Making the jump from traditional A/C lights to animated lighting

If you're considering taking the leap into animated lighting, it's important that you understand a couple critical differences between traditional Christmas lighting and animated Christmas lighting because, as you likely know, sometimes the lights don't work. Am I right???

If you're currently using static, AC strings of lights, troubleshooting generally falls into a few simple buckets:

• Whether the circuit breaker has tripped (i.e. the circuit needs to have power)
• Whether the lights are actually plugged in.
• Whether the lights are actually turned on.
• Whether the light string's fuse has blown.
• If a light inside the string has blown or is broken, we often just buy a new string because A/C light strings are so inexpensive. However, the LightKeeperPro for A/C lights can often help repair these strings.

In the computer animated lighting world, it's a whole different ball game. Each item has multiple checkpoints:

• The main power circuits the devices are plugged into (A/C power) are "live."
• The computer must be configured and working properly. Keeping your computer working is no small task on its own!
• The sequencing software must be configured and working properly with the computer. Versions with new features are released frequently.
• The hardware plugins must be configured and working properly. Plugins allow the software to connect to different kinds of devices.
• The hardware peripherals (dongles, network interface cards, wires, connectors, routers, switches, etc.) must be configured and working properly. You must become very proficient with keeping connectivity between the computer and the rest of the light system components.
• The light controllers must be configured and working properly. Many different types of controllers -- each is unique.
• The wiring to the lights from the controller must be working properly. This means you need to understand both A/C and DC electricity.
• The power supplies for the controllers and lights must be working properly.
• The lights themselves must be working properly and manufactured to your needs.

Because each of the above items has numerous settings and things to check to verify their proper operation, the number of things that can go wrong and prevent your lights from working becomes an astoundingly complex set of variables. Be willing to tackle the challenge!

A warning. We've found that many new DIY'ers get in over their heads because they imagine it won't be much different than the relatively easy, plug-n-play methods that generally work for traditional A/C light strings. Wow, are they ever in for a surprise! Many highly-experienced DIY'ers that have been in this hobby for five or six years often encounter loads of problems with newer technologies. So don't be afraid to start small and start EARLY in the year. You may envision a huge display with lots of wild stuff going on all over the place. That's fine -- just understand that the learning curve and time required to get everything working are both about 25 times larger than you'd ever imagine them to be. Let your skills and investment grow slowly or you WILL become very, very frustrated.