How to flash your neighbors

Here are some pictures of my Christmas project, The Light-O-Rama controllers on the front of my house. This first one is the MASTER controller. Notice the two CAT5 cables in the second photo. The green cable goes to the second controller. The Yellow runs inside to my computer.

It looks like a rat’s nest of wires and it sort of is. It takes a separate circuit to each string of lights I want to control. These controllers are good for 16 circuits.

This next picture is a slave but it is exactly the same as the first unit. It gives me another 16 circuits with which to play.

You can see three plugs tucked away and not in use. The other controller still has one circuit open.

The enclosures I built from Poplar faced plywood and have been well painted to weatherproof them. The door is 12 inches square so that will give you an idea of the size. The gap at the bottom of the door allows wires to exit and also provides ventilation. I have the largest heat sinks available and the triacs are running stone cold. Not much load.

The software is great. I am having no problems so far writing sequences and running scheduled shows. I run the music on an FM transmitter on 107.3 MHz. It can be heard from my house to across the street. Just right!

My wife Gloria found an excellent buy on 20 foot outdoor rated extension cords at about $3.50 each. We bought about 35 of them. They were on sale at (of all places) a pharmacy store. I have seen the same type as high as $15.00!

If anyone wants to do this for them self, start early. I started gathering and building more than 6 months ago.

Dan’l