Posts Tagged ‘christmas’

Classic New York Christmas Light Displays.

Thinking of Christmas yet??  I know it is only July.  Here is something to get you in the mood.

Some really classic Christmas decorations can be found in New York City on 5th Avenue and the Rockefeller Christmas Tree.  The classic look has very bright led looking lights, as well as Snowflake lights.  The lights are classic and stunning looking.  Other cities have their own beautiful displays.  Even smaller towns often wrap their trees in lights that sparkle during the Christmas season.   We can all take some inspiration from these beautiful street displays. 

One of the nicest things is that even with the brilliant light displays, they can be made from energy efficient led lights.  And more and more cities are mandating CFLs and LEDs in their lighting.  So you don’t need to be an energy hog to have a beatuiful display.

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(v0.9) Networked RGB Christmas lights performing “Feliz Navidad”

Note: this is v0.9 of the video. v1.0, with re-dubbed (and much better-sounding) audio is now available — www.youtube.com Ever want a string of Christmas lights made with RGB LEDs, so all the lights can change colors? Or with their own microcontrollers, so each can act autonomously? Hell, why not go all the way, and network them while you’re at it? I did. The full gory details are at TreeGee.com (or will be in a day or two… I just registered the domain name yesterday, so it might not work for another day or two) but here’s the short version: for the past 4 years, I’ve burned most of my Decembers, Novembers, and increasing chunks of October working on this project. This year, for the first time, they look like “normal” LED Christmas lights (I bought a few sets of clear LED lights on sale at Lowe’s & removed the plastic diffusers from them to use on my own lights), and the controller I built last year finally works properly & reliably communicates with the lights. The result? My favorite version of “Feliz Navidad” (originally performed by Home Grown), accompanied by what’s arguably one of the most sophisticated (and expensive) strings of Christmas lights in the world. How expensive? I don’t know. I’ve lost count. If you assume my time is valueless, and you ignore the cost of the tools I’ve bought, the parts I’ve destroyed, and the crate of non-working light modules (roughly 3 or 4 for every working one that you see on the tree here), each light module has about worth

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have any of you begun to hang up your Christmas decorations yet?

i’m just doing my patio for now. i live right in the heart of the downtown area. the Christmas parade is on Sunday, November 22, 2009. the parade will go right by my apartment. i want to have my patio looking Christmasy for the parade and the people who may walk by during the parade.

this year, i’m putting up white and red LED christmas lights. with red ribbons around the white posts to make them look like candy cane colors.


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LED Christmas Lights

This video was originally going to be just a routine video showing this year’s Christmas lights I had put up, but somehow it turned into a pro-LED propaganda video. Not that there’s anything wrong with that! LED’s are amazing little bits of plastic and semiconductor, and now they’re making our holidays even brighter and more colorful. Be it an amateur display (Like ours) or a professional holiday light show, LEDs are definitely worth looking into. Admittedly, if you’re not really into LED technology, then you might find this video boring.

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Replacement bulbs for old Christmas "candle" lights?

I have a few strings of lights that are quite old– at least 20 years. They look like dark red/burgundy candles in brass bases, and the normal Christmas bulbs are plugged into the top, where a light would go. As might be expected after two decades of Christmases, some bulbs have blown out. We tried to switch bulbs with old strings, but the voltage for the bulbs is off, or something, because while they complete the circuit, they only barely light up– not even a flicker, just a tiny pinprick of dim light. We don’t have the original boxes, and I can’t even find strings of lights in stores that aren’t LED lights!

Does anyone know how I can find out the type of bulb it takes (without trial-and-error), and where to find replacement bulbs?
My lights are similar to this– a darker red color, but the basic form looks the same. Pity they’re discontinued! https://www.smarthome.com/C0413R/Red-Candle-Light-String/p.aspx


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Frisco Christmas Lights Synchronized To Music- Wizards in Winter

The song is Wizards in Winter by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

This is a really cool light display that I found that has been synchronized to the music Wizards In Winter.  This is just another example of how you can have beautiful displays of lights, which can utilize energy efficient led’s.  You can have it all…beauty, fun and energy efficiency.

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