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Ask HN: What are the best programmable holiday lights?

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Re: Ask HN: What are the best programmable holiday lights?

#91

Post by xattt »

moregrist wrote: post #70
quickthrowman wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My bad on perpetuating the myth regarding homeowner’s insurance and UL listing, I appreciate the correction. You’d need to read what the policy has to say about uninspected electrical work performed by or at the direction of the homeowner. If you use a hardwired power supply, non-UL/cUL equipment won’t pass an inspection [0]. You can bypass the inspection by using a cord and plug 120V rectifier which wouldn’t need to…

You might need permits, inspections, and to worry about code if you’re permanently wiring this into your house electrical system. If you’re doing that, you’re probably well beyond asking about Christmas lights on HN.

ESA in Ontario, for example, allows you to do your own electrical work. Self-notification, I’m sure, is a CYA formality by them.

(1) https://esasafe.com/compliance/diy-electrical-work/

Re: Ask HN: What are the best programmable holiday lights?

#92

Post by xattt »

lukevp wrote: post #32
quickthrowman wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I strongly suggest not buying any electronic components from Amazon, but 5VDC LED light strings should be OK. Do not roll the dice on the power supply, buy a UL listed one. If you buy some shitty Chinese PSU and it lights your house on fire, your homeowners insurance will deny the claim. This one puts out 30w @ 5VDC and is also UL listed: https://poliledsigns.com/shop/poli-5vdc-30w-waterproof-led-p... Even though it…

Do you have proof that claims are denied due to power supplies not rated correctly? That seems like fear mongering otherwise. Your insurance still covers your house even if you make mistakes on construction or repair yourself, I can’t imagine them denying a claim over a purchased part that you have a good faith reason to believe it will function correctly. Also why do you specifically call out Chinese parts as being…

> Also why do you specifically call out Chinese parts as being shitty? Where do you think the majority of electronics come from?

OP is making a distinction between directly-sourced parts, versus those commissioned by a Western or Western-affiliated company that’s gone through the “trouble” of a CSA/UL certification. One is built to a price point, one is built to limit liability.

Re: Ask HN: What are the best programmable holiday lights?

#93

Post by theshrike79 »

binary_slinger wrote: post #65
beala wrote: post #63

This is a tangent, but I feel like we can't talk about LED christmas lights without linking to this video by tech connections: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBFPJ3_6ZWs the tl;dw is that most color LED lights work by emitting a single frequency of light. Compared to classic christmas lights, which are incandescent filaments filtered through dyed glass, the LED lights look a bit... radioactive. My personal pet peeve…

> My personal pet peeve are white LED lights. If you're not careful to buy the ones labeled "warm" they look cold, and imo, not very festive and inviting. I completely agree. This is true also for all household LED lighting. I prefer cold for kitchen food prep areas and bathrooms, but warm everywhere else.

I'm weird and want it to change based on the time of day :)

Morning/evening is for warm (and in some cases dim) light, during "work hours" I want the whitest of white lights and as bright as possible.

Re: Ask HN: What are the best programmable holiday lights?

#94

Post by highdeserthackr »

Several years ago I made a simple 2D display with WS2812B led strings, just daisy chained together for a serial interface. Controlled by an ESP8266, with a number of static images (snowflakes, xmas trees) that scroll or display with various effects (e.g. falling snowflakes). 9 led strings are simply draped over a ~9 ft tall pvc rack in a coarse 2D front and back display. Not that much work to put together and surprisingly nice looking effects are possible.

Re: Ask HN: What are the best programmable holiday lights?

#96

Post by sowbug »

xattt wrote: post #89
mbesto wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, since on one has mentioned it yet, the go-to LED strips are from BTF-Lighting. I personally buy them from AliExpress since I dont care if they arrive in a week as opposed to 1-2 days from Amazon. https://btf-lighting.aliexpress.com/store/1100777574

The missing middle appears to be tree lights that have a traditional appearance (and don’t look like robot spaghetti). Adhesive LED light strips are meant to be only indirectly visible.

These are a good stand-in: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002906547500.html

They are strip lights, but the light is mostly omnidirectional, and the strip material is flexible. If you want a dark-colored strip, which looks better on a dark-green tree, here's a non-BTF option: https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805412113378.html

Re: Ask HN: What are the best programmable holiday lights?

#97

Post by xattt »

sowbug wrote: post #96
xattt wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The missing middle appears to be tree lights that have a traditional appearance (and don’t look like robot spaghetti). Adhesive LED light strips are meant to be only indirectly visible.

These are a good stand-in: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002906547500.html They are strip lights, but the light is mostly omnidirectional, and the strip material is flexible. If you want a dark-colored strip, which looks better on a dark-green tree, here's a non-BTF option: https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805412113378.html

The colours look decent, but like you said, the conductor appears out of place.

NOMA has a “smart” line of traditionally packaged lights, but these appear to use a proprietary box: https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/cat/christmas/christmas-light...

Re: Ask HN: What are the best programmable holiday lights?

#98

Post by dinosaurdynasty »

theshrike79 wrote: post #93
binary_slinger wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> My personal pet peeve are white LED lights. If you're not careful to buy the ones labeled "warm" they look cold, and imo, not very festive and inviting. I completely agree. This is true also for all household LED lighting. I prefer cold for kitchen food prep areas and bathrooms, but warm everywhere else.

I'm weird and want it to change based on the time of day :) Morning/evening is for warm (and in some cases dim) light, during "work hours" I want the whitest of white lights and as bright as possible.

I just got Phillips Hue bulbs and they can do this, it's great (you need a command center thing, but it works pretty seemlessly).

Re: Ask HN: What are the best programmable holiday lights?

#99

Post by linsomniac »

F7F7F7 wrote: post #87
linsomniac wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's very good to hear, because last year on Black Friday I got a couple of dual 36' Govee light strips and am just planning on putting them up today, as a permanent install. It's been a long-time dream of mine to have permanent holiday lights. These are the ones that are the strips with an LED every few inches, individually controllable. Looking over at Amazon it looks like they have the 65ft kit I got for $70 rig…

Just keep in mind that unless you’re hitting 60 LEDs a meter you’ll be able to clearly see the individual lights. Even with frosted lenses. I just mention it because you’re planning on putting the time and effort into a permanent install.

Thanks. Yes, I'll definitely be able to see individual lights and I'm ok with that. I have played around with some of those "neon light" LED strips that have a nearly constant string of LEDs, only white and not individually addressable. Those are a nice look, but for my holiday lights I'm ok with individual lights.

Re: Ask HN: What are the best programmable holiday lights?

#100

Post by sixothree »

entangledqubit wrote: post #27

I ended up buying a couple strings of Twinkly lights a while back - after considering a diy solution. The mobile app has been solid and (assuming they didn't muck it up) there's are libraries out there for interfacing to them as well (over WiFi). The cost is not cheap but seems fair to me and seems to be well built. (The light mapping is pretty fun. You can zigzag a bunch of lights across a wall and basically create…

Another +1 for Twinkly. I don't own them but a close friend does. And to say they are impressive is an understatement. You just wrap them like you do normally and the software is smart enough to map each light's physical location.

For any addressable light system for a tree or bush I would recommend getting more lights than you think you need.

My personal christmas decoration consists of a charly brown christmas tree with a single ornament on it. It started as a joke (and convenience for ongoing construction), but it became a tradition. I truly appreciate the zen nature of unfolding it into an appealingly broken pattern and also having just a single ornament.

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