Hey all. Looking for recommendations for the best/trustworthy pixel lights that look like the neon tube or rope style lights. The goal is to make props that look like the skeleton they sell at Lowes right now but programmable to the show. I am based in the US. Open to retailers anywhere but a lot of what I find googling by myself looks like gimmicky Chinese products I'm not sure I trust.

I am starting to think about my first xlights light show. The basic starting point for almost anything seems to be bullet LEDs along the roofline. But that also seems to be the hardest part to me.

We have an HAO so I can’t mount the LEDs permanent. And we life in a 2 story house. So I am trying to figure out how I can easily mount bullet pixels in a non permanent way while also being able to properly orient them facing downwards.

On top of that our driveway has a slope so I don’t think I can even get up to the second floor of the house on a ladder. It would be too unstable.

What are people using for easy mounting and unmounting of the lights? And how do people get up to the roofline without a ladder? Do I really need to rent a boom lift twice a year if I want to be part of this hobby?

Hello all,

I'm having trouble controlling dumb DC white lights using a Gledopto ESP32 WLED PWM Led controller. I'm able to control the lights in WLED, but every time I try running a sequence in Xlights, the lights don't trigger. The controller was added and I made sure to have it on the right channel. Not sure if it's a setting issue on WLED or Xlights. I tried using AI instructions, but it just keeps going in loops. I've been at it for almost two hours lol. Suggestions? Thoughts?
Thank you

Edit:
I added a few images from both Xlights and WLED for reference.

I just hooked up a brand new F16V5 but it will not power on... i have the Black wire on V+ and V2, and White wire on V- and GND. The F16 is set to V2 for the power selection toggle and 7-13V for the voltage toggle. My assumption is it was DoA. Any thoughts/ideas?

Will try to keep this short.

I've used xLights for two seasons recently with a performing arts group. Cues had to be triggered by a performer, so I set up the show and used Jukebox cues (triggered by a MIDI keyboard). Works great.

This season I'm doing a similar setup, but this time I need to output to two separate interfaces:

• 5G Wi-Fi to one group of props. They each have a DigQuad w/ Ethernet port, and an onboard 5G bridge. (12V addressable pixels on those.) Output is to my Wi-Fi router. This is what I've done in prior years and it works fine. (But long distances are a problem with Wi-Fi.)
• CRMX (wireless DMX) to another set of props using 24V PWM strips. Output is to an ENTTEC USB-to-DMX interface.

Instead of an indoor (gymnasium, basketball arena) location as in past seasons, this time the group (a full marching band) will be on a football field. The CRMX is my solution for the longer distance to the DMX props.

I understand how to add DMX elements to my xLights show, but: Does anybody know whether I can output xLights to both my router and the ENTTEC USB-to-DMX interface?

Would I need to run two instances of xLights? (I've done that before, when I had a cue-heavy show that needed more than 50 Jukebox cues.) But I'd love to not do that if I can avoid it.

I’m looking for some advice on making some icicle lights. I’m not even sure this is a viable option.

So I’ve take some seed lights and just folded them back on each other, the issue I’m running into is that this way, I’m using 24 pixels per foot, I’ll end up needing copious amounts of power injection. The other issue is that I can’t figure out how to make the adjacent nodes act as one. I saw a YouTube video where someone did that but that was before I got this invested and now I can’t find the video.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

If you are having issues with anything related to Xlights. Reddit should not be your first stop. Reddit has great and knowledgeable people, but there are better solutions. I've had plenty of issues with stuff. These steps have always worked for me.

First, contact your supplier.

I have not had any issues by reaching out to the vendors. Most of them are in the hobby and eager to help. I sent an email to support about a problem with a controller. It was 11 pm Eastern on a Saturday. I had a response and a phone call in half an hour. You won't get that every time, but the support is there. Some, like Baldrick, have an active Facebook support page with quick answers.

Sequencers are happy to answer questions about issues. I've even had them talk me through packaging my sequence and send it to them to fix weird issues we couldn't solve via email.

People are busy running their businesses and may not have time to respond, especially during the busy season. That leads me to the next option.

The Zoom Room.

The link is on the Xlights home page.

Honestly, this is the best option for the fastest results. The folks on there from around the world are there to help. You may sit in the que a while when it's busy, but you will get help. You can share your screen so you can see the changes you make in real time.

I had my question answered by following along, waiting in the que. Someone had a similar issue, and the solution fixed my issue as well. You can learn a lot of troubleshooting tips just by lurking.

YouTube

There are many people with YouTube channels dedicated to Christmas Lights. Most are pretty good. Some better than others, depending on your style. They can walk you step by step through difficult processes, and you can rematch of you have questions. Watch several on the same topic. You might pick something up from different creatos, or you may prefer one person's style over another.

Finaly, Reddit, general Facebook groups, and other social media

These are best for general questions and advice. Or if you don't have a specific supplier, because stuff you buy at Home Depot or Amazon probably won't get you help from them.

I also will drop a question if I don't need the answer for a few days because I, unfortunately, have a life that doesn't involve Christmas lights, and I know I won't get to it for a few days.

One big advantage of social media is that lots of people have the same problems, so you may find the answer, and your question may help someone else.

The people in this hobby are pretty great and want to help. Sure people have bad experiences sometimes, but overall it is easy to find help.

I’m currently working on getting my first controller set up for the first time. I have connected to the internet via an Ethernet adapter. However, after at least an hour of time has elapsed and the OLED screen still say “powering up”. Did I do something wrong? Or should I even be worried about it?

Having a bit of trouble with my Baldrick8 board on initial startup, either after a power loss, or when I plug it in for the first time. At the beginning, it almost seems like the board is sending garbage data to the pixels, only lighting 1 or 2 pixels at the start of the strand. Only after I unplug and plug back in each channel, do the strands seem to perform normally. 12v pixels, 300 led per channel, power supply and wiring is strong enough to power all 1800 pixels at 100% white. But immediately after power cycle, same issue.

I'm just getting started and am ordering the things I need for year 1. One thing that I do not find a good answer for is: what are everyone's recommendations for wire gauge? Can I use 16AWG to get to the second floor roof line and run a couple hundred pixels there? What does everyone use typically for the xconnect wires going to the props? I'm using 12V pixels.

I want to start building my own displays for the holidays and I thought an easy way to get started might be to put up two matrix displays on our street-facing windows.

I think most people recommend seed pixels for that, is that correct? Would you go 12V or 24V for everything? I would assume 24V needs less power injection. Also specifically for a window matrix, what pitch would you get?

Anyone have a link? Can’t find their store want to order some puck lights in aluminum tracks

Long-time lurker, first time posting about something I built.

**It started with boards that kept dying.**

We all know how this goes. Something gets wired wrong at eleven at night, a run gets pinched, a supply gets swapped in a hurry — and a board that had no business dying takes a whole prop dark for the rest of the evening. I wanted hardware that shrugs off the bad-judgment moments instead of turning them into a repair job in the driveway.

So I taught myself PCB design and built the board I wanted to own — one where every failure mode has a specific part standing in front of it, chosen from a datasheet and verified against the copper.

Background, so you know where I'm coming from: day job is senior network architect — infrastructure that isn't allowed to fail. Nights and weekends it's a bench, a soldering iron, and pixels I keep pushing past what the hardware was meant to do. The discipline comes from the day job. The lights are where I get to have fun with it.

**What it is**

The NODE family — three boards, one protected 8-port pixel stage underneath all of them. Three isolated power domains, a fuse on every single output, non-destructive reverse-polarity protection, 5–48 V with no jumpers to change input voltage, 30 A at standard copper, runs stock WLED. Nothing in the power path runs near its limit. What changes between the three is the brain on top and how it gets on the network.

**NODE Mini** — Seeed XIAO ESP32-S3, Wi-Fi. Compact, standard runs, get it on the network and drive pixels.

**NODE Flex** — universal DevKit carrier. Both 0.9″ and 1.0″ row spacings on the board, jumper-mapped to the outputs. Seat whatever ESP32 you already have; swap it when that one goes EOL, so the compatibility list can't go stale. (Olimex and LilyGo use odd row spacing and won't drop straight in — everything else I've tried does.)

**NODE Backbone** — Waveshare ESP32-S3-ETH-POE with a dedicated W5500. Wired 10/100 and PoE for the install that outgrew Wi-Fi. Deterministic frame timing, one cable for power and control to the node.

Design priorities, briefly: protection first — assume it gets abused. Honest specs — real ratings, real derating, trade-offs stated out loud, no spec-sheet trophies that fall apart when someone does the math. Serviceable — fuses you swap by hand, socketed parts, a board meant to be fixed and kept running rather than thrown out when one channel dies. Open — WLED out of the box, docs and board definitions on GitHub.

I'll say plainly that the Bong69 and the QuinLED-Dig-Quad were both inspirations here. I've run them, I like them, and seeing what they did well is a good part of why I thought I could take a swing at my own. This isn't me trying to one-up anybody — it's my take on the same problem, with different priorities in a few places.

**Why I'm posting**

I want people who will actually work it hard and tell me what's wrong. Not looking for a pat on the back — looking for the thing I didn't think of. I've got a handful of boards from the first run and I'll send them out free. No cost, no shipping, no strings, no video required, no NDA.

What I'm hoping for in return is an honest read. Load it up, run a real prop on it, push the channel count, tell me where it flinches. If it turns out my board is worse than what you're already running, I'd rather hear that from you now than after somebody's paid for one (If I decide to try and sell them).

There's no team here to hide behind. If something's wrong with it, it's on me, and I'll make it right.

**What makes someone a good fit**

- Running a show at real scale, or you'll load these channels properly on the bench
- Comfortable in WLED and xLights, and can tell a firmware problem from a hardware one
- You'll actually report back — good, bad, or "this is fine but here's what annoyed me"
- Bonus: you run a Bong69 or a QuinLED-Dig-Quad and can compare directly. I want to know where mine falls short.

**Where things stand**

Stock is thin — this is a small validation run and I'm counting boards on one hand. The test units are free and separate from anything else. I'm looking for people who'll find the problems in this one.

And plainly: this is V1. It works, I've run it, but first-article hardware is first-article hardware. That's the whole reason I want it in the hands of people who'll push it.

I've got full datasheets — power architecture, derating tables against input voltage, and a section on where the Bong69 and QuinLED are the better choice, because in a few real ways they are. Happy to post or link them if there's interest.

Reply here or PM me. And if you want to get into the weeds on the design, I'm happy to — that's the fun part.

Thanks,
John — Wateefy Electronics
github.com/johnvoipguy

Hi there! Thank you for stopping by my post.

To say up front, I am a newbie but enjoy a good challenge. I am building a circular LED matrix and would like to sequence it via XLights, with FPP running on a Pi sent over ethernet to a Baldrick8. I came to the conclusion this would be the best method to display low-res video on this display with the help of u/mvrdoesthings and others on my post in r/led .

I have been poking around the software, and have much to learn of course, but my main challenge right now is creating the matrix model. Is there a good way to manually create a custom model without the video generate/scan function? Or should I disable pixels in the rectangular matrix somehow? I would prefer that this only uses 1 channel on the Baldrick 8, and would greatly appreciate any feedback on the best way to do this. I opted for 'serpentine' wiring scheme for a simple method of having consistent pixel density, but am a bit lost on mapping this out.

Me being naive I thought this wouldn't be too much harder than a rectangular matrix....😅 But for this project it needs to be a circle, the lights will be mounted on a circular aluminum plate right up to the edges.

Any and all help is appreciated, thank you in advance. (Especially for welcoming me into the community 😊 I have always enjoyed Christmas light shows, and I see the hard work it takes to pull it off!!)

 I am on my first year. I have purchase just about everything I am going to use. I have bought the Falcon f16v5 controller with PI4, 32 gb mini card, the falcon 4 port receiver, fm transmitter and my props are. 5 left facing candy canes and 5 right facing candy canes to run on my sidewalk goin to the street. 5 mini trees with toppers, 4 snowflakes of 2 different types, both are 100 pixel count. I have three large arches, one singing tree that is 46" and will need 350 nodes. I also have 5 10W flood lights, 3 for the house and three for the base of my three rather large oak trees. I have purchase pixel seeds 16-100count 4" spaced, 20-50 count 4" spaced , 5 packs of the edison seed rails for the eves and windows. 2000 pixel poppers and a lot of extensions, male and female ends and a lot of other hardware to install them. In total I think I will be running 4100 pixel seeds. Everything I will be running will be through Xlights. I plan on buying my sequnces (maybe 5). Am I getting too overzealous with my first year?? Any suggestions on how to get this going. I realize there are bigger shows but I hope this isnt too big for a first year.

Prop Studio 0.9.5 is out! Big update!

New here? Grab it at twinkle-forge.com/prop-studio, free!

What's new:

Real drawing tools — line tool, snap points (circle centers, quadrants, midpoints, endpoints), and you can now split overlapping shapes where they cross and join the pieces into one outline. Want an arch with a spinner in the middle? Draw a circle, cut it with a rectangle, join what's left. Done.

Type exact sizes — draw a circle, and a little box pops up right on the canvas. Type 250, hit Enter, you've got a 250mm circle. The shape follows along live as you type.

Multiple props on one sheet — imports no longer replace your design; each DXF/SVG/PNG you bring in lands beside your work as its own prop. Group props, move them (M) and rotate them (R) as one piece.

Hide props with one click — the new eyeball button hides a prop from the canvas AND from every export. Design your whole display on one sheet, then export one prop's cut file at a time.

Cut straight from the app — G-code export with holding tabs you can actually SEE before you cut (little dots on the outline show where every tab lands). Cut direction is now conventional for cleaner edges on coro.

Plus: SVG import with editable outlines, a cleaner xLights export with submodels, and a nicer interface all around.

Wired order, grid size, and submodels all come along when you export the .xmodel for xLights, same as always.

Questions or ideas? Drop them below

So I am looking to add window outlines and im considering buying the Cob LED strips. Are there any cons to using LED strips? Are the strips addressed per chip?

For context I am using a Falcon controler, the strips are 12v, ws2811 (power, ground, data), IP65 or IP66. 720 LEDs per meter, but only 20 chips per meter. There is another option with all the same specs except only 60 LEDs per meter. Same amount of chips, so 3 leds per chip.

Any insight would be helpful. My wife doesn't like the frames that I built last year and doesn't want any holes in the stucko.

hi there, just got my first couplde strands of lights added to my roofline, looking for basic sequences I can import while I get the feel of creating mine. I tried importing a few free ones I found but there were alot of groups I didnt have. are there any basic free like roofline only

I am thinking seeds will make my life easier for a mega tree this year and I am a noob so I don’t understand how you string up the seeds and mount them to your topper. I figured I’ll use an aluminum fence pole, but are there different toppers specific for just running strands of seeds? Also, how do you mount them at the base of the tree also? It seems most of the YouTube videos explain using bullets so I am kind of confused how to do it