After two hours outside tracking down circuits that had blown, all are now working. But remember that if we have wet weather, check the website to see if I’ve detected a problem. I try to test the lights each day, but something might happen in the interim that makes the system crash. Snow doesn’t seem to be the problem, just rain.
Sorry again for any inconvenience, but sometime it’s hard to fight mother nature.
If you came by the house Saturday night to see the Christmas Lights Display and you either saw the lights acting erratically, or off completely, we’re sorry that you weren’t able to see the show. When it rains, some of the connections get wet which trip the GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupter) that powers all of the controllers and thus the lights. The whole purpose is to shut off power to an outlet when a wet condition is detected by the circuit, thus eliminating the possibility of someone getting a severe shock, or worse, electrocution.
This has happened the past two years and I’ve taken steps to reduce the possibility of a tripped GFCI, but somewhere in a couple of circuits, those steps weren’t enough. Thus the show shut down. I’ll work on it tomorrow and hopefully find the problem, fix it, and the show will be up and running again. But before you stop by, please check the website for updated information.
Again, I apologize for this happening, but it is better to have the GFCI trip than to have someone killed.
After 100 hours 25 minutes, the 2008 Christmas Lights Display is up, but not after some significant challenges. The new LEDs continue to be a worry. All are working now, but I’ve had to change out several strings on the mega-tree, which is a challenge. Then the elves decided to slide down the roof. The good news is they stayed on the roof, but I had to find a better way to anchor them down. So far, so good.
Then during the testing phase, some of the lights wouldn’t come on. Find out you actually need to plug them into the controller. Who would have thought?
So how about some statistics?
30,863 lights including 14,400 on the mega tree
When all the lights are on, the display draws 62 amps
5,000 feet of extension cords
Eleven 16-channel Light-O-Rama controllers
335 hours devoted to this year’s display, not including research on the Internet at the various Christmas websites, or running around town for supplies.
On Tuesday, November 25, we had our annual preview show for the neighbors. What a great night. Cool but calm. Our neighbors across the street, Sean and Ann Marie, had a firepit going, and after the show, the kids roasted marshmellows. Things went well, but I spotted some things that needed tweaking. I’ll probably see more things as the days roll by.
And last night, Thanksgiving night, the show kicked off for the rest of the world at 6pm. We had two cars there at 6 to see it. Here is a picture of the display with all lights on:
So for those in the KC area, we look forward to having you stop by.
7909 Fontana
Prairie Village, KS
6-10:30pm through New Year’s Eve
Tune your car radio to 91.1FM to “Listen To The Lights”
Thanks for everyone’s support, and we hope you enjoy this year’s Christmas LIghts Display. I’ll be posting video as soon as possible for those outside of the area.
It has been a good week with another song sequenced (White Christmas) as well as voice over #6 completed. Only one voice over and one song remain to be sequenced.
We’ve also spent about 15 hours this weekend getting more of the lights up. All of the grounded lights are strung, and the frames to display our elves are up on the roof, held down with tube sand that weighs 60# per tube. I did have help from neighbors across the street, Rick and his son Andrew. And the three elves were here too.
From left to right, Jingle (Taylor), Elf Judy (Brooke) and Jangle (Fisher). Fisher has quite an arm as he was able to throw a tennis ball with a string tied through it up over the high tree limbs so we could string our grounded lights. Couldn’t have done it without him.
It has also turned cold. Yesterday never made it out of the 30’s and a good wind, so wind chill was down around freezing. And no sun. Today we did get better weather with highs in low 40s, calm and sunny.
We’ve also had people stop to say hello and tell us how they enjoyed our past shows and are looking forward to this year’s display. That’s what it’s all about. Joy and memories.
Today, November 1, the lights started going up.
We had beautiful weather, sunny with a high in the low 70’s. And with just a little over three weeks to go before the lights shine out, I need to take advantage of every good day I can get. In fact, later this week it is suppose to rain with highs in the low 50’s. So for the next couple of days, the lights will continue to go up.