**Video** Christmas Lights Display 2010!!

[MrFreeze]

Check out my New Xmas Video!!! Also check out my other Video

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[Sickie Ickie]

Wow. QUITE NICE.

[Giles]

Very nice.

[MrFreeze]

Thanks!!!!!!

[putrid]

Totally cool. I totally DIG a peaceful big light display!!! You heavy use of chasers to get that twinkly effect is EXCELLENT!!!

[MrFreeze]

Thanks putrid!!!.. Ya i had to do something to break up the solid look of the lights.

[EnlightenedGrinch]

Wow! Looks marvelous! My eyes are still burning.

[MrFreeze]

Lolll... Thanks Enlightened Grinch

[Craig]

You and your brother have a LOT to be proud of. MARVELOUS!:)

[cinders]

Wow! That is beautiful. Did you have your address in lights in the front or was I just seeing things?

[DaveBrewer]

Awesome display!!!

[MrFreeze]

Loll Cinders.... No i think you were seeing things.. But Thank you for the comment.

[Daisy-Duck]

My goodness.... that is just amazing.... the meter reader must be smiling from ear to ear when it reads your meter...lol Great work....

[MrFreeze]

Ha ha Daisy Duck.. He is smiling, but not me when i get the bill at the end of the month =(

[chris]

Totally cool Christmas display MrFreeze!

[CraigInPA]

Impressive. How many lights in total? How much of it is LED?

[MrFreeze]

Thanks!!! 80,000 lights.. No LED's havent made the switch over yet.

[CraigInPA]

80k incandescents? Yikes! I'm running 46k incandescents myself, and I can appreciate how fast your electrical meter must be spinning!

When I told my wife how much the electrical bill was last year, she suggested we should change over to LEDs. After I told her how much it would cost to replace the incandescent lights with full wave LEDs, she suggested we stock up on more incandescents before we can't buy them anymore because the payback period on energy savings for the LED lights was OVER 20 YEARS!

Craig

[MrFreeze]

Lolll.. I know what you mean I have been collecting incandescents for years now, and the LED's are nice and save money. To switch over would cost alot.. I do the same things I stock up on them each year. What do you use to make you Mega Trees?? Do you use a metal pole and strings lights on them??

[CraigInPA]

I use military surplus vietnam-era portable antenna mast. It's alluminum and comes in 30" long sections. The original antennas they went to were 76' tall when assembled, and included guy wires, stakes, a heavy hammer, and a canvas bag. I found some years ago at the local military surplus place for $20 an assembly.

The 14' ones are held up by pounding 3 pieces of 5' rebar in about 3', and slipping the antenna mast onto them. The guy wires are then attached near the top and held to the ground with stakes. I then draw out a circle 80" in diameter, put 32 stakes evenly spaced around that circle, and then string 100 light sets around the tree. A standard 100 light set from Wal-Mart is exactly twice as long as the hypotenuse of the triangle formed by the 40" radius and 13' height where the lights attach. So, you use 16 strands of 100 lights per color to create the tree. I tie each color to 8 Light-o-rama channels and animate the tree with various patterns of movement.

The big tree is anchored at the bottom with a 1" diameter ground spike 2' long welded to a fitting that goes inside the bottom of the bottom-most mast section. A plate fits between the mast fitting and the ground, to which wires are attached that go to spikes about 10' away from the mast. This prevents the mast from wandering if the spike begins to leave the ground. At the mid-point of the tree, about 15' up, there's a fitting that allows me to put up guy wires down to the ground. At the top, there's a set of eye hooks that allow me to attach additional guy wires that go to the ground. The "ground" guy wire attachments are eye hooks attached to a huge tree, the garage, and two support posts for a deck that are sitting in 180 pounds of concrete and have a huge deck above them. The attachment for the lights at the top is the same I use for the 14' trees, a 3" toilet flange painted green. The attachment for the lights at the bottom is a ring made of 3/4" schedule 40 pvc pipe. It's about 12' in diameter, and has 4 pieces of pipe that go towards the center. The center has 2 90 degree angles holding the 4 pieces of pipe, with the backs cut out so that they can be snugged up to the antenna mast and be tied to it to prevent the ring from swaying. Why would it sway? Because the ring is actually mounted 6' off the ground! It's 6' off the ground because the tree is behind a stockade fence, and the bottom isn't visible, so I don't put lights there! I use 64 100 light strands attached to 16 channels of Light-o-rama, per color on this tree. This tree requires a man-lift to assemble. The weight of the light strands is so much that there's no way you could do it otherwise.

There are lots of how-tos on the web about creating mega trees using metal electrical conduit, fence post, and even some smaller trees created out of pvc. The one thing virtually all share is that they are animated using light-o-rama or animated lighting.

Craig

[MrFreeze]

Wow Nice!!.. I am gonna have to look into that.. Thanks for all the information!!!

[Nevergoback]

Oh I think you have a light out on your roof line! Just Kidding, LOL! That is indeed a lot of work, I bet it is breathtaking in person.

I was out front last night and one string of my mini mega tree is out, and I can't find the culpret. Sigh, I swear those things lit before I put them up!

[Craig]

Sigh, I swear those things lit before I put them up!

I think we ALL know THAT issue!:):):)

Believe it or not, I have two strings that are only half lit, one has the top half buring, the other is the bottom half.....Oh well....:)

[MrFreeze]

Lolll!!! thats to Funny. I get my brother to do the dirty work and find that culpret!!

[Perpetual_Christmas]

*speechless*

[Just Whisper]

Oh Holy Cow! WOW!!! I am glad I don't have to put all those away. That is one beautiful display of lights. Great job.

[Carol]

Oh I can't watch it.

[MrFreeze]

Thanks Everyone!! Ya its not fun taking it down. Alot of boxes and zip ties. I start putting up the lights right after i take down my Halloween Yard Haunt.