The rain today caused several of our circuits to blow, so there won’t be a show tonight. We hope that we can get things dried out tomorrow so the show will run tomorrow night, but be sure to check here before driving over. Sorry for any inconvenience. Mother nature has struck again.
We’ve had a lot of cars stop and see our Christmas lights display this year, and particularly over the past weekend. At one time we had eight cars out front, jockeying for the best position to see the entire show. Had a limo on Friday, and on Saturday, had a person from Ecuador stop to see the show. She said she’d never seen anything like it. She’s coming back with her kids tonight.
We also have been written up on another webpage, http://www.kansastravel.org/kansascitychristmasdisplays.htm, which lists known displays of significance in the Johnson County Kansas area. Check it out and stop by the other displays with family and friends.
If you’re wondering about the heading, this year has been a real challenge to keep the lights on. The LEDs that I purchased for the mega tree and the two front oak trees were meant for a static display and not one that produces an animated show where the lights are on/off, and fade in and out. I bought them from the same source as the ones from last year, which worked very well, but the source used a new vendor in China. Evidently the QC wasn’t the best. The result is that I’ve replaced around 40 strings of lights, and that task is very difficult when working on the mega tree. On top of that, its been very cold, and I find that I need the dexterity of bare hands to do the switch out. The good news is that I can turn all of the lights in for replacements with 2009 lights that, I’m assured, will have been thoroughly tested while being driven by animated light controllers.
So every night I cross my fingers that everything will be working properly. Especially the week of Christmas as it is anticipated that we will have a lot of people stopping to enjoy the show. I would be very disappointed to have people stop and they weren’t able to see the show as planned.
I’m also working on video of the show. I did some shooting last week, but cars kept getting in the way. So Friday morning, I was out front at 7:15am to shoot video. Unfortunately I didn’t time the sunrise properly because it got light early than anticipated. I’ve decided I need to be shooting at 6:30am instead. However, the temperature has been just above 0ºF the last couple of morning, so I’ve passed. Don’t want to turn into a popsicle three days before Christmas. I’ll get it accomplished and uploaded as soon as everything comes together.
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.