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Christmas 2017


2017 sets a new record for us. With ~15,000 LEDs on our trees and house it is starting to brighten things up. Most of the lights are multi-color icicles, but we do have a bunch of normal multi-color strings. The LED NOEL letters were moved to our trellis this year and I think that will become their new home. We also picked up some more inflatables, bringing the total to 11. Taking the time to upgrade the inflatables with LED lights (if they did not already have them) and better power supplies that handle the weather better. Already working on some plans for next year as well... We will probably switch our candy canes over from incandescent bulbs to LEDs finally (I need to buy LED strips to light them with) and do some more DIY work.
The display is primarily controlled using my home automation system, based on the Securifi Almond 3 and a set of controlled outlets. Not sure I ever want to get into the music and flashing lights (definitely not on the whole setup at least) but I do want to expand the system and allow more individual control.
Hopefully there will be some good sales after Christmas so we can stock up on more for 2018!

DIY addition for 2017:
At the end of 2016 I managed to purchase 20 "REALLY BIG LIGHTS", which is their actual name. These are giant plastic bulbs (~14.5" or almost 37cm tall) that look like old fashioned C9 lights. Inside each is an LED bulb. I bought only the white ones and was very impressed with the build quality. I took them apart, removed the original light and added WS2812 RGB LEDs (they can be individually controlled with each color separate and multiple can be linked together in a chain). These are all controlled by a Particle Photon in the first bulb. For more detail, go to the project page I made.


Couple more pictures...