


> ...
> It can be a very *money* consuming hobby,...


There, fixed it for ya!


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## beaver state rich (Jan 25, 2014)

For me time = money and I sprung for the LOR. 2013 was the first year I used this system and it worked very well for us. You can save money by buying kits but I liked the fact there was tech support and no trial and error on my end. There are other companies that make similar products that work. I know someone who uses LOR for Christmas so familiarity and getting to play with a module prior to purchase was a deciding factor.

I used 2 controllers (32 channels) to control my display. We run the first weekend of Oct onwards. The month has the static graveyard display that goes from dusk to 10PM. Computer turns lights on/off at set time so there is none of the forgetting to turn on/off issues we had in years prior. On the weekend prior to the 31st, our party and of course Halloween we ran our "show" which was approx 8 minutes and had video, music, lasers (FDA and .gov approved, and aimed only to the structure) etc. The LOR ran the entire setup including all video, fog effects etc.

We will be getting a 3rd module to expand to 48 channels this year.

Here is a poorly shot video of the display that focused on some specific features but it does give you an idea what can be done.

FYI, used this to also run my Xmas lights as well. I didn't do any dance/movement this year just the on/off feature at set times which alone is almost worth the price.






(our theme is City of the "Dam"med -we are an OSU Beaver household and the graveyard has the other 11 Pac-12 stones since Halloween is during football season. Thus the first video/song. The rest of the show/display is complete homage to Disney and HM)


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## goneferal (Sep 8, 2010)

I use Vixen Lights and an arduino with PWM for dimmable 12 volt LED lights. This is how I did it. http://goneferalinid.blogspot.com/2012/07/how-to-make-your-own-light-show.html


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## z0mbie st0mp (Oct 9, 2010)

Here's one i have been working on...






Arduino Mega with 16 ch. SainSmart 16 relay board. (Pins 22-37)

Also using (but not in this video) 68 feet of RGB LED strips. (on PWM 2-13)

Custom sketch, modified with help from christmas forum people

Currently 28 channels

8 relay-controlled "split" electrical outlets (2 channels per outlet)

4 always hot outlets in the upper left.

Still room for additional 16 relay board in the future.

Home made board, may seem scary/unsafe to some.

Money Spent thus far: Maybe $120 with RGB strips and outlets

The controller board:


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## Mav9709 (Oct 18, 2013)

z0mbie st0mp that is pretty cool. What do you use to synch the lights with the music?


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## GCWyatt (Aug 30, 2012)

Apologies for butting in on this topic, but any suggestions for a DIY alternative to PicoStorm? I have a 100w LED floodlight gathering dust. This thing turns night into "Oh My God My EYES!" and I was thinking it would be a perfect lightning effect, if I just had a controller that could do it.


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## z0mbie st0mp (Oct 9, 2010)

Mav9709 said:


> z0mbie st0mp that is pretty cool. What do you use to synch the lights with the music?


VixenLights software. It's free and works really well

http://www.vixenlights.com

Here's the finished show


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