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I've played with the Pixelblaze and it's pretty sweet. As far as going from nothing to being able to control a string of LED lights with a series of pre-progra

I've played with the Pixelblaze and it's pretty sweet. As far as going from nothing to being able to control a string of LED lights with a series of pre-programmed effects, it is really easy. That said, I ended up abandoning the project I was going to use them for: permanently installed Christmas lights that doubled as just normal outside lighting when it wasn't a holiday. I ended up, just this weekend in fact, installing just a white LED strip light for that. Which I just did on a whim yesterday afternoon, after someone was prowling up the street looking for open cars that morning.

ShakataGaNai 7y ago
Amusing you say that. At one point I went through the effort of running an entire set of RGBW LED strips, in aluminum channel, along the gutter of my mothers house (I was living in an appt in the city). So that we could have some nice programmable lights for xmas and other holidays. Man, that was so much more work than I expected... and while it worked at first water or other things kept futzing up the system (even with heavy doses of sealant near all electrical connections). Haven't tried turning the system on in more than a year now.
bowmessage 7y ago
What pain point(s) made you abandon the project? I like the idea!
- linsomniac 7y ago
  Things kind of just spiraled out of control... - Wasn't clear if Pixelblaze with it's add on board could drive multiple strips at high refresh rates, or I needed multiple pixelblaze. Then there are synchronization issues. - If I'm gonna do that, I might as well go with one of those Falcon LED controllers that can do shows, for $200. - I have power in the garage at one end of the house, but need to branch off the middle of the house. But to get acceptable voltage drop, I'd probably need to run 12/2, but I need to figure out DC code, or I need to find a place to stow the power supply. - I'd like to use some or all of them as a "porch light", but just switching off/on had some issue. I don't recall, it either took a long time to get to the point where the lights were on, or required also poking the control port or something. - And it was maybe 6 weeks from Christmas with a lot of building to do to get there. If I end up deciding to do it, I might install a dual track with white non-addressable strip AND the color addressable AND go with the Falcon controller. Maybe running conduit from the center of the house into the closet, where I put the power supply and Falcon. I recently ran a receptacle into it to drive the LED light strip that is in there, because that closet was a dark pit that you couldn't find anything in, so that makes it a bit easier than it was last holidays.
  - bowmessage 7y ago
    Wow, well thought out post! Thank you for the tips, future me will benefit greatly.

ShakataGaNai 7y ago

Amusing you say that. At one point I went through the effort of running an entire set of RGBW LED strips, in aluminum channel, along the gutter of my mothers house (I was living in an appt in the city). So that we could have some nice programmable lights for xmas and other holidays. Man, that was so much more work than I expected... and while it worked at first water or other things kept futzing up the system (even with heavy doses of sealant near all electrical connections). Haven't tried turning the system on in more than a year now.

bowmessage 7y ago

What pain point(s) made you abandon the project? I like the idea!

linsomniac 7y ago
Things kind of just spiraled out of control... - Wasn't clear if Pixelblaze with it's add on board could drive multiple strips at high refresh rates, or I needed multiple pixelblaze. Then there are synchronization issues. - If I'm gonna do that, I might as well go with one of those Falcon LED controllers that can do shows, for $200. - I have power in the garage at one end of the house, but need to branch off the middle of the house. But to get acceptable voltage drop, I'd probably need to run 12/2, but I need to figure out DC code, or I need to find a place to stow the power supply. - I'd like to use some or all of them as a "porch light", but just switching off/on had some issue. I don't recall, it either took a long time to get to the point where the lights were on, or required also poking the control port or something. - And it was maybe 6 weeks from Christmas with a lot of building to do to get there. If I end up deciding to do it, I might install a dual track with white non-addressable strip AND the color addressable AND go with the Falcon controller. Maybe running conduit from the center of the house into the closet, where I put the power supply and Falcon. I recently ran a receptacle into it to drive the LED light strip that is in there, because that closet was a dark pit that you couldn't find anything in, so that makes it a bit easier than it was last holidays.
- bowmessage 7y ago
  Wow, well thought out post! Thank you for the tips, future me will benefit greatly.