Good Neighbor Light Show

About us

We started out with a pre programmed box that would allow you to plug in six strands of lights that would dance to music. Viewers would have to roll down their window to hear the music as the lights danced. Over the years more lights were added and the music box was replaced with custom sequenced songs played from a computer. The regular incadscent lights were replaced with LEDs and Pixels. Our show enjoyed by our family, friends and neighbors. Every year we strive to make our show a little different from the previous years. Whether it's adding new props or simply adding new songs. We can't thank our neighbors enough for allowing us to put this show on for you every year. Without their support we could not continue on. We hope you enjoy the show and it makes your spirits bright through the Holiday season. Please make sure to turn your headlights off and do not block driveways.

FAQs

How long does it take to set up your display?

As for the lights and props, we start setting up our display in November. In 2020 we rented a 34-foot areal lift to put the lights in our tree! It usually takes a full week or two to get everything set up the way we like it.

We begin working on the sequencing as early as July! Each song can take several hours to be "show ready" and even then we keep making changes to them. Every time we add a new prop or string of lights we have to go into each song and add effects for it.

How long does it take to program a song?

A single 3-minute song can take anywhere from 3 to 6 hours to sequence, even then we might not be satisifed! For each song we have to tell the sequencer what color we want each element, or light bulb, for every moment of the song. Some of the timing is down to the milisecond!

How do you program the songs to music?

We use a software program called Vixen to sequence our lights. We set up our display by drawing all the light strands and props (elements). We then tell the software what controller in the yard controlls each element. From there we create a sequence for each song by importing an audio file and then adding effects for each element. Visit http://www.vixenlights.com/ to learn more about the software!

Once a song has been sequenced, we export it to a special file. That file is uploaded to a RaspberryPi computer running a operating system called Falcon Player. This computer is about the size of a deck of cards and all data is stored on a microSD card. We have five RaspberryPi computers throughout the display to command the various controllers.

In Falcon Player we create playlists of songs and schedules as to when the playlists should play. When a playlist is running the show data is sent out over ethernet wires, and a dedicated wifi network, to the controllers in the yard. The controllers turn on and off the lights at the exact times based on the sequence we created in Vixen. We also have an FM transmitter to broadcast the music for you to hear in your car.

Do you take donations for non-profit organizations?

At this time we are not set up to take donations for non-profits. We have considered this option and may do so sometime in the future as it is always good to give back to our community!

How Many Lights do you Have?

At this point we have lost count! Based on the last time we counted and what we have added we are well over 10,000 "traditional" light strings. Plus we have close to 2,000 Pixels which are "smart" lights where each bulb is controlled by it's own computer chip and can be any color of the rainbow. You see the Pixels on the window frames, mega tree, candy canes, and leaping arches. Plus another 8,192 if you count our display sign. We even have 800 more in storage, waiting to be built into new props!

How many extension cords do you use?

We use over 1,772 feet of extension cords to power our show. Each prop needs it's own cord since they are all on individual controller channels.

How many controllers and channels do you have?

Our software is spitting out 32,130 channels worth of data for our show. To be fair, 24,576 of those channels are for our P5 display sign (where you see our FM channel displayed), leaving 7,554 channels of actual lights.

Of those, 108 channels are traditional, AC powered, lights. The rest are for pixels. Each pixel is made up of three LEDs, a red one, a green one, and a blue one. So each pixel takes three channels, one for each color. As an example, our Pixel Tree and star is 900 individual pixels, but requires 2,700 channels. It's the mixing of Red, Green, and Blue that allows them to be any color.

To control our AC powered lights we have four 24-channel Renard SS24 controllers and three 4-channel controllers. To run our pixels we have a 16-channel Sandevices E682 controller for the mega tree and a Falcon F48 plus six smart receivers. We also have some wireless pixel controllers in each of the Really Big Lights in the tree, Santa's Mailbox, and the globe on our sign.

How much does your power bill go up?

Truthfully, not very much. All of our lights are LEDs so they do not draw very much power. Plus, they are rarely all on at the same time so that reduces the energy use even more. Our entire show runs off of two 20-amp circuits. According to our meter our light show with all lights on draws about 700 Watts of power. Thats probably less power than your desktop computer uses! If our math is correct, at our current utility rate that would be just over $2.00/day if we left them on 24/7. Since they are off during daylight ours we estimate that we will only pay an extra $60 or so for the entire Christmas season. Not a bad price to pay for spreading Christmas Cheer!