So it’s been a long process. Getting the strips to work the entire length, power issues! Several of you have helped me with dumb questions, I appreciate it. Installation issues and frustrations etc. This is a section of my final installation (going to be up year round, so it’s a little less annoying that it’s just 1 week til Christmas) I used PEX tubing to hide and add GLOW to the LED’s. I used nylon hangers squeezed inside to help align the led strip so it wouldn’t twist and helps evenly light everything. I’m still mounting the power box and getting the 8266 updated so I can update things remotely…but getting very close. I see the light at the end of the tunnel (and on the house!) Thanks goes to anyone that has helped me get this far, I appreciate it!
Right on Trey. Looks great.
You’re right, that tubing really does blend in very nicely there.
@Trey_Coursey - Really nice work and animation! How did you finally get the animation you wanted?
@marmil Thanks. The PEX 1" tubing gives a nice effect although it was a real bear to work with. I had to inovate some spring like nylon clips to keep the leds from flawling around in there. All in all I’m happy thus far. Just finished hanging the last 30’. @Ken_White what is shown here is a three strip mover. I can post the code (and will certainly start a Git when I have some others put together).
Fantastic! I can’t wait to see what you bring out next with this setup, now that it’s all coming together!
The tubing looks great. I mounted a 300 pixel strip for the same reason (leaving them up year round and finding excuses to light things up for other holidays). I 3d printed custom clips and nailed them to the trim of my house. I figure that’s half the work already done if I find a good diffuser later and this PEX stuff looks great.
@Christopher_Kirkman1 Thats cool, I considered that as an option but I can only print PLA with my printer and it just wont stand the heat in the summer. I too was looking for a way to have this done “once” and have excuses to run them on other holidays for a couple of days etc.
Super Job. Great visual !!
Looking good!
This is what I bought to mount up the pixels https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PJSUZSK
@Darren_Hedlund Def a clean look there! I had already committed to the PEX idea before seeing these. Depending on how well the PEX stands up to UV will def consider for other things down the road.
One bonus of the PEX is I get some WASH around the tubing rather than just outward facing, which the boys really liked on the house.
Yes! The wash makes a great look.
I love the use of the pex! unfortunately not an option for me. Finding that when the temperature dips below 25C I start to lose the occasional LED in the strip. This year I made 10-LED sections so that I can replace them “like” light bulbs - swap in a working 10-LED piece, and repair the broken one at my leisure. Everything is clipped to aluminum J-channel with clips I printed. So far have about 300 LEDs up and running in the gable peaks. Hope to have a lot more up sometime in January to weed out bad ones before next year.
Biggest challenge (but not too bad) is making sure the connections don’t work loose from contraction/expansion. To make gaps as small as possible, I soldered male and female headers to the end of each section. Right now, a little piece of white hockey tape seems to do the trick (and can’t be seen from the ground)
Like you, I’m leaving them up all year (wife is looking forward to firing them up for St. Patrick’s, Valentine’s, etc).
@allanGEE have you had issues with cold weather affecting the 2812Bs? my biggest worry about leaving up all year as we get to about -14 (-25c) in the winter time.
@Darren_Hedlund . Yes, I’m using 2812B’s. BUT, in all fairness, I’m using the cheapest ones I could find on eBay. I have more time than money, so changing out pieces works for me. I’m pretty sure other people here have had success – even in cold weather – but you’d want to see where they source their LEDs from.
Talk of running in cold conditions reminded me of this post:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/112916219338292742137/posts/UwQ4hBuc64u
@marmil That actually looks very awesome in the snow!
Now, I have to make a LED snowman
Looks great, @Trey_Coursey ! When you have a non-moving pattern, can you still see the individual LEDS, or does it look “spot-less”? I’m curious how you got the strip to stay pointed in one direction in the PEX.
@Ryan_Cush It’s as spot free as I could get. I did have to do some innovating on getting the strip to stay aligned inside the tube. I thought they would just lay flat but with the 12ga wire with it, it got all screwy! So I bought some nylon strips that I could “fold” and squeeze the strip into the tube. As I would pull from the other end I would insert another spring loaded nylon strip every 8-12" or so. Kind of confusing I know… it was a headache for a week off and on trying to figure out the best way. The tubes are hanging from Industrial Velcro strip is at back facing outwards. There are places you can see some light DOTS but for the most part is spot free, but not hot free…there are some light hot spots so to speak. Just because my strip is 32leds/m Not 60.