How it Works

Lights

The lights I use are RGB bullet style that are constructed in strings of various lengths. Each light referred to as a pixels actually consists of three LEDs: Red, Green and Blue. Each LED can turn on to 256 intensities creating the ability to set the pixel to over 16 million possible colors. My 2024 show has 11,857 pixels or 35,571 LEDs. You may think my power bill would be high to run this many lights but LEDs are low voltage and use very little power. On average my show uses around 3,000 watts or the equivalent of 2 hair dryers.

Matrix/Sign

The sign on my garage is referred in the Christmas lighting community as a Matrix. It is constructed with LED panels in a grid. I use LED panels that have 32 pixels x 16 pixels in a grid of 6 horizotal x 7 vertical panels creating a matrix of 192 x 112 pixels.

Software

There are two software applications that I use for the show. One software App is for show generation called XLights. XLights runs on a Windows or Mac PC and is made by a team of very talented programmers and is provided free for use. This app is also referred as sequencing software used to create different effects like on/off, fade, twinkle, shimmer etc. and synchronise this to music. Sequencing can be a time consuming process as well as it takes alot of talent to create a great show. As a result, I belong to a club that provides sequences created by professionals. I take these sequences and map them to my house in XLights to create my show.

The other software application plays the show. I use a show player called Falcon Player that is run on each of the four light controllers in my system. Falcon Player is also created by several talented programmers and is also provided free for use.

Communication Interfaces

The light controllers and generation computers are connected together on a standard computer network via wired and wireless connections. I have created a show computer network separate from my home network in order to eliminate potential conflicts due to too much network traffic. Creating a Christmas light and music show requires good knowledge of computer networks, topology, routing, etc.

Power Supplies and Cabling 

The lights and controllers in my system are all powered by 12 volts DC which require the use of 12 VDC power supplies to convert 120 VAC house power to 12 VDC. My system uses 12 of these power supplies.

Creating a Christmas light and music show requires good knowledge of basic electrical characteristics such as ohms law, currents and voltage drop across wire. Cable selection is important especially with low voltage DC lighting because of voltage drop across long light strings. As a result, power has to be injected at several points across long strings of lights. 

FM Transmitter 

The main controller Raspberry Pi utilizes a Sound Blaster audio output that is connected to a low power FM radio transmitter. This device allows you to legally broadcast audio over the FM radio spectrum. I looked for a frequency in the FM band that was not being used in my area and picked 99.9 FM for my show.