LED Tree Star

That tree definitely needs a star....

So, in what will probably be the last prop that I add to the Christmas display, I've built a star for it. The lights are a string of 50 lights, consisting of 2812-type RGB LED's. The best way to control these lights is to use DMX networking, and Light o Rama Advanced supports DMX. I used DMX over RS485, since this will be the only DMX strand in the show. I will also need to build a outdoor box to hold the power supply, DMX controller, and the power regulator.

The star frame was designed using DraftSight. A 1:1 ratio printout gave me the pattern to use. I used 1/4" mild steel rod and 5/8" washers to act as the light mount points. The lights are then hot glued, front and back, into the washers.

The star is mounted onto the treetop coupler with a piece of angle iron, a 3 X 1/2" bolt, and two nuts.

A sample of the star in action is below. The amount of effects that can be achieved with DMX and individually addressable lights is huge. Programming these into all the Christmas songs is going to be a big job. LOR addresses each light as a channel, so 50 channels need to be programmed. I'm also going to need to watch power requirements, as this one strand of lights represents another 2A power requirement.

The Control box for the star contains three components. Most of the DMX stuff comes from HolidayCoro.com.

1. 12V Power supply

   1. EasyPix Controller

   2. A 12V to 5V converter/regulator, from Amazon

I'll need to run an AC supply and a DMX line from the ActiDongle Converter to the control box, and the output line connects to the star.