Fantasy Christmas is
the name of our display located in Surprise, AZ where we celebrate the
birth of our Savior Jesus Christ with fun, music and a whole lotta lights.
If you live nearby you can get our exact location here.
2009 was our
second year of animation. We really began getting crazy with Christmas
lights in 2006. The display grew in 2007, then in 2008 we got
computerized. Having the lights controlled via computer allows us to
animate the entire house and make it dance with music. It is truly a sight
to see - and it is definitely not your "light show in a box" that you see
at many retailers now. My display is 100% built, programmed and
synchronized by hand. For 2009 we broke the 100,000 light barrier with
101,202 lights and 14 songs programmed for over 30 minutes of
continuous music and animation and 2010 will be even bigger. Feel free to browse the website
and the information below for info about the display as well
as videos and pictures. The one and only goal of my display is to bring a little joy in
peoples hearts at Christmas.
Yes!! My wife and I have always loved
Christmas and each year our decorations seemed to grow. Once I found out
about computer animation I was hooked and it just kind of became a hobby
of mine and helping me, much to her surprise, kind of became a hobby of my
wife. Our greatest enjoyment is watching cars actually stop outside our
house for twenty minutes or more to watch the show and hearing the kids
exclamations.
I really get enjoyment out of it. Sometimes
the planning, programming and set-up can be daunting and a little
overwhelming, but once everything is up and running and we see the people
stopping by and especially the excitement of the children as they stand in
front of the display jumping up and down, it is all worthwhile. And
what better way to celebrate the birth of
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ than with lights, music, and bringing a
little joy into others hearts. It is a great way to express our love for
him for all he has done for us.
For the 2008 display we had 45,000 lights
in the front yard controlled via computer by way of 80 separate channels
(we had 58,000 lights including the backyard and inside). In 2009 we had
144 channels and just over 101,000 lights. For 2010 we will have 208
channels and an estimated 115,000 lights.
Like any hobby, I work on my display
throughout the year. 2008 was our first year animating and we included 12
songs in the show so the programming took about 320 hours.
Then there
are the various projects that I do throughout the year as well mainly in
my spare-time and on weekends. Everything in 2009 went a little quicker.
It took my wife and I about 149 hours to setup, which was the same as '08
but with double the lights. Most of the setup is done between 6pm and 10pm
weekdays and on weekends. At night we set up 1000watt construction lights
so we can see what we were doing. We begin setting up the structure items
(frames and megatree mast, guy wires, etc.) the last two weeks in October
then begin running lights and wire the day after Halloween and have the
lights up and running as scheduled, on Thanksgiving night.
It can. Our 2009 display
could pull a potential 283 amps and which is just under 34,000 watts.
However, due to the animation and some programming restrictions I have
implemented I only have about 35-40% of the lights on at any given time.
My power consumption is actually less than the average house on the block
with a moderately sized display. To run all of this I installed a 100 amp
sub panel as well as (2) 15amp and (6) 20amp separate dedicated circuits.
The lights are controlled through a
combination of computer hardware and software. The software is from
Light O Rama.
Once the music is loaded, each individual channel is programmed by hand.
Each second of each channel has the ability to be turned on or off 20
times - meaning the lights can blink on at 10 times per second. This is
why it took me over 300 hours to program 12 songs from scratch the first
year. The hardware I use are
Light O Rama controllers. These
controllers have 2 power cords, each controlling 8 individual channels for
a total of 16 channels per controller. The controller itself can handle 30
amps of power. Each bank of 8 channels can handle 15 amps each and each
channel can max out at 8 amps. Once everything is hooked up the computer
communicates with the controllers via cat5 cable ran from my desktop
computer to the first controller - the rest are daisy-chained together. I
then have my computer plugged into a stereo amplifier and
have weatherproof speakers ran into my yard. It sounds complicated, and it
can be, but anyone with some technical ability can do this - but the more
lights and the more channels, the more complicated things become and just
staying organized is a task in-and-of itself.
Like all hobbies, this can get expensive,
but we buy most of our lights and extension cords at the end of the
previous year for at least 50% off which helps.
It's hard to say how much has been spent since the display grows from year
to year. That's the exciting part though. You can't do this all at once.
As soon as our display is running, we are outside with a notepad and
pencil planning out the next years display then we hit the after-Christmas
sales. More than money though is the TIME spent on the display, but
in the end it's all worth it!
I'm sure you would expect me to say I'm in
computers or maybe in lighting, but actually I'm an estimator for
Scott Roofing Company in Arizona and my
wife teaches piano (if you're interested in lessons and live in Phoenix
check out her
website). Most of my technical knowledge
came from working in construction with my Dad as a kid and messing around with computers
and electronics growing up.
