Page 1 of DIY Xmas tree lights

As Snaps was curious... and someone being curious is enough for me to not stop talking about something. :)

I'll skip all the things related to having this all run safely outside, and just keep to the absolute basics of what you need.

• Raspberry Pi 2 or better with a usb wifi stick
• WS2811 based RGB string (like these on ebay)
• (optional) Arduino + ethernet shield
  • (you should be able to drive the strings directly from the PI's GPIO, I never tried but from googling people do it)
• A button
• A set of powered speakers (I used very old Labtec PC speakers I had in the loft)
• A PSU to drive the LEDs (5v 1.2A absolute minimum, per string!)
• A PSU for the Pi
• (optional) A PSU for the Arduino
• Some basic soldering skills

After all of that, you just need some software:

• xLights available at http://xlights.org/ for creating the sequences
• FPP available at https://falconchristmas.com/forum/index.php/topic,4649.0.html

With all of that you can custom sequence everything from idle lights, through to full music accompanied shows, and schedule things for times or trigger them through a button.

This stuff can eat large amounts of time so planning now for next xmas to make sure you have solved all the technical issues way before would be smart. ;)

So the bare minimum you'd need to just try this out would be one string of lights, a Raspberry Pi, and some way to power them both.


Editor
MYREVIEWER.COM

My Flickr Photostream

This item was edited on Monday, 24th December 2018, 09:57

This sounds do able lol

DIY POUNDLAND....'cheap and nasty'

TIP: Just hang from tree, and do not remove from packaging as they will be like new for next year, and no need for batteries