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.
2011 is our
fourth 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, however we took a step back in 2010 due to
a move and are now taking this year and next to upgrade all of the lights
to LED. Rest assured, we will once again surpass the 100,000 light barrier
in the years to come. 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 took a step back due to a move and had just over 61,000 lights
with the same 144 channels reconfigured for the new location. Now, in
2011, we have begun converting to LED which are much brighter and have
dropped to just over 51,000 lights and are now at 160 channels.
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. Each year seems to go faster, though, since
we get more and more organized. 2011 seemed to be the fastest of them all
and, in my opinion, the best looking yet!
Not any more!
Our 2009 display was the largest and could pull a potential 283 amps and
which is just under 34,000 watts. I even had to implement some animation
and programming restrictions so that only about 35-40% of the lights on at
any given time. For 2011, my power consumption should significantly drop
due to our conversion to LED. This year we are about 38% LED.
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 can take upwards of six to eight hours to program each minute of
music. 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. I modified the controller itself to handle
40
amps of power. Each bank of 8 channels can handle 20 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 a laptop 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 during group buys right after the holidays
so we can get some good discounts on commercial lights.
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 . 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.
