UPDATE (9/11/2021):Of course I couldn’t leave well enough alone. I wasn’t happy with the way the cover on the first DIN rail box I bought distorted the displays on the power monitors, and I wasn’t comfortable with the whole SSR setup since I know they can get hot, and if […]
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ASAP Jr. Mega-Tree Pole Change
Just a quick post on this. For our Mega-Tree, I bought 1.5″ and 1.25″ galvanized conduit for the pole. We also have a hole in the ground for it already. I’ll post more details about that build once we set the tree up this year. It quickly became obvious that […]
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“Permanent” FPP Master Controller and FM Transmitter
While revising almost everything for our show this year, I decided to more-permanently install our master FPP controller (Raspberry Pi 3B+) and FM transmitter. The controller lives on my desk most of the rest of the year because I use it to test new FPP versions, and I wanted to […]
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Colorlight Controller Box Builds
Last week I posted about my P10 Column Build. One big problem I had was the Pi-P10 controllers I tried to use just didn’t work. They had a terrible amount of flicker, and I was unable to find any actual support for them. So- my next most expensive option was […]
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Raspberry Pi 5v Power Regulation
We have a lot of Raspberry Pis that run various elements of our shows, and powering them from “wall warts” in enclosures isn’t always practical, especially since we are already running 5v power everywhere. The problem is- if you power them using the GPIO header, there is absolutely no internal […]
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xConnect: I was wrong, and I admit it…
Last year, I wrote a post about how there is no reason to use “proprietary” connectors like xConnect over the JST connectors that most bulk pixels already come with. I still believe JST connectors with a dab of dielectric grease are perfectly fine for joining strings of pixels together in […]
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Re-Using 12v PSUs for 5v Pixels and LED Panels
Last year there was a lot of debate among Pixel junkies about 12v pixels, in part due to a bad production run from a popular Chinese supplier that resulted in fires. I did my own (controversial) analysis and decided that I would eliminate the 12v pixels we already had in […]
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Column Array Builds
Last year, we lit up two of our three front porch columns with PVC pixel “poles”. These worked really well: Pixel Columns This year we are making several changes. First, we got rid of the flat-tree in the middle of the front of the porch, so I needed to light […]
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Add an OLED to a Raspberry Pi
It’s kind of silly since they spend most of their time closed up in a weathertight box, but I really like the little OLED screens on the Kulp controllers. They give me a quick indication if the controller is working, so I can at least rule it out (for the […]
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2021 July Update
It’s been a busy Summer, and we are probably getting off to a late start this year, but we have finally started getting ready for December! Well, we will actually start setting up after Halloween, so we can start our show again right after Thanksgiving. Here is what we plan […]
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Info Matrix (2021)
Last year we did a “Tune In” Matrix under our carport roof. It was my first DIY matrix, which actually turned out and worked pretty well after going through three revisions. It was functional, but just didn’t fit in well with the rest of our display and I wanted something […]
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2021 Mega Tree
I’m going to step through this process as we work on it, so this is a build-in-progress, which probably won’t be done until Fall. So far, it’s just in the planning stages, and we have the first part of it: We also have Boscoyo strips and pixels for it, but […]
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G.E. Hattitude Quartet
Meet the biggest single prop we’ve bought to date: The Gilbert Engineering Hattitude Quartet! This thing is almost 4′ in diameter, and consists of a wreath/spinner and close to a dozen singing face options (with or without Santa hat). We wanted a new “centerpiece” above the porch, to take the […]
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FrankenPower Mk. III
FrankenPower Mark I-II used mechanical relays that were connected to conventional outlets. They were bulky, probably not very safe, and had to be placed in a tote to try to keep them protected from the weather. One of the original mechanical relays failed almost immediately upon use. Mark III uses […]
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New 3D Printer: Creality Ender 3 Max
I updated an earlier post about my ANET A6. It had a thermal overrun issue and almost caught fire (well, at least it produced a LOT of smoke). After struggling with that printer pretty much since I built it over 3 years ago, I decided it was time for a […]
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2020 Show Post-Mortem and 2021 Plans
Well, it’s mid-January and things are still getting organized and packed up as we plan for this year’s show. The roof outlines won’t be coming down until the weather improves, but almost everything else is either hung up somewhere or crammed into a tote for storage. We even already got […]
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This time of the year, a lot of enthusiastic new folks start investigating Holiday Pixel Lighting. They hit the online forums and YouTube videos, and sites like this one, and are immediately bombarded with a lot of acronyms and terms they likely don’t know. I decided to put together a […]
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Yes, I changed the name (and the look)… This site was initially started as joke, called BubbaLectric.com. It was supposed to represent a series of my cost-cutting (cheap!) and unsophisticated hobby builds, using satirical “BubbaTronic” branding. Since I first set it up- I’ve grown the site with a lot more […]
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5v vs. 12v Pixels
This is one of the most divisive arguments you will find online among folks in the Pixel hobby, perhaps more-so than where to buy your pixels and what connectors you “HAVE” to use. Here is my take on it… First- this is all my opinion. I will very likely take […]
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Star Stake Quick Build
We’ve already started working on some things for next year… We found these metal stars at Hobby Lobby over the weekend. We already had a couple-dozen of these “Quick Light Post” metal light pole/stake things from Menards. They sell them every Christmas, but they never seem to show up online. […]
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Tool Tip: Zip Tie Tightener
Just a quick tip here. You can often find these on sale at Harbor Freight for a few bucks: They are utter garbage when it actually comes to stripping wire. BUT- they are excellent for getting the last few clicks out of a zip tie! Just slide the tie in […]
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I just added a Pixel Resources page with links to the vendors and sources I’ve relied on this year. I decided it would be best to collect them all in one place. Also, I wanted to share links to our Oak Hills Lights project, which started all of this… Twitter: […]
Continue readingCh-Ch-Changes…
So, I think I’ve made it through a big learning curve with regard to Master and Remote FPP setups, and controllers in-general… First I found out that the Kulp K16A-B controller is fantastic as a stand-alone controller, or as a Remote, but NOT as a Master. For some reason it […]
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Up and Running!
Oak Hills Lights officially started on Saturday night, Nov. 28th! It’s been an uphill battle the last couple of weeks, as I noted in my previous post. The problems have primarily been syncing issues, scheduler issues, and problems with our WiFi SparkleBalls. Our display is running now through Jan. 3rd. […]
Continue readingUpdate. Frustration!
Okay, so to get a few things out of the way… The Redneck Matrix Mark II was fairly quickly replaced with Redneck Matrix Mark III. I needed more resolution to make text more readable, since I’m using it for tune-in and song information. I didn’t do a build post for […]
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