[HN Gopher] Ask HN: What are the best programmable holiday lights?
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Ask HN: What are the best programmable holiday lights?
I am replacing some old outdoor lights and I want to get LED lights
that I can program? Any suggestions on the best ones? Ideally
replaceable/extendable light strings with some kind of programmable
controller that has usb/wifi. If it has an app my family can use
that's a plus.
Author : sh1mmer
Score : 231 points
Date : 2024-12-06 17:20 UTC (3 days ago)
| pwg wrote:
| https://kno.wled.ge/
|
| Many 'effects' already prepackaged. Plus the ability to schedule
| time based changes (on/off/change pattern/etc.). Includes a web
| server to provide "app like" control over a phone or PC. Also
| includes integrations for several "home control" systems and a
| http API for programmatic control from another system. Can even
| synchronize plural controllers into a whole 'net' (note, I've not
| used this feature yet).
|
| Small ESP32 boards (with wifi capability) such as this example
| (no affiliation, just an example that works):
|
| https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09Y8X1GK7
|
| WS2811 LED strings [1] (of which there are an infinite variety)
| suitable for outdoor use. One example (no affiliation):
|
| https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CYZF1WCR
|
| Suitable power supplies, outdoor weather sealed boxes, and wiring
| (all left to you to locate).
|
| Willingness to assemble the pieces and some time to do so. Having
| a soldering iron is helpful here, although one could possibly get
| by with screw terminal blocks inside weatherproof boxes if need
| be for many of the 'connections'.
|
| [1] Or other 'programmable LED' strings for which WLED is
| compatible (it works with numerous different programmable LED
| standards, browse the WLED website for details).
| neotek wrote:
| Seconding WLED, it's fantastic. Super easy to install and
| operate, compatible with HomeAssistant, the built in effects
| are great, the web app / native mobile apps are powerful but
| straightforward, and the community offers plenty of help and
| other resources.
| Firerouge wrote:
| It also supports DMX input (sACN or Art-Net) for designing and
| controlling complex effects from external software.
| jhardy54 wrote:
| Warning: don't buy an ESP32-C6 for this. It's not compatible
| with WLED/ESPHome/etc and it isn't clear whether/when this will
| be resolved.
| quickthrowman wrote:
| I strongly suggest not buying _any_ electronic components from
| Amazon, but 5VDC LED light strings should be OK.
|
| _Do not_ roll the dice on the power supply, buy a UL listed
| one. If you buy some shitty Chinese PSU and it lights your
| house on fire, your homeowners insurance will deny the claim.
|
| This one puts out 30w @ 5VDC and is also UL listed:
| https://poliledsigns.com/shop/poli-5vdc-30w-waterproof-led-p...
|
| Even though it says 'waterproof', it needs to be installed in
| an enclosure, NEMA 3R rated enclosure if it's installed
| outdoors.
| harrall wrote:
| This is some major myth. Crack open your insurance policy --
| it's not going to say "UL listed appliances only" or anything
| like that. Insurance also covers mistakes.
|
| But you should get a good power supply anyway because the
| hassle is not worth it.
| quickthrowman wrote:
| My bad on perpetuating the myth regarding homeowner's
| insurance and UL listing, I appreciate the correction.
|
| You'd need to read what the policy has to say about
| uninspected electrical work performed by or at the
| direction of the homeowner. If you use a hardwired power
| supply, non-UL/cUL equipment won't pass an inspection [0].
| You can bypass the inspection by using a cord and plug 120V
| rectifier which wouldn't need to be UL listed since it
| wouldn't need an inspection.
|
| [0] NEC Section 110.3(c): https://up.codes/s/examination-
| identification-installation-u...
|
| > 110.3 (C) Listing Product testing, evaluation, and
| listing (product certification) shall be performed by
| recognized qualified electrical testing laboratories and
| shall be in accordance with applicable product standards
| recognized as achieving equivalent and effective safety for
| _equipment installed_ [1] to comply with this Code.
|
| [1] 'Equipment installed' means hardwired.
| moregrist wrote:
| You might need permits, inspections, and to worry about
| code if you're permanently wiring this into your house
| electrical system. If you're doing that, you're probably
| well beyond asking about Christmas lights on HN.
| xattt wrote:
| ESA in Ontario, for example, allows you to do your own
| electrical work. Self-notification, I'm sure, is a CYA
| formality by them.
|
| (1) https://esasafe.com/compliance/diy-electrical-work/
| thereticent wrote:
| Ah, good point. I was picturing this setup as hardwired.
| lukevp wrote:
| Do you have proof that claims are denied due to power
| supplies not rated correctly? That seems like fear mongering
| otherwise. Your insurance still covers your house even if you
| make mistakes on construction or repair yourself, I can't
| imagine them denying a claim over a purchased part that you
| have a good faith reason to believe it will function
| correctly.
|
| Also why do you specifically call out Chinese parts as being
| shitty? Where do you think the majority of electronics come
| from? This feels like xenophobia. The power supply can be
| cheap and crappy and come from anywhere. Or it can be great
| and come from anywhere. That one you linked, by the way -
| Made in China.
| thereticent wrote:
| My understanding is that insurance will not cover issues
| caused by DIY work if you did not have it permitted and
| inspected properly afterward. I sincerely doubt that an
| insurance company would be required to cover losses due to
| DIY electronics using parts that have not been properly
| safety rated. I'm surprised you think the opposite is
| obvious. Could just be my US perspective.
| sokoloff wrote:
| I fully expect that if I built (or bought) a power
| supply, plugged it into the wall, and it caught fire due
| to my own negligence (unintentional), that the resulting
| losses to the structure would be covered. (I'm in the
| US.) It would seem no different than if I built a fire in
| the fireplace that caused the issue, had a 3D printer
| catch fire, or had a grease fire cause the issue.
| KPGv2 wrote:
| > My understanding is that insurance will not cover
| issues caused by DIY work if you did not have it
| permitted and inspected properly afterward.
|
| I would be shocked if that's true, considering here in
| Texas you don't need a permit or inspection to do DIY
| work on your own house.
| quickthrowman wrote:
| I clarified in a sibling comment, I was incorrect about UL
| listing being required for homeowner's insurance but UL
| listing (or testing by another nationally recognized test
| lab) is required to pass an inspection if you're hardwiring
| a piece of equipment, and fires caused by unpermitted DIY
| electrical work are not covered by insurance.
|
| Amazon does not have audited supply chains. The power
| supply I linked is sold by Sylvania, it has a warranty, and
| it's UL listed, not sold on Amazon by Xfrtteg or Psygwist.
| You can have quality goods manufactured in China, it's
| Amazon that I don't trust.
| xattt wrote:
| > Also why do you specifically call out Chinese parts as
| being shitty? Where do you think the majority of
| electronics come from?
|
| OP is making a distinction between directly-sourced parts,
| versus those commissioned by a Western or Western-
| affiliated company that's gone through the "trouble" of a
| CSA/UL certification. One is built to a price point, one is
| built to limit liability.
| joshstrange wrote:
| WLED is the clear answer here. I got a simple USB controller
| (usb just for power) so it can't run a a massive strand of
| lights (at least at full brightness) but it was perfect to dip
| my toes in and try out.
|
| The Home Assistant integration works great as well.
| sircastor wrote:
| The fact that you can install the WLED firmware _from the
| website_ is the cherry on top. It's a fantastic piece of
| software.
| tiagod wrote:
| Agreed. There's people on HN complaining about APIs like
| Web USB, but I never got why. You can ship a firmware
| flasher as a single .html file now! No sketchy native tools
| or messing around with the command line, and runs on pretty
| much any machine.
| pbasista wrote:
| > complaining about APIs like Web USB, but I never got
| why
|
| I think that these people are not complaining about the
| API itself, which might be well-designed. The problem is,
| in my opinion, elsewhere.
|
| It seems to me that the main reason for criticism is that
| having a browser perform operations on your USB port or
| on your Bluetooth is potentially dangerous, if you do not
| know what you are doing.
|
| At the same time, the target audience of these APIs is
| typically the people who cannot be bothered to or are
| unable to use a command line tool. So, in a way, by
| having these APIs in the browser, a potentially dangerous
| tool is being put into the hands of people who may not be
| capable of realizing how dangerous it actually is.
|
| I think it is fair to note that some people often do not
| review the scripts they download before running them,
| either. They just trust the source. Which might be a
| good-enough approach in some cases. From that point of
| view, having the browser run a script from a trusted
| website and operating a USB device is similarly safe. Or
| similarly unsafe.
|
| But with a browser having this kind of capability, there
| are other threat models. If a scammer wants to read the
| user's USB devices and look for something to exploit,
| they can either ask the user nicely to run their probing
| script. Which, for better or worse, many people that may
| be prone to this kind of attack, would just be unable to
| do.
|
| Or, an attacker might simply use the browser's API to do
| the same thing. And they may even present a nice guide to
| the user explaining how to allow it to run. It seems to
| me that there is more people who would be prone to
| falling for this kind of trick than there is people who
| may be tricked into and capable of running a script.
| sowbug wrote:
| The most plug-and-play WLED-compatible controller I've found is
| made by athom.tech and available on AliExpress
| <https://www.aliexpress.com/store/1101393719>. There are two
| versions based on the ESP32C3. One is powered by USB-C @ 5V,
| and the other has a barrel jack and passes through 5-24V to the
| lights, which is useful if you're using a higher-voltage strip
| like WS2813.
|
| I used to build my own controllers from ESP development boards,
| but it's just not worth it when an enclosed controller with
| convenient connectors is priced between $10-20.
| asteroidburger wrote:
| I'm a fan of these guys:
|
| https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CHHZTGJR
|
| Power is passed through from either connector, so it'll work
| on 5v or 12v strings. And it's got two output channels. It's
| only an ESP8266 inside, but that works fine for my needs.
|
| For a slightly more DIY approach, try this one:
|
| https://wiki.vdbx.io/product/flip_c3
|
| Has everything you need to give it some sort of power and get
| the requisite data signal out.
| daredoes wrote:
| The ESP8266 is no longer recommended for WLED due to its
| lack of resources
| asteroidburger wrote:
| If you need the upgraded performance, you can pay a bit
| more and get the ESP32 equivalent:
| https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D4Z4YG4H/
|
| Personally, I've found the ESP8266 version adequate in
| the year I've owned it.
| blutack wrote:
| The athom stuff is a bit annoying because they never bothered
| to upstream anything to support their fairly minor changes -
| they just forked instead. You can still install upstream
| WLED, but the remote control support is faffy.
|
| The mottramlabs or QuinLED boards don't have this problem.
| sowbug wrote:
| Good to know. I haven't needed remote control support, so
| when I've flashed official WLED builds, I haven't noticed
| any issues.
| notedwin wrote:
| another plug-and-play pre-flashed with wled:
| https://magwled.com/
|
| you can find the controller on amazon comes with usb-c for
| 12v and 5v and currrently using it with some BTF-LIGHTING
| WS2812B fairy lights
| stavros wrote:
| Looks like that only goes up to 15W for 5V, though, which
| may not be enough.
| stavros wrote:
| As other siblings said, they didn't upstream anything (having
| to install firmware from a random unmarked zip on a site is
| annoying), and also their controllers are badly made.
|
| I used one for a panel I made, and it would bootloop
| constantly, until I added a big capacitor to the 5V rail.
| Pretty shoddy.
| leptons wrote:
| WLED is nice for 1-dimensional LED strips, or if you don't
| really care how the animations project on your LEDs, but
| anything in 2 dimension is painful, the grid mapping in 2D is
| just overly complicated and obscure. I barely got my simple LED
| matrix working and I've been doing LED grids with my own
| software for over 10 years (so I know how easy it can be). WLED
| was just an awful experience for 2D led arrays or anything more
| complex than a single LED strip.
| stavros wrote:
| Really? I connected four panels to make a display and it was
| a simple issue of choosing how the panels were laid out.
|
| However, their 2D wizard might be new, so give it a shot if
| you haven't tried it.
| ThrowawayTestr wrote:
| Have you used it recently? The matrix configurator is much
| improved.
| leptons wrote:
| Yes I have used it recently. WLED is a joke for anything
| other than 1-dimensional arrays. It's the way the pixels
| are addressed and mapped in 2 dimensions that is the
| problem with WLED. It's especially difficult if your "grid"
| is anything but an exact square or rectangle, with skipped
| pixels, or multiple mapped areas, etc. I found it all to be
| extremely frustrating and a badly designed system. I tried
| WLED to see what the fuss was all about, and I was not at
| all impressed. I have my own LED mapping system that works
| with 1-D, 2-D, and 3-D pixel mapped arrays, with
| arbitrarily placed pixels being simple to work with. Of
| course this is not what WLED was designed to do, and it
| shows. The 2-D mapping in WLED seems like a bolted-on hack.
| ThrowawayTestr wrote:
| There is support for oddly shaped arrays but you gotta
| use a custom mapping function, there's a generator online
| for it. The discord is really helpful.
| codetrotter wrote:
| > kno.wled.ge
|
| I want to take a moment to ackno.wled.ge how absolute awesome
| of a domain hack "kno.wled.ge" is for the website of a WLED
| project!
| eddieroger wrote:
| I used WLED and some WS2811 lights for Halloween this year, and
| I was blown away but how much it _just worked_. As long as I
| kept the order of the lights correct (there are arrows, derp),
| they just strung along. I ended up with a decently complicated
| array, but as long as my counts were good, the thing just
| worked. Govee is a very mainstream brand currently using
| WS2811-based lights, and with a little knife action, you can
| add them in. I'm hopeful next year to play with some 2D matrix
| stuff in it.
| mbesto wrote:
| Also, since on one has mentioned it yet, the go-to LED strips
| are from BTF-Lighting.
|
| I personally buy them from AliExpress since I dont care if they
| arrive in a week as opposed to 1-2 days from Amazon.
|
| https://btf-lighting.aliexpress.com/store/1100777574
| xattt wrote:
| The missing middle appears to be tree lights that have a
| traditional appearance (and don't look like robot spaghetti).
| Adhesive LED light strips are meant to be only indirectly
| visible.
| sowbug wrote:
| These are a good stand-in:
| https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002906547500.html
|
| They are strip lights, but the light is mostly
| omnidirectional, and the strip material is flexible. If you
| want a dark-colored strip, which looks better on a dark-
| green tree, here's a non-BTF option:
| https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805412113378.html
| xattt wrote:
| The colours look decent, but like you said, the conductor
| appears out of place.
|
| NOMA has a "smart" line of traditionally packaged lights,
| but these appear to use a proprietary box:
| https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/cat/christmas/christmas-
| light...
| BHSPitMonkey wrote:
| I've had a set of these (purchased from Amazon) deployed
| since October and we've been happy with them. The outdoor
| strand is run by a QuinLED Dig-Uno board and has stood up
| to a lot of rain so far. The wires at the end are just
| flush cut short with the conductors showing, so I made
| some attempt to weatherproof that spot just in case.
| tannedNerd wrote:
| I've been super impressed so far with the Govee lights I've
| gotten. The app is pretty easy to use has tons of cool effects,
| and they have a LAN API (https://app-h5.govee.com/user-
| manual/wlan-guide) for most of their lights that have WiFi. Don't
| have enough time this year to program a custom show but was going
| to start earlier next year now that I have a couple of these. The
| new scene stage thing they just released where you can map your
| lights and have them all work together is pretty slick too.
| havnagiggle wrote:
| Is Govee the down-cone style? Or are there also others doing
| that? There's been a couple of houses that have this and I
| wasn't sure what they are using, but it's the only one that I
| would consider doing whole house exterior. Many others look too
| sharp.
| jason_pomerleau wrote:
| Yes, though they have other types too. We've been thrilled
| with ours. I've never done Christmas lights because I don't
| do ladders, so having a permanent fixture is attractive. Plus
| we can use them on big holidays too.
|
| I have big reservations about 'smart home' stuff, and it's
| only the second such device in our house. But I'm clearly
| losing that battle, and will be looking into some ways to
| mitigate the privacy concerns. But gosh, it sure is nice to
| pick from a gazillion light patterns.
| tannedNerd wrote:
| I have them on a separate vlan that my iPhone can see. They
| can only see other govee devices and my iPhone so not super
| worried.
| F7F7F7 wrote:
| Govee has a plug and play solution. You can accomplish that
| he same thing with WLED and programmable strips, however.
|
| Half the price but four times the headache.
| linsomniac wrote:
| That's very good to hear, because last year on Black Friday I
| got a couple of dual 36' Govee light strips and am just
| planning on putting them up today, as a permanent install. It's
| been a long-time dream of mine to have permanent holiday
| lights. These are the ones that are the strips with an LED
| every few inches, individually controllable. Looking over at
| Amazon it looks like they have the 65ft kit I got for $70 right
| now ($40 off coupon).
|
| Last year we put up this Govee LED grid "curtain" and my son
| had some fun programming it.
| F7F7F7 wrote:
| Just keep in mind that unless you're hitting 60 LEDs a meter
| you'll be able to clearly see the individual lights. Even
| with frosted lenses.
|
| I just mention it because you're planning on putting the time
| and effort into a permanent install.
| linsomniac wrote:
| Thanks. Yes, I'll definitely be able to see individual
| lights and I'm ok with that. I have played around with some
| of those "neon light" LED strips that have a nearly
| constant string of LEDs, only white and not individually
| addressable. Those are a nice look, but for my holiday
| lights I'm ok with individual lights.
| netsharc wrote:
| Maybe relevant: https://youtu.be/TvlpIojusBE
| luxuryballs wrote:
| I want a mesh grid of LEDs that I can lay across the house maybe
| with 6" between each one so I get a low res screen of dots and
| then play Die Hard on it to see if people figure it out. It would
| kind of be like a TV but with 9 out of 10 pixels missing, more or
| less.
| blutack wrote:
| You could use ws28xx/skxx based addressible strips laid out in
| rows. Usually WLED would be recommended to drive it, but for
| playing a video, the teensy fastled library comes with a demo
| specifically doing what you discuss with a film.
|
| https://quinled.info/2019/06/03/what-digital-5v-12v-rgbw-led...
| good intro to the subject.
| luxuryballs wrote:
| interesting thanks I'll check it out
| ryukoposting wrote:
| Not quite what you're looking for perhaps, but I'm very happy
| with my "dumb" lights controlled with a couple smart plugs
| flashed with Tasmota.
| criddell wrote:
| We have the Twinkly lights and they are pretty neat. You put
| them on your tree and you don't have to be careful about where
| or how you lay them out because step 2 is point your phone
| camera at the tree and it turns the lights on and off to map
| where each bulb is. You move around the tree until they are all
| mapped (lights go from orange to green when mapped).
|
| The app has a bunch of canned patterns and there's an online
| site for user designs and of course you can design your own.
| It's a lot of fun and they aren't terribly expensive (there was
| a good black friday sale).
| ramones13 wrote:
| If you ever want to go all out with a musical light show, I have
| some recommendations here: https://aluhrs.com/blog/holiday-
| lights-electronics/
|
| For your specific question, Wally's Lights is great, and like
| others have mentioned, something running WLED to control them is
| a great choice.
| copperx wrote:
| Is this the best choice if I wanted to wire the outside of
| entire house?
| sircastor wrote:
| This is a huge space to get into. I'm on my fourth year doing an
| outdoor light show.
|
| My personal preference is 12v ws2811 bullet-style voltage-
| regulated nodes. They're extendable, individual nodes on a strand
| are replaceable if you're willing to do some cutting and
| crimping.
|
| I like the 12v because you can go for longer strands without
| losing colors from voltage drop. Regulated over a resistive
| voltage divider = less heat.
|
| As has been mentioned, you can install WLED onto a
| microcontroller and have a web-page for a remote control.
| INTPenis wrote:
| I know programming but only very rudimentary hardware, how
| difficult is this to do? Are there guides?
| sircastor wrote:
| Installing WLED is about as easy as one could hope for - so
| easy, it's kind of unbelievable. Provided that your device
| has USB, you plug it in, go to the WLED installer page
| (https://install.wled.me/) and press the install button.
|
| In terms of making custom sequences for lights, my go to is
| Xlights - an Open source project that allows you to create
| layouts, and build sequences.
| averageRoyalty wrote:
| I'm sure you know but for others reading, 12v ws2811 are
| grouped in threes, so not individually addressable. 5v is, and
| when you're working at scale power injection isn't a huge deal
| as you'll be doing it anyway.
|
| Always standardise your connectors. I'm a fan of the Ray Wu
| ones.
|
| ESP/WLED driven is my preference, but the Falcon controllers
| are popular amongst people who are more DIY/woodworking
| oriented as they're much simpler to set up and not _heaps_ more
| expensive. Falcon Player/xlights is the standard software for
| designing/playback of your show regardless of hardware.
|
| Coro props (corrugated plastic, corflute) are a cheap and
| effective way to stand out from the crowd. Animatronics, smoke
| etc are also an option when going more advanced.
|
| It's a lot of work. You rarely want to start after October or
| order your goods after July. You are running a live production
| and things will go wrong. Good luck to anyone entering the
| space, it's very fun and expensive!
| sircastor wrote:
| > I'm sure you know but for others reading, 12v ws2811 are
| grouped in threes, so not individually addressable. 5v is,
| and when you're working at scale power injection isn't a huge
| deal as you'll be doing it anyway.
|
| I haven't found this to be the case. All my lights use WS2811
| chips, and are individually addressable. The 12v does have to
| be regulated down to 5v, but that's happening on the node
| anyway.
|
| > Coro props (corrugated plastic, corflute) are a cheap and
| effective way to stand out from the crowd.
|
| I'll add to this that if you have a 3D-Printer, you can do
| some neat stuff if you're up to designing it. I am in the
| middle of adding 16" snowflake props to my setup this year.
| It took a couple of revisions, but I've got them all setup
| and I'm just finishing the controller to drive them now.
|
| It is a super fun hobby, and as averageRoyalty mentioned - it
| can be spendy.
| slug wrote:
| There's multiple types. I use the bullet type regulated 12V
| ws2812 for outdoor applications and they are individually
| addressed. I also use 12V ws2812 RGBCW (RGB+white cold+white
| warm) unregulated (resistor) led strips which are grouped in
| threes for indoor. Both work just fine with wled or custom
| software (e.g. micropython / C++ ) on esp32.
| FarmerPotato wrote:
| I played with WS2812 for a while, but now I have an AlphaPix
| system from HolidayCoro. My starter kit was ~$500 with 100
| lights. They are large C9 bulbs, now permanently installed on
| the house eaves.
|
| The popular free software, xLights, has a ton of features
| (and pitfalls). You can export the sequence to Falcon on a
| RasPi.
|
| I would rather get back to programming my own sequences. That
| was a lot of fun on Arduino with WS2812.
| silverlight wrote:
| Somewhat related topic: anyone used something like the Luxedo to
| do a projection mapping? It seems like it's more complicated and
| expensive but I love the idea of doing something cool to the
| house for Halloween and Christmas without having to lug out a ton
| of lights and decorations.
| moepstar wrote:
| I'm fascinated by these projection setups ever since I learned
| they're a thing! But Jesus is the Luxedo stuff pricey?! I'd
| love to learn about something similar but in a kinda OSS/DIY
| kind of style...
| rapjr9 wrote:
| There are several open source projection mapper projects that
| run on a RaspPi, or other platforms, here are a few of them:
|
| https://github.com/arisona/mpm
|
| https://ofxpimapper.com/
|
| https://mapmapteam.github.io/
|
| There are media players and graphics generators that will run
| on a RaspPi also. Finding a bright enough projector and
| sheltering it for outdoor use might be the main challenge.
|
| Another approach might be a galvo scanned laser with DMX
| software to control it, though there may be safety/liability
| issues with that.
| Tepix wrote:
| Maybe i can piggyback onto this question: Are there timer
| switches that can change the times depending on the calendar? I
| want to turn on some lights shortly after sunset but they don't
| have a brightness sensor. So i'd like to do it by time of day.
| sowbug wrote:
| If you're already using Home Assistant and WLED, this is a
| cinch. You could even write an automation that plays your home
| team's colors each night they win a game.
| Tepix wrote:
| no, i want as little tech as possible, i imagine entering the
| date and the latitude and perhaps the number of minutes
| before/after sunset/sunrise.
| beala wrote:
| Just about any wifi smart plug will do this. If you don't
| want your plug to rely on other people's servers, a quick
| google found this one:
| https://mytouchsmart.com/mytouchsmart-outdoor-indoor-
| sunsmar.... I'm sure there are others.
| Tepix wrote:
| Thanks. Looks like there are timer switches with
| calendars, they are sometimes called "astro timer
| switch".
| function_seven wrote:
| If you don't want to go full-blown Home Assistant or anything
| "smart", you can still handle this with a self-contained
| switch.
|
| I installed a Honeywell similar to this one [1]. You tell it
| the date and your lat/long, and it knows the times for dawn and
| dusk.
|
| I had a previous version of it 10 years ago [2]. Worked great.
|
| [1] https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004AP92N2/
|
| [2] https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004SOZHXY/
| riedel wrote:
| For Twinkly: https://github.com/scrool/xled
| entangledqubit wrote:
| I ended up buying a couple strings of Twinkly lights a while back
| - after considering a diy solution. The mobile app has been solid
| and (assuming they didn't muck it up) there's are libraries out
| there for interfacing to them as well (over WiFi). The cost is
| not cheap but seems fair to me and seems to be well built. (The
| light mapping is pretty fun. You can zigzag a bunch of lights
| across a wall and basically create a low res display.)
| TheJoeMan wrote:
| Second Twinkly for the question of "will this company still be
| around in a few years". They seem to have branched out into
| non-holiday lights too which improves their business stability.
| yumcimil wrote:
| +1 for twinkly lights. I've had some WS2801s that are about a
| decade old from Aliexpress for ages. This time lighting the
| tree, discovered quite a few scorch marks and melted
| insulation. Twinkly lights were 66% off locally, so gave 'em a
| go. They're still RGB, but blend into the tree a fair bit
| better. The LED spatial mapping stuff kinda works - it's not
| perfect, but gives you enough to be able to have decent fades
| top to bottom and side to side.
|
| I have no intention of swapping to Twinkly for my normal accent
| lighting around the house - btf-lighting.com + WLED is still
| your friend for that.
| KPGv2 wrote:
| Yeah the Twinkly stuff is crazy. I bought some for my wife,
| who is a major Christmas decor-head, a couple years back. She
| throws those things on the tree, uses the app to do the
| mapping, and the animations are really impressive. Very much
| like what you see on the website.
| sixothree wrote:
| Another +1 for Twinkly. I don't own them but a close friend
| does. And to say they are impressive is an understatement. You
| just wrap them like you do normally and the software is smart
| enough to map each light's physical location.
|
| For any addressable light system for a tree or bush I would
| recommend getting more lights than you think you need.
|
| My personal christmas decoration consists of a charly brown
| christmas tree with a single ornament on it. It started as a
| joke (and convenience for ongoing construction), but it became
| a tradition. I truly appreciate the zen nature of unfolding it
| into an appealingly broken pattern and also having just a
| single ornament.
| shaftway wrote:
| Another +1. I've found that it takes a _lot_ of scans to get a
| solid representation of the tree, but I love the way they show
| you the quality of the scan (LEDs with well known positions are
| green, poorly are red, and mid is yellow). I think I had to do
| about 30 scans to get all of the lights I cared about, but I
| also put lights deep into the tree.
|
| I wish there was a bit more customization. Particularly around
| the flashing effect. Also, oddly, the color settings are HSV,
| but they don't give you the V, so you can't get a clean grey
| color. I wanted dim white lights with sparkle flashes, but I
| haven't been able to make that happen.
| tedchs wrote:
| I've used strings of Twinkly lights for a couple seasons now.
| They can sometimes be found on eBay for cheap. They're easy to
| set up, whether standalone or by clustering multiple units into
| one larger virtual canvas. The app has a lot of good looking
| animated patterns included.
| anfractuosity wrote:
| Has anyone come across many distributors for HD108 LED strips per
| chance? I've found only the bare LEDs on Aliexpress currently.
| charleslmunger wrote:
| If you're interested in DIY:
|
| LED lights as a string or strip - sk8612 are RGBW, which you need
| if you want a nice looking white. Lots of strips of varying
| density and waterproofing are available everywhere; strings
| ("pixels") can be harder to find but are available on AliExpress.
|
| Controller is https://quinled.info/
|
| Runs wled which has a simple web interface, mobile apps, and
| works with home assistant.
| SoftTalker wrote:
| White, non-blinking lights are the only acceptable holiday
| lights. All others are exceedingly tacky and should be banned.
| riiii wrote:
| I didn't know you had Internet access up in the mountain, Mr
| Grinch.
| kd5bjo wrote:
| My parents have always gone for an absolutely huge number of
| white mini-lights on the tree. So many that they have to be
| plugged into a dimmer circuit so that the intensity isn't
| blinding.
| daredoes wrote:
| Check out Twinkly. Little pricey, but if you can grab them on
| sale they're super cool.
| hgomersall wrote:
| I had fun with this little board:
| https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/plasma-2350?variant=42092...
|
| There're a couple of other variants of that board too, one with
| wifi. Basically you can animate Neopixels with about 6 lines of
| pretty simple python.
| chris_overseas wrote:
| A lot of people here are recommending WLED for the controller,
| but I would suggest you look at the Pixelblaze [1] instead. I've
| used both in a bunch of different projects and strongly prefer
| Pixelblaze over WLED.
|
| Some reasons why: - It has a much more intuitive user interface -
| It's far easier to program new patterns. Programming is done in-
| browser with a language that's a subset of Javascript, with code
| changes being applied in realtime. - Due to the way its rendering
| engine works, the patterns it produces are generally far more
| 'organic' looking and smoother than most of the WLED ones. - It's
| possible to map LEDs in arbitrary 2D or 3D configurations (think
| lights strewn all over a Christmas tree), which WLED can't really
| do at all. - If you have multiple Pixelblazes you can get them to
| sync with each other over Wifi. - A really helpful community
| forum.
|
| Downside: - The firmware isn't open source, though some of its
| tooling is, and the firmware is stable and gets fairly regular
| updates, so it's not a huge issue to me. YMMV.
|
| For the LEDs, you probably want wired bullet-style strings of
| LEDs rather than the thin copper LED strips since they're
| generally more suited to outside use. By far the most common (and
| generally cheapest) type of LEDs are WS-2812B or similar. They're
| OK, though you might notice they don't have good definition at
| low brightness levels. APA-102 or equivalent are a bit more
| expensive, but have MUCH better dynamic range, so I'd suggest
| going for these if you can. There are other better (and more
| expensive) LEDs still, but it starts to become diminishing
| returns, plus they can be hard to come by or find suitable
| controllers for. If you're running lengths of more than a 150 or
| so LEDs then power starts to matter, and you'll either need to
| inject power regularly into the strips, and/or use LEDs designed
| to take 12V or 24V. These can come with caveats such as worse
| power consumption and/or fewer addressable LEDs per meter, so
| research what you're buying carefully.
|
| [1] https://electromage.com/pixelblaze
| jerich wrote:
| This gets such a huge thumbs up that I had to scroll up and
| reread it to make sure this wasn't my own post from a revived
| thread from last year!
|
| I've been using a pixelblaze with a long string of cheap 2812
| LEDs on my Christmas tree for three years now with tons of
| compliments from neighbors.
|
| I'm an embedded software guy, and every year I mean to dig in
| and try roll my own, or do something clever with an RP2040
| board (also a shoutout for the Pimoroni Plasma), but the
| demands of life and "get the light show started" mean I keep
| using the Pixelblaze.
|
| I even upgraded to their newer versions last year, and used
| some of the smaller ones to make some LED tutus for my girls
| that synced pattern with the tree (the tutus were synced with
| each other for a Christmas show, but it was trivial to then add
| the tree for fun afterwards).
|
| The mapping is huge for the wow factor, and the pixelblaze
| makes it so much easier to get something fast and good enough.
|
| There's so many community-shared patterns to choose from, and
| it's been easy to make small modifications to look better once
| mapped to a tree, though most work as-is.
|
| My project I won't get done this year is to try to make some
| calibration patterns and use ChatGPT to analyze some
| photos/videos to make a 3-D map, but I'll realistically
| probably end up with the vaguely-triangular 2-D map again; I
| can get it done in about 30 minutes now.
|
| The following is a couple years ago. I think last year I was up
| to 1100 LEDs and the mapping was a bit better, but I didn't
| take good videos.
|
| https://youtu.be/hu-RQx_NpAY?si=BMYbafbPAn2XAlU9
| beala wrote:
| This is a tangent, but I feel like we can't talk about LED
| christmas lights without linking to this video by tech
| connections: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBFPJ3_6ZWs
|
| the tl;dw is that most color LED lights work by emitting a single
| frequency of light. Compared to classic christmas lights, which
| are incandescent filaments filtered through dyed glass, the LED
| lights look a bit... radioactive.
|
| My personal pet peeve are white LED lights. If you're not careful
| to buy the ones labeled "warm" they look cold, and imo, not very
| festive and inviting.
|
| Of course, this is all a matter of taste, but once I became privy
| to the difference, I could no longer ignore it. I guess I'm just
| a millennial nostalgic for the lights of my youth.
| binary_slinger wrote:
| > My personal pet peeve are white LED lights. If you're not
| careful to buy the ones labeled "warm" they look cold, and imo,
| not very festive and inviting.
|
| I completely agree. This is true also for all household LED
| lighting. I prefer cold for kitchen food prep areas and
| bathrooms, but warm everywhere else.
| dyauspitr wrote:
| Warm everywhere for me. There's something about cold white
| that is very depressing. You would think more blue would mean
| less depressing but not in my experience.
| whatevertrevor wrote:
| Funnily enough we're currently in the process of replacing
| warm lights everywhere in our house with white lights. The
| warm lights make us feel sleepy and depressed especially in
| the winter, where there's already very little sunlight up
| here in Canada.
| diggan wrote:
| Yeah, this aligns with me too, as a Swede living in
| Spain. In the winter time, I need strong indoor lightning
| that many would describe as cold and almost hostile,
| otherwise my body seems to go into hibernation-mode by
| itself. In the summers though, warm lightning is just
| cozier and doesn't seem so draining anymore.
| croisillon wrote:
| oh we could write a depressing song called "blue christmas"
| theshrike79 wrote:
| I'm weird and want it to change based on the time of day :)
|
| Morning/evening is for warm (and in some cases dim) light,
| during "work hours" I want the whitest of white lights and as
| bright as possible.
| dinosaurdynasty wrote:
| I just got Phillips Hue bulbs and they can do this, it's
| great (you need a command center thing, but it works pretty
| seemlessly).
| wiether wrote:
| Warm light in the morning make me sleepy, while cold light in
| the evening make me... uncomfortable.
|
| I solved the issue with the "Natural light" scene from
| Philips HUE. Not only it manages the temperature for you
| during the day, but also the intensity.
|
| It only requires the "White Ambiance" lightbulds, cheaper
| than the "Color" ones.
| majormajor wrote:
| I think definitely a matter of taste sprinkled with nostalgia.
|
| I wanted to get the incandescent opaque-paint-covered lights I
| grew up with but the power consumption - and the number of
| outlets required if you follow the "don't chain more than 2 or
| 3 strings together" guidance - was (unsurprisingly, in
| retrospect) WAY higher, so I just found the closest LED version
| I could find.
|
| They look pretty decent at the end of the day, and one pro is
| that you can get more brightness and vividness out of them
| (helpful if you have other newer, bright-LED decorations).
| NoMoreNicksLeft wrote:
| I keep wondering why lights aren't getting built into new-build
| homes. They're no longer bulbs, but LEDs, they're programmably
| colored (you can do orange/purple for Halloween, etc), and they'd
| be practically invisible when off.
|
| Have them around eaves/gutters, windows, whatever. Is there some
| aspect of this I'm not getting that makes it impractical (or ugly
| in the off seasons)?
| atonse wrote:
| It's probably as simple as builders being cheap. It won't help
| them charge more.
|
| Unless it's a home built for one customer.
| AstroJetson wrote:
| I'm a huge fan of the Falcone system. It's a lot more that things
| that have been posted so far. It's allows you to grow in lots of
| different ways. The F16V5 costs about $250 and needs a power
| supply.
|
| This is a simplistic view of what it looks like.
|
| http://www.brianhensley.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Chris...
| kodt wrote:
| The Eufy / Govee outdoor light strips are probably the easiest to
| install and setup.
| highdeserthackr wrote:
| Several years ago I made a simple 2D display with WS2812B led
| strings, just daisy chained together for a serial interface.
| Controlled by an ESP8266, with a number of static images
| (snowflakes, xmas trees) that scroll or display with various
| effects (e.g. falling snowflakes). 9 led strings are simply
| draped over a ~9 ft tall pvc rack in a coarse 2D front and back
| display. Not that much work to put together and surprisingly nice
| looking effects are possible.
| theshrike79 wrote:
| https://www.shelly.com/products/shelly-plus-rgbw-pm
|
| If you're fine with one colour for the whole strip, this is an
| easy plug-and-play-ish solution.
| mch82 wrote:
| Adafruit has a couple holiday guides based on their Feather
| boards and NeoPixel lights. https://learn.adafruit.com/festive-
| feather-holiday-lights/ov...
| josefresco wrote:
| We've been happy with our Twinkly lights (after several years).
| Not really "DIY" but you can create your own light scheme/shows.
|
| https://twinkly.com
| oigursh wrote:
| Returning my black Friday set. The app is a split-brained and
| buggy.
| josefresco wrote:
| Weird. We don't ask much of it, but it's worked pretty well
| for I think 3 seasons now. The app was not impressive, but
| did work. The "remapping" of lights can be a little wonky,
| but each time my kids were able to complete the task.
|
| The only nitpick I have is it's paired to only one phone, so
| we pick one person in our family to "manage" the lights.
| ulrischa wrote:
| I would take the new "Plasma 2350 w" from Pimoroni
| https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/plasma-2350-w and connect some
| APA102/Dotstar or WS2812/Neopixel either from BTF Lightning,
| Amazon or Pimoroni
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