2019 Display & Build

Total Raised in 2019 for Redkite: $2,500.

Display Images

Display Videos

LithgowLights 2019 Display – At The Cross by Chris Tomlin

LithgowLights 2019 Display – Dance Monkey by Tones and I

LithgowLights 2019 Display – Eye Of The Tiger (Dubstep version)

LithgowLights 2019 Display – Hey Come Look At My House

LithgowLights 2019 Display – Little Drummer Boy by For KING and COUNTRY

LithgowLights 2019 Display – Snoopy's Christmas Vs the Red Baron by The Royal Guardsmen

LithgowLights 2019 Walkthrough

2019 ACL members Zoom Walkthrough

Build

January

Most of the items are down, packed away and we are beginning to start the design and upgrades for 2019

Planned upgrades: 26 more 3D Printed stars, new vents, new coro items and more through the year. I have started printing the 12 point stars and P10 brackets, as well as 20 more gutter clips

February

We finally managed to get to Redkite on February 2ndto deliver the cheque. This was our first visit to the new office near Central Railway Station, and we were very impressed with the new open layout

The Redkite staff listening to Suellen talking about how we greet people, and some funny stories about people who visit

Here we are handing over the cheque for $2400 for this years fundraising. Our lowest year ever, but weather caused people to stay away, as well as caused more than a little damage to the display, leading to lower turnouts as well

A wonderful gift that will soon grace the wall in the computer room

We watched about 7 videos from this years display, mostly new ones, but also a couple of the older songs from previous years

May

Getting ready for the Sydney mini early next month.

I have been busy creating a small "test board" to allow me to test 12v and 5V pixels, and a Beaglebone Black, Raspberry Pi, and a few different controllers. There will be a P10 Panel and some pixels added soon

June – Sydney Mini

The Sydney Mini is over, and wow what a great weekend. People from South Australia, Victoria and all over NSW came for the weekend and we all learnt something, and everyone walked away with at least one prize and some great memories

Part of the group on Day 1 at the mini. Almost 60 people in total at the Woolworths offices in Bella Vista

One of my presentations, in this case I believe it was installing FPP on a Raspberry Pi as one of the round table discussions

This year there were over prizes valued at over $7000 up for grabs at the Sydney Mini. Sue won one of the main prizes, a PixLite 16 Mk II. It was later donated to a new member as we were not that impressed with it

A Raspberry Pi being chosen as one of the prizes

Oh look, someone is waiving at the camera lol

June

Been flat out since the mini finishing off items. Later in June I attended Bens build party and managed to push 726 pixels while still eating Pizza and having a couple of cans of drink.

The last of the 12 point 3D Printed stars. These took many weeks to print the parts, and have finally been completed and are ready to put in storage waiting for Christmas

Each of the old and rather yellowed stars was matched with a new star to avoid needing to use over 25 more plugs and sockets for the upgrade. While the old ones look very yellow, the color is not noticeable at night

A coro Roo, that will later be painted a grey color and matched with a second one to live on the jetski this year. This was used in my demo of mapping items to your display at the Sydney mini

A new item for this year, and the first that has been "painted" to look decent through the day. Still not exactly sure where this will be put

The jetski is back for 2019, and will likey keep coming out each year. A small upgrade with over 200 pixels added to the outline, a J1Sys P12R inside, matched with a 5V 320W PSU and a 36V 350W PSU for the floodlights (one pixel and one DMX)

Santa, who has not come out since about 2012, was restrung with pixels, a little over 240 of them, and is starting to look good

One of the best things with xLights is sub models, and santa was divided into about 11 seperate sub models, allowing a different color to be easily applied to parts of him. 4 seperate hands and feet, eyes, belt, skin (around the face), beard and his bag and suit color are all separate sections

July

Loads done this month, but slowed up due to my wife having a knee replacement at the start of the month.

Did my first order with LYSONLED in China, and now awaiting it to be delivered mid next month. 30 P10 panels, 4 Power Supplies, 2 P5 panels (to test), and a Colorlight card to see if they are better at driving the P10’s than the Beaglebone Black.

August

My LYSONLED order arrived and all I can say is WOW!

A massive thanks to Cherry at LYSONLED for the help in ordering and one of the fastest deliveries of a package from China in many years. Close to 9kg, and it’s done one major thing – got me wondering how I can pay for 30 MORE P5 panels to upgrade a few items in this years display. Anyone want to sponsor a AU $1000 upgrade please?

I am planning on a definite change from P10 to P5 panels for the 2 small north and south pole Tune To signs, but after seeing the P5’s in action, I’d also like to upgrade the old 3*3 corner mounted signs, my original tune to signs, to P5, adding 18 more P5 panels to the setup. This would increase my channel count for 2019 to over 300,000 channels, and require only minimal changes to the actual setup for the year.

Between trips to the Physio for my wifes recovery after a knee replacement, I have managed to finish the new P10 panel build. It’s not in a case yet, thats Sundays job, but for now all 25 Panels are screwed together with custom 3D Printed panel joiners

I still have a few hours left to print the edge joiners, and I am planning on printing a small joiner for the middle of the long side of the panels, possibly with a small hole to allow it to be pulled back to straighten the panel in the case

The start of the end joiners, with holes to allow the screen to be screwed to the case.

September

The P5 builds are coming along great, with the initial build being tested.

The front of the P5 screen being tested. This is one of two 3*3 panel P5's that will replace the old 3*3 P10 tune to signs

The rear of the P5, showing ABS 3D Printed brackets. I have yet to mount the Power Supply and Colorlight cards to the box, but that will be done soon

October

Since I am off for 2 weeks for Lithgow halloween, I decided to start putting up lights

The poor trees get a very big cut back at the start of the season in order to be similar sizes.

In order to clear some room in the shed, the jet ski came out early this year as well

The floodlights this year are mounted on the trees rather than at ground level, so I had to create a mount that allowed the lamps to sit flat. 3D Printer to the rescue.

November

More lights are up, but of course things dont always go to plan.

A wire was run across the length of the house to allow an easier installation of lights across the roof line. This did not work out exactly as planned, but it's OK, and will just need a few "tweaks" for next year

Walked out from inside, caught my foot on the stepladder on the deck and fell off onto concrete. Ended up fracturing the base of my thumb, so it's being kept in a splint for the next few weeks

December

Lithgow, as well as many other locations, has been affected by the 2019 Bushfires. A few images below of the smoke and flames in the area over recent days, but then a special guest drove around Lithgow, bringing a smile and a little bit of cheer to some of the locals

Fire to the North of Lithgow on Dec 16th, taken from Wallerawang

The smoke in Martini Parade on December 19th. It was like this for many days

Looking South from LithgowLights. It was not a fun few days, with many people with breathing issues needing treatment

Santa went for a drive around Lithgow, visiting some of the hard working people in the area.

2019 Spend

Extreme Lighting Displays Order 1: $100
Ray Wu Order 1: $800
Extreme Lighting Displays Order 2: $70
Filament: $210
Paint: $70
Falcon F16 V3 2019 Edition: $315
Isopropyl Alcohol: $80
Bolts and Screws: $65
36V PSU: $30
LYNSONLED Order 1: $880
Network Upgrades: $200
Beaglebone Black (x2): $170
16GB Micro SD Card: $18
LYNSONLED Order 2: $980
P5 Demo Panels: $200
2 * Raspberry Pi: $128
Extreme Lighting Displays Order 3: $90
Power Boards, Extension Leads: $70
Bunnings Marine Ply: $66
Plycarbonate sheeting for screens: $190
6 Core alarm cable 305 meters: $90
5 Litres of Acetone: $30
Bubble and Snow mix: $50
Paint: $90
Tent Pegs: $40
Elastic: $38
Stainless Wire and connectors: $90
Brackets: $20
Lollies: $200
Conduit: $120
Network cable, connectors, crimper: $150