FAQ

What does it take to put on a light show like
 

Here are several questions I get asked quite often during the season.


1. How do you turn on and off all those lights?

We have about 300 Little Elves in the back!
Not Really, but it is all computer controlled via products from Light-O-Rama. For the 2010 lightshow it is taking approx350 control channels To set the lights to music it takes roughly 10 or more hours per minute to program.


2. How much does your electricity bill go up for all these lights?

Since the display is 99% LED, and most of the lights are all not on at one time, it uses very little extra electricity.  Since everything is LED we could safely operate the entire display off 2 20amp wall circuits! We only see about a $20 increase in our monthly electric bill. Honestly we think most of that is due to seeing the heater start being used more.

3. How many cables does it take to build a display like this?

There are over 600 connections within the display! To make those connections it takes almost a mile of cabling! To speed setups in future years, most items have their own harnesses.

4. "Those are Real Ocotillo Trees!"

Yes I have had a visitor like them so much she thought they WERE real, until I showed her they were attached to a concrete pad! They even look pretty real in the daytime too! But they are only PVC pipe and LED lights on metal frames.

5 How much time does it take for you to set this up?

Actually the display is pretty much a year round project. Planning for the next year starts immediately after the current display is up and working. This way we can envision what we want to do. Actual physical setup can be completed in about 2 weeks. WE like ti start about the 1st week in November and take our time, and test each segment as it gets assembled.
For 2011, We are planning to "redo" 3 items to make them even better, and add one items that was planned in 2010 that never made it to the display.

6. How do you get the radio station to play your music?

We transmit the music ourself with a low power FM transmitter.

7. "Where do you get all your lights?
Yours are much brighter that I can find!
You can't buy Christmas lights year round!"

I actually get this question quite often! I purchase all my lights from specialty vendors that are on my links page.  The lights we use are commercial grade LED strings.  Yes, you can buy lights year round from those vendors. Since we plan the next years display  while you are enjoying this years,  we are able to take advantage of special offers from those vendors that save big $$$$on the lights early in the year .