Basic diagram of computer synchronized lighting.
Lights of the Grove
40,000 Lights: A mix of LED’s, and incandescent. Bulb styles include , M5, M6, C7, C9, Mini’s, and Rope
51 Amps total to run everything if it was constantly on, but the actual is less due to the blinking and flashing
Low Power FM Transmitter broadcasting on 96.7 FM. I connect the audio output jack on my computer to the transmitter, and I'm on the air!
Lights and Music are run by a computer. The lights and show literally turns itself on and off using programs on the computer
It’s difficult to count how many hours went into the creation and setup. This is now a year round hobby. Needless to say, there are hundreds of hours spent.
Programming the lights to sync to the music can be time consuming, but, watching the show, it's worth every second. Once proficient, it takes approximately 3-5 hours per minute of music to get the lights timed. Light O Rama is the product I use. They sell controllers that manage the lights. They also sell the software which is needed to drive the controllers. The program is very Excel like, for those of you who work with or know spreadsheets. My light strings have names and are listed on the left side, the song is imported and displayed in time segments across the top. Time is divided into 10ths or 100ths of a second. I go to the light string I want to do something with, locate the time in the song I want to do it, and either turn them on/off, fade up/down, or twinkle/shimmer (strobe).
Join the FUN: OK, if you have read this far, you are probably interested enough to check out one of my favorite websites. Go to PlanetChristmas.com to join the ranks of Christmas Light Fanatics all over the world.