As usual, here's the notes of what's going on, as I have time to update.
It's over. It's dark. The lights are gone for another season. Tomorrow begins the teardown and storage. I hope everyone enjoyed the show. It should return around December 1. Only 11 months to go. Plenty to do in the off season. Found programming mistakes even the last night to fix. Add more songs. Add more lights. And hopefully more surprises. Look for videos to appear on the website in the next few weeks if you weren't able to make it out in person, or just want some glow during the "dark months."
Went out last night after hours to take pictures and the white C9s were still on. After experimenting, it looks like that channel on that controller is stuck. Time to call support... again. The controller for the Blue layer on the MegaTree had a stuck channel earlier in the season. Fortunately, since I've killed off the strobes, I had one (and only one) channel I could reassign them to. And the line has a long tail in just the right place. So it was an easy fix. Took pix last night. May update the header pic on the website today. Last night tonight. Come out and bask in the glow once more before they disappear for 11 month.
Finally updated the last of the songs now that the season is almost over. Linus & Lucy and Reflections of Earth now make use of the new elements for the year (blue C9, blue MegaTree, white everything, individual bushes). If you're near by, come on by once more and see. Otherwise I'll be shooting video tonight and they'll be on the website eventually. The show will run until midnight tonight. While you're at it, give to the Second Harvest Food Bank via the Severns-Pease Christmas Display. They are aiming for $80,000 this year. That would put them at 1,000,000lbs of food all time donations. Help out. They are within $5,000 of the goal. Their display closes January 1, so you have one day more (hums Les Mis). I doubt there will be any more changes this season. I'm busy most of the next two days, unfortunately, so the rest of the grand plans will have to wait for Christmas 2011.
Who stole all the color from Christmas Cannon? That would be me. Made a new version of the TSO song tonight that is entirely white lights. It'll look even better next year when the animals are LED, not "dingy" incandescents. Also redid Remain Seated to allow a little more time into the next piece. Also redid it it on the back end, but I don't hink it'll be visually different. Finally, redid NBC. It's whiter then more colorful. A much more drastic transition. Maybe too drastic. I may have to add a little fading. The new additions were finished after hours so did not run publicly tonight (unless you live near by and saw the late night testing). Remember, bonus hours Friday (til midnight). Regular hours Saturday. Then the display closes for the season at 10 p.m. Sunday, January 2.
Added a new version of Wizards in Winter that uses the new elements (blue C9s, blue MegaTree, individual bushes, white 'layer'). What ran tonight had a minor issue with colors that's been fixed. I still hope to update a few other songs before the end of the season on Sunday. Keep checking back for updates. The other source of joy is I've not had one single GFCI pop this season. This has been a long term battle, and at least this season I seem to finally have won. You have no idea how happy this makes me. It should make you happy too because it means the show is not diminished in the rain. Having written this, the next time I go out to check during rain, they'll have all popped.
Sorry for the lack of updates, both here and in the show. I was out of the country for a week, then work has been keeping me busy. I still hope to do some programming updates for next week. We'll see. Added bonus hours tonight until 11:00 (so you can be in bed by midnight for Santa) and tomorrow until midnight. The hours will also likely be extended on New Year's Eve. Additionally, I've added a day. The show will now run though next Sunday, January 2. Enjoy the extra glow. As always, please respect the neighbors. Don't block the street. Stay off their lawns. Etc. Also, the lights look better if your headlights aren't shining on them... just a thought. HINT: Ever wonder if that's me out there watching the show? Look for the guy in the yellow Fantasmic! jacket. Bonus points (no prizes) if you can tell me what the jacket was originally designed for.
I finally got all the strings out (and the garage cleaned) yesterday. All the bushes are now lit. I also added 30 strobes to the inside of the Mega Tree. I'm still not happy with the LED strobes because they all flash in sync when they start. I read a suggested solution last year, but I think I tried it and it didn't work, so I'll have to explore that more sometime. Tonight I updated the programming quickly so that all the bushes run. There is very little use of all the new elements. This is just to bring it back basically to last year with the new channel assignment. Hopefully I'll get to update the programming to more fully use the new elements in the next few weeks. The new version went live about 9:35 tonight. It would be great to open the season with the show perfect, but it never happens that way. I also totaled the numbers for the year. 29,607 lights. 27,957 LED (94.4%). 192 channels of LOR. 25.79 Amps when it's all on (basically never). Compare last year: 17,736 lights. 12,226 LED (69%). 106 Channels of LOR. 33.7 Amps all on. So light count is up 67% while power use is down 24%. Love them LEDs. That why (do the math) I added 15,731(!!) LEDs this year. No wonder it seemed like I was forever unpacking and unwiding LED strings. That explains the almost 150 lbs of LEDs I got in August. I still hope to get the polar bear, do(u)g, and 7x deer redone in LED by the end of the season, so the magic number "100% LED" will appear here (and the power should drop to about 22 Amps). But we'll see. I think updating the programming is a higher priority.
It's alive! Got the show running about 6:00 (had to wait for UPS to take their sweet time with with my extra spool of wire... didn't arrive until 4:55). Version one had some issues (Right tree didn't light. Purple spheres came on when they shouldn't, center bush didn't light). Version two went live about 7:30. There was an ongoing issue with random "ghost" colors on the right arch. Traced late night to the CCR controller being in "Legacy" mode. Fixed. There's a nasty buzz in the FM that I haven't been able to isolate. Might be proximity to the electrical, but it's all where it was last year. Maybe I'll try heavier cables. Or moving the stuff. The new frequency seems to have given me a lot more range. I may have to turn down the transmitter (I could hear it by Quizno's/Starbucks... Yikes!) Still a lot to do. Most of the bushes aren't done. Didn't get the two left deer connected. MegaTree strobes. Then I guess it'll all be out there. Then I have to update the programming to use all the new stuff. And I'd still like to get the deer all done in LED so the show is 100% LED. Hopefully work (the real paying kind) remains light and the weather favorable and I can get a lot done in the next week and have it all the way I want it (I know most people can't tell what not perfect... but I can).
Minor updates to the website. Still planning to open tonight. But none of the new stuff will work (need to update programming) and I doubt the bushes will be done. And the deer won't be LED yet. Hopefully all over the course of the next week. But people keep driving by looking, so I want to get them going.
Blank changelog for the year. Added 2010 note to the front page. The rest of the website won't be updated till the display is done.