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Permanent holiday lights that can be used all year!
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- čas přidán 1. 08. 2024
- I’m sure most of us don't necessarily aspire to be that house with a million holiday lights that are synchronized to music. But every time I see a house like that, I can't help but catch the holiday light bug and want to do more to bring joy to my family and the people around me. Instead of paying thousands of dollars for permanent holiday lights, I'll show you a DIY version that only costs a couple hundred dollars.
Visit bit.ly/DigiKeyByteSized for the best selection of electronic components.
See full digi-key blog post: www.digikey.com/en/maker/blog...
Here are some great resources that go way more into the details:
kno.wled.ge/
• Beginner's Guide to Ch...
• Year Round Holiday LED...
Chapters:
00:00 - Catching the holiday light bug
00:49 - Project requirements
02:16 - How to attach LED strings to a house
05:17 - Controlling the LED strings
07:57 - Voltage drop and power injection
10:18 - Installing PVC pipes on the house
11:42 - Setting up a power supply
14:33 - First test and demo
15:39 - Go watch my stranger things message wall video
New videos are uploaded as soon as I finish them!
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Just a tip from a plumber here. Not sure how long your gonna use this solution but over a couple of years if you don't paint that pipe it will become yellowed and brittle
Yeah first thing I thought was after this much detail why not prime the pipe too. Hell. One better match the house 🤷🏻♂️
Not to mention the snap-in mounts.
The Texas SUN will eat them for LUNCH.
build a jig. put a 1/2" rod mounted vertically. then as you drill the hole move it down. the jig need to sit the specific distance you need.
Plus one to a jig! Makes drilling so much easier.
As a technical writer, I just love how clear and thorough this video is. Bravo!
Create a small jig. Attach some round plug the size of the hole on the jig, clamp the jig to your drill press stand 2.4 inches away. Add another round plug or use a fence to keep the PVC pipe centered.
That's a great idea. I tried something similar the last time I did this on my house. It worked alright, but I wasn't very careful
The 2.4" thing I'd probably sketch it out in CAD software, generate a technical drawing, use a thermal printer to print out the drill guides, then use that to drill pilot holes.
Every "permanent holiday lighting" supplier and video I've seen leans into how "cool" you can get with the displays: rainbows, chasing stripes, etc. Other than solid color, I haven't seen anything that mimics a traditional holiday light installation. It turns out, I'm oldfashioned and really just want a slow, gentle twinkle. Is that possible with your installation? I'd love to see a video of all the effects you've been able to use. I'm just an extremely lazy person who wants maximum use from any installation effort.
All you have to do is write the color sequence you want to use. WLED is open source so you just open the files and add the animations you created.
Another way of getting the spacing correct would be to pick a spacing that was easy to repeat that is shorter than the maximum spacing and the cut the pipe a little bit shorter so the spacing to the next one works out right.
You should add connections to each run to make it more aesthetically pleasing. Even though you’re wired, you can slot the back open if you can’t easily disconnect them. I suspect the odd angles aren’t 45 degrees, but you can design and 3D print a solution for that. And you will probably have to add more installation clips as it sags from outside heat in the future.
I had planned on doing just that. Great suggestion
I appreciate the detail you provided. Nice job.
Awesome DIY Lights !!! Good Job !!!
Make a jig with a peg the size of the hole, space it the correct distance from the center of the drill.
Drill the first hole and just put that hole over the peg and drill hole 2, then move hole 2 to the peg and drill hole 3 and so on.
That's how i would do it, since i dont have a CNC machine.
I believe i would have to put the LED wire inside the pipe also ... Since the pipe has to be there it would hide the wires & weather wouldn't get to them ... Besides it would allow drilling 1 hole for every LED & save some time and just keep things more weather proof. 😁
That sounds like a good plan but how would you feed the lights into the pipe and get them to stick out? You might be able to do the first few but after that you won't be able to get into the pipe.
I love this! I think I might buy brown j channel aluminum trim and self tap to the underside of my eaves and then fave the LED out! Love the video and detail. Ignore the haters. :)
Awesome job bro .
Im an RGB bug myself, mostly rgb set ups for PCs, though i do know its possible to put up regular christmas lights and leave them up permanently and you can turn them on all year long if you wanted
how to mark the holes...
start with a normal 90 degree angle stock or bracket, lay you PVC onto it then score a mark down the side of the pipe. you now have a straight line down the length of the pipe that doesn't wrap around the pipe at all. then take a cheap set of calipers, which are very easy to set to exactly 2.40 inches and use the calipers to score a small line perpendicular to the first line. this will be your first drill point. then continue to mark off lines perpendicular to the first line exactly 2.40" from the last mark until you get to the end. do it carefully and you quickly mark all of the drill points and even with tolerance stacking, any variations will be a fraction of a millimeter and will not be visually noticeable even if looking right at it.
But now you have pvc on your house. That will break down from the sun after a few years. Cool video. Makes me want to try something similar.
Awesome shirt!
How did you handle the wiretap for the power injection? I've seen lots of solutions, but am curious what yours was. Did you Tee off the main run back to the power supply and then continue down to the next one? Or did you run multiple power injection lines to each 10 foot section?
Most of the people I know won't want to watch all the detailed parts, that's the part I like most. Maybe you could put together a short Video on just the Highlights and direct them to this Video for full installation.
This way I can share it and they'll watch the whole thing.
You know, I had the same thought with my last video on PCB art. I made a short version that was easy to watch and a long version that went into detail. Both videos flopped. I think I confused people by releasing 2 videos.
@@bytesizedengineering Another strategy is to have 2 CZcams channels. For example, @TechnologyConnections has @TechnologyConnextras. It's a little extra work but not too bad after the initial setup.
😮 thats my face while watching. Not having an engineering background, you seem like a genius to me. Really cool build!
You don't need an engineering background to do this. It's super simple
I am an engineer (civil - totally useless when it comes to anything electrical) and I too am super impressed by what you've done and really appreciate that you took the time to explain the process! Not sure I'll take this on myself, but I love that you've shared the process so that others can too. Thanks!@@bytesizedengineering
To measure 2.4 inches.
2.4 equates to 10 leds for every 24 inches or 5 leds per foot. So mark accurately 1 foot intervals on the pipe. Make a simple 1 foot ruler from card that has 5 divisions per foot, it is easier to use mm (61mm is 1 fifth of a foot), then mark each foot long secton on the pipe with the 5 divisions.
It pays to think decimal !
As a metric user, I never understood imperial lol... You do count in one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. But you measure in inch, quarter of an inch, 3/8th of an inch, 1/16th of an inch and what not... 😅
You can get an even distribution of holes without a machine. Cut a string the length of the pipe. Stretch it out and fold it in half and make your mark. There's your first hole. Keep folding in half and marking until you have all your desired holes.
Since most people don't have access to a CNC, buying pre-made LED channels like Permatrack are a much more reasonable and durable option. Cheap PVC isn't UV rated. Anyone using PVC in sunny climates will likely be replacing this "cheap" mounting solution once the UV rays have their way with the pipes.
make a jig that has a cone that is 2.4 ins from the bit center. the cone will center on the previous hole you drilled
8 min in welcome to America! Ty
Problem with our weather is moisture. The only thing that survives here is Philips Hue or some special outdoor leds which are almost airtight in think rubber. My Christmas decoration is already 50% broken from this year, completely rusted.
We had installed lights, done by a company that was their business, hooked up with them at the huge home show. Couple years, cool. Went to sell my house, home inspector said no, mortgage company wouldn't loan to buyer, made me take them down, and since i didn't put them up it was hell on a 20ft ladder. Found out from home appraiser that the VA and FHA require them to ding house value if their are installed Christmas lights, nearly cost me $8000 plus the $2000 that cost me to have them installed. So nope, new house is all lawn lights.
I never thought of that. I’ve been here so long that never crossed my mind.
How would I do it? I would find the next value lower than 2.4 in I could reliably measure, multiply by 50, and then cut my 10 ft segments down by the difference. Problem solved for maybe an additional foot of pipe and with a fraction more lights per foot overall. Unless the perimeter of the roof is an exact integer multiple of 10 ft, this problem solves itself by rounding down from 2.4 in. Or, you could always use a surveyor's tape marked to inches instead of feet.
To mark the dimensions, you could use an elastic strip, mark an easy to use even interval (2" or 2 1/4" if it doesn't stretch that well) along that band and then stretch it to the correct dimension, mark up a strip of wood or pipe then use that as a template for the rest,.
Out of all the comments I've received on how to make that measurement, this has got to be the most clever!
Love this. I seem to remember this old house using a similar method to perfectly mark out balusters for a deck rail. You are top level clever friend!
Here is an easy way to get the spacing for a definite number of holes per length of pipe and there is little if any cost involved. Cut your pipe to the exact required length for your location. Get a roll of light colored vinyl tape such as used by contractors to mark work areas. It's generally about 1.5 inches wide and pretty thin. Pick a close dimension to what you need for the right number of bulbs on your pipe. For instance: If you need to space them at 2.32 inches, pick a spacing of 2.25 inches (it needs to be less than the required spacing) and make the appropriate number of spaced markings on the blank side of that contractor area marking tape. Leave a good 6 inches or so of extra tape at each end when you cut it off the roll. Then lay your pipe on the floor of your garage. Lay your marked tape right next to it and tape one end securely to the floor. Then stretch the other end until it is the right length for the pipe and then mark it to match the tape. I did this last year and it worked like a champ.
Do you have a diagram of how you wired the power supply w/ the d1 mini?
People reading just buy the GOVEE outdoor permanent lights. $125 for 100ft.
Great content and thinking outside the box, but unless you treat the PVC pipe with some sort of UV sealant or some sort of countertop, clear coat epoxy, PVC pipe is going to fall apart under normal conditions as it’s not meant for sitting outdoors or perhaps someone else can give advice about using schedule40 or 80 Gray conduit
Those look great! Does WLED have a schedule in it where they can turn on/off automatically?
Thanks, yes it has pretty advanced scheduling abilities
Let me ask, how many amps are you running on that 16 awg wire along, from the power supply at 5 volts for all your leds in series?
Im buy 12v led . What kind controller im used for the 12v led pls tell me which 1 is better ?
Can you do a warm white with these lights? Or something close to it?
I would make a form to cut the holes, so even if it’s a wrong length it will still be even
You could even make it with 5 or 10 spots to drill more with each move
I’m alll about diy, but in this case I really think it’s worth just saving up the money for the Govee permanent outdoor lights. They’re absurdly bright, and extremely well made. They look incredible.
Do they have an option that points out? Or just the pick lights that point down?
@@DIYLightLab down however I have seen people make brackets on Etsy that allow you to change the positioning of them
This is an awesome project! Can you point me in the direction of the place, or a direct link, to you sourced your LEDs and the project box for the power supply? Or am I not seeing the link? Edit: found them on Amazon
Yes, Amazon. This was a video sponsored by Digi-Key and they didn't want me to link to other sites. They have since relaxed that request a little.
I got the same lights and I'm trying my best to find the way to protect them from direct sunlight... I got mad when I saw you enable cheat mode with your CNC and drill!!
Also the JST connectors aren't water proof
What are the Specs and Part Number of the wired Strips you used?
If you use Home Assistant, then you can automate your lights too
Nice install, quite a bit of work. We have simplified the entire process with our plug and play solution
pretty sure you can rub off the writing from pvc with isopropyl alcohol
And I watched this video thinking it was gonna be easy lol
i wonder how i could do the same thing but with a metal roof.
Where can I find those light clips?
9:57 Do those self-soldering heat shrink doodads work well, like as far as making a solid solder joint? I’ve never tried them, but I’ve seen them criticized because the amount of heat needed to sufficiently melt the solder, enough for it to properly work its way into the wires, is higher than what a heat gun can provide without damaging the wire sheathing and/or the heat shrink. So, it basically gets just hot enough to melt the solder and coat the outside of the wire joint a little bit, but doesn’t really soak in at all.
I suppose if your heat gun didn't get hot enough it would be frustrating to use these. Also, if the insulated jacket around the wires was susceptible to heat, then the results wouldn't be good. I had pretty good connections when I used them. I could see the solder flow through all the wire.
if you are worried about the flow of the solder, then use a dab of flux on the wires before heating with the heat gun. I have never had a problem with this product. But it is supposed to be used on silicon and Kapton wire, not PVC covered.
@@bytesizedengineering Was looking for this comment, every ínstance you showed using them, it seemed like you did not heat it up to the point where the solder ring melted into the strands of wire.
Glad you actually did it this way, otherwise they will not make a good connection.
Only "wrong" thing is you are using a single point heatgun, if you want to do it "completely correct" you need a heatgun with a metal shield that "goes round" and forces the air to heat up the whole sleeve at once. The single point gun makes it hard to do it properly, where the solder melts correctly, without burning the plastic jacket.
Oh I am so doing this. What was that transparent heat shrink tube?
Solder seal heat shrink! I don't have a ton of experience with it, but it's pretty awesome! amzn.to/3EzI0ps
Are Govee pro ok decent quality ?
What about when those lights start to fail?
Nice! Quick question about the inline fuse. Does it go between the Power supply and converter? Or between the converter and ESP board?
Fuse goes right after the 5V power supply before any load
Why use a weather proof case when you then install an unrated plug?
Where did you buy these lights? Can you give a review of how they are doing? I want to get some of these but Amazon sends me junk to much to buy christmas lights from random people on Amazon. If you know of a good bulk supplier I would very much appreciate it.
4:06 That haunts me on so many projects. “It’s not a big deal- No one will even notice it” Well, if no one else notices, that’s great. But, I will notice it and every time I see it, I’m going to think about it and it’s going to bug me until I break down and redo it. So, I’m just going to take the extra two seconds to do it my way now instead of dealing with the countless seconds of anxiety it causes me in the future. Or, someone does notice it and it bugs then, so now my name is associated with shoddy workmanship because I didn’t take the extra two seconds to just make sure they’re all perfectly spaced/aligned/whatever…
Except if I spot something like this I'm gonna give you that knowing nod and Ou can give me that knowing nod and then we all good.
Lazy is good.
"OCD" you need to use a 12mm bit not half inch if you whant to do it right
thoughts on WLED vs home assistant and esphome?
I'm definitely not the authority on this topic. I do know that WLED integrates with home assistant for further automation
Awesome build. However im a bit concerned about the lack of ventilation in the power supply.
Yeah, there are cooling holes/slots all over the power supply for a reason. That heat needs to get out of the box. I'd have mounted the power supply in the garage with no box.
How does it look in completely darkness? Does It projects on the house itself?
Yes, it looks great
10:39 What are the clips called that were used to mount the PVC?
Pipe clip, isolation hanger, pex j hook, Watts SnapClip... Lots of different names for basically the same type of mount for almost any type of pipe, conduit, or tubing.
Why didn't you install behind the ledge board and have more of a defussed lighting.
Interesting approach, but those lights are really just trim lights. They dont cascade color onto the house. Also, thats a huge fringing power supply! It looks like a tackle box stuck to the side of the house. Isn't there anything smaller?
How many wemos d1 mini did you use, I want to run about 200 feet I know I'm going to need a power supply but can 1 wemos d1 run that many leds?
Click on the WLED website. They have guidelines on how many LED bulbs you should run with each microcontroller. I've successfully run 250 LEDs on one wemos d1 mini. It's a matter of running out of flash memory on the microcontroller. I used three microcontrollers for this installation
Where can I get the string lights??
Amazon
All these videos are great and most of them to compare with prof installation but all them miss out is the LEDs used by professional is different it is bigger and some even have dedicated white LED in each pod.
Just use govees permanent outdoor lights. Super easy!
You don’t paint vinyl or aluminum soffit plates any more
You can get 500 ft of 3/4” pex for $190. I wonder how well pex would work
I wouldnt want ugly exposed pvc on my house...looks great at night though!
Easy! use metric!
What he forgot to tell you is that his HOA told him to take it down
That's my concern, I would have to have it behind the eaves otherwise they gonna ding me! Lol
J Channel also works well for this
A lot of drilling, but a great inexpensive option. That’s what I’ve got on my house.
I 3d printed a jig. Goes pretty fast.
@@ametsman that’s awesome! My jig is not that cool 😂
😁👍
What do you mean most of us don't want to be that house with a million lights?
Ofcourse we do!
Govee solved this for us
For way more money and took the fun out of it.
Oh darn my CNC machine is in the shop. Pfft
you mean the one that have too much money
you may consider 'soldering' your wires as 'sordering' and 'sorder' does not exist
LED Christmas lights look terrible though, like a runway or like it should be advertising CBD vape pens...terrible, incandescent Christmas lights are far superior looking .
yeah no, Christmas is special, lights up any other time of the year is dopey. My neighbor has those and sections and other spots have gone out and it just looks like crap every night.
This video is only useful if you can't drill a hole. You spend a few seconds on how to flash the controller which is the most difficult part but ages on drilling holes any fool can do.
If you look in the description there are several links for the WLED documentation. It goes into great detail on how to do this. It's super super easy. There are also 10,000 videos on CZcams that detail how to flash WLED. If you watched this video, then the CZcams algorithm should do its job and show you all 10,000 of them in the coming days. I didn't cover it because it is already very well documented in many other places. I had nothing new to add
Low budget just get a 10000$ cnc machine. 😢
Omg, you have a cnc machine but didn't drill the 1/2 hole??? Did you ever think of grinding down the shank of the 1/2 drill bit to a dia that you do have a collet for. They also sell drills with reduced dia shanks. I have to stop watching now, I can't listen anymore.
Start working in Metric, like the rest of the world :)
Huh? 🤔 I've been using metric my whole life, I use it everyday! I have also used imperial units my whole life.
Remember, it's not a competition
I'm a full on metric guy, but when the parts in the store are all imperial, you kinda have to go imperial
The time people spent doing these types of projects typically out weights the cost. I mean you had a several grand CNC machine, time spent figuring things out and then the installation. This was not a couple hundred dollar installation. I hate these DIY project channels that never take into account the time. Time is the only currency you cannot get more of so you need to be careful how you spend it.
I mean just the tool, and shop setup here is more than paying someone to install permanent lighting let alone the time.
looks horrible.
Please link your lights...
(crickets)
used all year? that chinese garbage won't make it thru the holiday szn b4 breaking
Wow. You must not have any experience with these. How long did yours last? What empirical data can you provide on the longevity of these LEDs? If you just came here to crap on my work without any substantive contribution you may go elsewhere.
@@bytesizedengineeringthey work for Govee
I've had them up on my back porch for three years. Albeit the 12 volt version. Have them hooked to a Meanwell 12v 30 amp supply. They're programmed to come at a certain time, and to go off at a certain time. Nominally, they are on for an average of 5 hours each day. Still going as good as the day they were installed.