WEBVTT - TechStuff Talks Christmas Lights Shows 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:12.399 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there, 0:00:12.400 --> 0:00:15.800 and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. 0:00:15.840 --> 0:00:19.159 I'm an executive producer with iHeart Podcasts and how the 0:00:19.320 --> 0:00:23.840 tech are you. It's the holiday season, That's all I'm 0:00:23.840 --> 0:00:26.000 allowed to sing by law, But in my neck of 0:00:26.000 --> 0:00:28.680 the woods that means an awful lot of my neighbors 0:00:28.680 --> 0:00:32.959 have gone over the top with various holiday displays. Now 0:00:33.000 --> 0:00:37.240 predominantly the holiday celebrated in my neck of the woods 0:00:37.360 --> 0:00:41.080 is Christmas, And for simplicity's sake, I'll be talking a 0:00:41.120 --> 0:00:45.440 lot about Christmas lights in this episode. But keep in 0:00:45.440 --> 0:00:47.960 mind that, you know, obviously people do light shows for 0:00:48.120 --> 0:00:51.319 all sorts of different holidays, but just for simplicity's sake, 0:00:51.320 --> 0:00:53.519 I'm going to say Christmas lights because that's what the 0:00:53.520 --> 0:00:57.000 hobby is largely centered around. And today I really wanted 0:00:57.000 --> 0:01:00.880 to talk about how people who create those really spectacular 0:01:00.960 --> 0:01:04.680 light displays, the kind that often are coordinated with music, 0:01:04.880 --> 0:01:07.399 how they pull that off. And it takes an awful 0:01:07.440 --> 0:01:11.840 lot of technology. More than that, this technology evolves an 0:01:11.880 --> 0:01:16.560 incredible pace. The way that people can do this now 0:01:17.080 --> 0:01:21.080 is far more sophisticated than what was done even just 0:01:21.120 --> 0:01:24.160 a couple of years ago. So the other thing to 0:01:24.200 --> 0:01:26.200 keep in mind is if you're listening to this episode 0:01:26.520 --> 0:01:29.440 after twenty twenty four, there's going to be some dated 0:01:29.440 --> 0:01:31.880 stuff in here. That's kind of how tech works, and 0:01:31.920 --> 0:01:35.400 it's really sophisticated, both from a hardware and a software 0:01:35.440 --> 0:01:38.920 side of things. And yeah, we're going to really dive 0:01:39.000 --> 0:01:41.920 into this, but on a high level because, as it 0:01:41.959 --> 0:01:44.640 turns out, if you really really want to get into 0:01:44.640 --> 0:01:46.880 this stuff, it's going to take some time on your 0:01:46.920 --> 0:01:50.800 part to really get acquainted with all the nuances. If 0:01:50.880 --> 0:01:54.280 you want a glimpse at how advanced this tech is, 0:01:54.800 --> 0:01:58.120 you should look up Christmas lights shows on YouTube. Some 0:01:58.200 --> 0:02:01.240 of those displays are truly dropping, and of course some 0:02:01.280 --> 0:02:03.920 people do them for Halloween as well. There's a real 0:02:04.040 --> 0:02:08.600 bustling community of hobbyists on YouTube with tutorials and product 0:02:08.639 --> 0:02:11.399 reviews for people in the space. I'll be talking about 0:02:11.400 --> 0:02:14.440 a few different YouTube channels. For example, Listen to lights 0:02:14.600 --> 0:02:18.280 or how to Pixel. That's the number two, so how 0:02:18.360 --> 0:02:21.200 to Pixel. They can give you a lot of information 0:02:21.520 --> 0:02:24.600 on the technology, the hobby, how to get started and 0:02:24.639 --> 0:02:27.000 want to watch out for. But before we go any further, 0:02:27.120 --> 0:02:31.680 let's talk about old school Christmas lights because when I 0:02:31.760 --> 0:02:34.560 was a kid, the Christmas lights I had they could 0:02:34.840 --> 0:02:37.600 not do the things that we're seeing these displays do. 0:02:37.960 --> 0:02:41.560 So in ye olden days of electric Christmas lights, you 0:02:41.600 --> 0:02:45.760 would buy a string of lights that were wired in series. Now, 0:02:45.760 --> 0:02:48.399 when we talk about circuits, one way that you can 0:02:48.560 --> 0:02:52.079 classify simple circuits is by whether they're wired in series 0:02:52.440 --> 0:02:55.840 or in parallel. Here's a quick refresher course on that 0:02:55.960 --> 0:02:57.919 in case it's been a while since you've learned about 0:02:57.919 --> 0:03:01.320 this in science class. So let's start with a power source. 0:03:01.400 --> 0:03:05.239 The power source provides voltage. This is akin to pressure 0:03:05.440 --> 0:03:08.080 in the system that's using water or air. That's how 0:03:08.120 --> 0:03:11.600 much oomph is behind the current. So the higher the voltage, 0:03:11.760 --> 0:03:15.720 the greater the pressure behind the push of electricity. So 0:03:15.760 --> 0:03:18.960 a battery typically has you know, fairly low voltage, like 0:03:18.960 --> 0:03:21.440 a like a little portable battery. It's something you would 0:03:21.440 --> 0:03:24.399 put in one of your handheld devices. So those are 0:03:24.600 --> 0:03:27.120 usually around one and a half volts. The outlet in 0:03:27.160 --> 0:03:29.480 your typical house, at least here in the United States, 0:03:29.520 --> 0:03:32.440 provides around one hundred and twenty volts of pressure. Now 0:03:32.440 --> 0:03:34.560 I say in the United States because in other places 0:03:34.600 --> 0:03:37.800 like say the United Kingdom, it's different. The UK household 0:03:37.800 --> 0:03:40.920 outlet goes to two hundred and thirty volts. By the way, 0:03:41.080 --> 0:03:42.800 this is one of the reasons why it's important to 0:03:42.840 --> 0:03:45.640 use a converter when connecting to outlets in other countries, 0:03:45.760 --> 0:03:49.160 because you do not want to fry your gear anyway. 0:03:49.320 --> 0:03:53.440 This pressure is what pushes electricity through a circuit, which 0:03:53.480 --> 0:03:56.480 you can think of ultimately as a big old loop. 0:03:56.520 --> 0:03:58.960 That's what a circuit is. It's just a loop. The 0:03:59.040 --> 0:04:02.080 path goes from one terminal of your power supply and 0:04:02.160 --> 0:04:05.440 ultimately comes back to connect at a different terminal of 0:04:05.440 --> 0:04:09.360 that same power supply, and this makes a complete circuit. Now, 0:04:09.600 --> 0:04:13.520 if it were just a path, that wouldn't be very useful, right, 0:04:13.560 --> 0:04:15.840 if it was just a loop of wire, I mean 0:04:15.840 --> 0:04:17.839 it would be useful if you wanted to generate heat, 0:04:18.200 --> 0:04:20.159 because the circuit would start to get really hot and 0:04:20.200 --> 0:04:22.960 then eventually melt or catch fire. Then you would be 0:04:22.960 --> 0:04:26.400 pretty much set because the resistance of the pathway, the 0:04:26.480 --> 0:04:29.680 electrical resistance, would mean that some of that electrical energy 0:04:29.720 --> 0:04:34.239 would be transformed into heat, and then if left long enough, 0:04:34.320 --> 0:04:37.320 it'll heat up enough to really do some damage. Now, 0:04:37.360 --> 0:04:41.159 instead we connect other stuff to circuits, you know, like 0:04:41.240 --> 0:04:44.159 light bulbs, for example, and the electricity in the circuit 0:04:44.279 --> 0:04:48.440 powers the light bulb in your old fashioned incandescent light bulbs. 0:04:48.640 --> 0:04:51.320 The way this worked is that electricity would flow through 0:04:51.360 --> 0:04:55.120 a tiny little filament inside the bulb and heat that 0:04:55.160 --> 0:04:58.560 filament to a point where it would incandesce or light up. 0:04:58.920 --> 0:05:01.400 This filament would be connect to a pair of electrodes, 0:05:01.520 --> 0:05:04.920 and then the current could continue on the pathway and 0:05:04.960 --> 0:05:07.520 go to the next light bulb in the series. We 0:05:07.560 --> 0:05:11.039 call these elements the load on the circuit, and the 0:05:11.080 --> 0:05:14.000 load can't exceed what the voltage is capable of doing, 0:05:14.080 --> 0:05:16.440 or else things won't work out so well. It's kind 0:05:16.440 --> 0:05:19.440 of like you can push, say a heavy cart, up 0:05:19.480 --> 0:05:22.360 an incline. You can push it pretty well until it 0:05:22.400 --> 0:05:24.800 reaches a certain weight, and then your strength just isn't 0:05:24.920 --> 0:05:28.680 enough to push it up the incline. Same thing with voltage. 0:05:29.120 --> 0:05:31.120 If you add too much of a load on your 0:05:31.120 --> 0:05:34.520 circuit and the voltage can't get the job done, then 0:05:34.839 --> 0:05:37.400 you don't get a really good result. If you've ever 0:05:37.520 --> 0:05:40.279 used a battery powered device while the batteries were running 0:05:40.279 --> 0:05:42.240 out of juice, you kind of experienced this. You know, 0:05:42.320 --> 0:05:45.360 flashlights get dimmer before going out, and electric shavers start 0:05:45.400 --> 0:05:47.400 to lose their buzz. You get the picture. But as 0:05:47.480 --> 0:05:50.359 long as the load on a circuit is compatible with 0:05:50.440 --> 0:05:54.240 the voltage supplied, you're in business. So let's talk about 0:05:54.240 --> 0:05:58.200 series versus parallel. In a series circuit, each load follows 0:05:58.240 --> 0:06:01.000 the one before it. It's more like a direct line 0:06:01.080 --> 0:06:03.680 from the power supply to load one, and then from 0:06:03.720 --> 0:06:05.960 load one to load two, and so on until you 0:06:06.000 --> 0:06:08.120 get to the end where the path reconnects with the 0:06:08.120 --> 0:06:10.799 other tumble all the power supply. That means that power 0:06:10.880 --> 0:06:14.120 could come through the wire to light bulb number one, 0:06:14.520 --> 0:06:16.640 then continue to light bulb number two, and so on 0:06:16.680 --> 0:06:18.040 and so forth until you get to the end of 0:06:18.080 --> 0:06:20.760 the string, and you might plug a second string into 0:06:20.760 --> 0:06:23.479 the first, which continues the circuit. This is a pretty 0:06:23.480 --> 0:06:26.840 straightforward and simple approach, but there is one major problem. 0:06:26.920 --> 0:06:31.200 If a single light bulb burns out somewhere along that string, 0:06:31.640 --> 0:06:34.440 it breaks the whole circuit and everything goes dark. It's 0:06:34.440 --> 0:06:36.760 like if you turn the switch to off instead of on, 0:06:37.320 --> 0:06:40.560 the filament in that burnt out bulb breaks apart. Essentially, 0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:43.400 it burns through and that means the electricity no longer 0:06:43.440 --> 0:06:45.679 has a path it can follow. It's what we would 0:06:45.680 --> 0:06:48.720 call an open circuit. You have to find the burnt 0:06:48.720 --> 0:06:51.680 out bulb and replace it in order to repair the 0:06:51.720 --> 0:06:54.159 circuit and get things working again. It could be a 0:06:54.160 --> 0:06:56.200 real hassle. Same thing could come true if a light 0:06:56.240 --> 0:06:58.880 bulb becomes loose in its socket and it doesn't have 0:06:58.920 --> 0:07:01.720 a good connection. Same issue. At least in that case, 0:07:01.720 --> 0:07:03.279 you're not having to replace the bulb. You just have 0:07:03.320 --> 0:07:07.160 to figure out which one's lucy goosey in its socket. 0:07:07.600 --> 0:07:11.920 This is also why the Netflix series Stranger Things presented 0:07:11.920 --> 0:07:15.520 a real challenge to electricians like John Hilton, who worked 0:07:15.560 --> 0:07:18.000 on the series. Hilton appeared on an episode of Tech 0:07:18.040 --> 0:07:20.000 Stuff in the Past It's a great episode and we 0:07:20.120 --> 0:07:24.480 talked about this challenge. So Hilton and Jess Royal from 0:07:24.560 --> 0:07:26.880 the series talked about what it was like working on 0:07:27.000 --> 0:07:30.400 there from behind the scenes, and Hilton explained that the 0:07:30.480 --> 0:07:34.480 story required fine tune manipulation of a string of Christmas lights. 0:07:34.720 --> 0:07:37.400 So a character caught in the upside down would use 0:07:37.480 --> 0:07:40.440 Christmas lights to communicate with his mother by lighting up 0:07:40.560 --> 0:07:43.640 very specific bulbs on a string. But, as Hilton explained, 0:07:43.840 --> 0:07:46.520 that's kind of the opposite of how these old Christmas 0:07:46.640 --> 0:07:49.560 lights worked. You know, you can't just turn off or 0:07:49.600 --> 0:07:53.400 on a single bulb. They're either all on or they're 0:07:53.480 --> 0:07:56.880 all off. So to achieve the effect in the series, 0:07:57.200 --> 0:08:00.880 Hilton had to actually individually wire each bulb in a 0:08:00.920 --> 0:08:04.000 string to an electric board so they look like they 0:08:04.000 --> 0:08:06.800 were wired together, but they weren't. They were each wired separately, 0:08:07.160 --> 0:08:09.880 and from that electric board he could manipulate the bulbs 0:08:10.080 --> 0:08:12.800 individually by turning off or on the power to that 0:08:12.920 --> 0:08:15.760 specific bulb. However, he also had to make it look 0:08:15.920 --> 0:08:18.760 like it was a normal string of nineteen eighties era 0:08:18.920 --> 0:08:21.200 Christmas lights, which meant he had to find ways to 0:08:21.360 --> 0:08:25.480 hide all those individual wires running from each bulb to 0:08:25.600 --> 0:08:28.680 his control board, which is not an easy task, especially 0:08:28.760 --> 0:08:31.280 even if you're sitting there and only wiring up the 0:08:31.360 --> 0:08:34.720 lights that are going to be used to communicate. Like 0:08:34.760 --> 0:08:37.120 you figure out, oh they never use the letter K 0:08:37.600 --> 0:08:40.679 or Q or whatever, it's still a whole bunch of 0:08:40.679 --> 0:08:44.160 wires to deal with. Now, I did mention that you 0:08:44.160 --> 0:08:47.280 could also wire circuits in parallel. Now, I imagine in 0:08:47.320 --> 0:08:50.439 this case that rather than having each bulb connected in 0:08:50.480 --> 0:08:53.439 a straight line on that circuit. You have a pair 0:08:53.480 --> 0:08:56.840 of wires connected to each bulb that then you know, 0:08:56.920 --> 0:08:59.480 branches off from the main circuit path. So instead of 0:08:59.520 --> 0:09:01.959 a string which is just one bulb after the other, 0:09:02.080 --> 0:09:03.680 it's more like a string in which there's kind of 0:09:03.679 --> 0:09:06.719 a turnoff for bulb number one, but if you just 0:09:06.800 --> 0:09:08.800 keep going down the string, you'll come to the turnoff 0:09:08.800 --> 0:09:11.400 for bulb number two and so on. These bulbs are 0:09:11.800 --> 0:09:14.360 in a way, they're isolated from one another. And a 0:09:14.360 --> 0:09:16.680 big benefit to this approach is that if a single 0:09:16.720 --> 0:09:19.600 bulb burns out, the path is unbroken for the rest 0:09:19.600 --> 0:09:22.400 of the string, so your entire string doesn't go dark. 0:09:22.679 --> 0:09:24.920 You would still have one dark bulb, but you would 0:09:24.960 --> 0:09:27.240 have to replace that, but everything else would still be 0:09:27.640 --> 0:09:30.280 lit up. Now, some Christmas lights are wired in what's 0:09:30.320 --> 0:09:33.640 called series parallel, all right, So this means you have 0:09:33.800 --> 0:09:39.040 multiple strings of lights wired in series, but collectively, each 0:09:39.400 --> 0:09:42.080 individual string of lights are in parallel with one another. 0:09:42.120 --> 0:09:46.040 So let's say there's like four parallel strings of lights 0:09:46.280 --> 0:09:48.880 and one of those strings goes out, the other three 0:09:48.920 --> 0:09:51.640 would remain lit up, so you would have a section 0:09:51.800 --> 0:09:54.400 go dark, but the rest of your lights would still 0:09:54.440 --> 0:09:58.600 be lit up and that's series parallel. It's part and 0:09:58.679 --> 0:10:03.679 part right within a series string. Any light going out 0:10:03.760 --> 0:10:05.840 makes the rest of that string go out, but the 0:10:05.880 --> 0:10:08.480 rest of the parallel strings remain lit up. You know. 0:10:08.520 --> 0:10:10.280 That's how it used to be, right that if a 0:10:10.480 --> 0:10:14.480 light goes out, then you're kind of up the creek. 0:10:14.800 --> 0:10:18.280 More recently, Christmas lights have included an element called a shunt, 0:10:18.760 --> 0:10:21.400 which helps. So this is something that creates a path 0:10:21.440 --> 0:10:24.880 of lower resistance in an electric circuit, and electricity will 0:10:25.000 --> 0:10:28.000 follow the path of least resistance. Electricity is a lot 0:10:28.040 --> 0:10:30.400 like me. If there's a task that requires effort, I'm 0:10:30.480 --> 0:10:32.079 likely to seek out the way in which I can 0:10:32.200 --> 0:10:35.080 expend the least amount of energy to complete that task, 0:10:35.360 --> 0:10:37.000 even if that means I don't do as good a 0:10:37.120 --> 0:10:39.800 job in the process. If my bosses are listening, I 0:10:39.880 --> 0:10:43.319 was only kidding. So the shunts in Christmas lights are 0:10:43.440 --> 0:10:47.600 wires connected to the electrodes. So remember I mentioned that 0:10:47.640 --> 0:10:51.480 a filament connects two electrodes together, and then electricity, you know, 0:10:51.600 --> 0:10:54.920 flows through the filament and heats it up and incandesces 0:10:54.960 --> 0:10:57.080 and that's where you get your light and your old 0:10:57.080 --> 0:11:01.080 incandescent lights. Eventually, the filament will burn out. It just 0:11:01.520 --> 0:11:04.520 it burns through and breaks, and then you don't have 0:11:04.559 --> 0:11:08.199 a path anymore. Well, the shunt acts as a secondary 0:11:08.200 --> 0:11:11.440 connection between those two electrons, but it has a higher 0:11:11.480 --> 0:11:16.640 resistance than the filament. So normally electricity will flow through 0:11:16.640 --> 0:11:19.240 the filament because again it follows the path of least resistance. 0:11:19.280 --> 0:11:21.760 But if the filament breaks, now it'll flow through the 0:11:21.800 --> 0:11:24.480 shunt because even though it had a higher electrical resistance, 0:11:24.640 --> 0:11:27.880 it still represents a viable path. And if there is 0:11:27.960 --> 0:11:31.440 a viable path, electricity will take it. And so the 0:11:31.480 --> 0:11:35.040 show goes on. Since I'm talking about shunts, I should 0:11:35.080 --> 0:11:38.000 also take a moment to talk about fuses. So a 0:11:38.080 --> 0:11:40.680 fuse is a safety measure. The fuse is there to 0:11:40.679 --> 0:11:43.360 make sure that if something really unexpected happens, like let's 0:11:43.400 --> 0:11:47.760 say there's a surge in electricity, the voltage suddenly changes 0:11:47.880 --> 0:11:51.360 very dramatically, you don't want that to cause more problems. 0:11:51.400 --> 0:11:54.160 You don't want that to create like a fire hazard, 0:11:54.200 --> 0:11:58.440 for example. So the fuse allows electricity to flow through 0:11:58.559 --> 0:12:02.760 under normal conditions, but if it's under a more extreme circumstance, 0:12:03.080 --> 0:12:05.600 the fuze will break, kind of like the filament does 0:12:05.760 --> 0:12:08.280 once it burns out. But the fuse is designed to 0:12:08.280 --> 0:12:12.280 break on purpose once voltage exceeds a certain level, so 0:12:12.320 --> 0:12:14.800 it's like a limit on how much it can allow through, 0:12:14.880 --> 0:12:18.120 and if the incoming voltage exceeds that, the fuse trips, 0:12:18.360 --> 0:12:20.560 so you don't end up with a real catastrophe on 0:12:20.600 --> 0:12:23.160 your hands. It's just an open circuit so the electricity 0:12:23.200 --> 0:12:26.760 doesn't flow through. In Christmas lights, you can typically find 0:12:26.800 --> 0:12:30.320 fuses near the plug where it plugs into either the 0:12:30.320 --> 0:12:33.160 wall or another string of Christmas lights. In some of 0:12:33.200 --> 0:12:35.360 these lights, you can actually replace the fuse if it 0:12:35.360 --> 0:12:38.240 does burn out. I have never done this personally, so 0:12:38.280 --> 0:12:40.600 I have no clue as to how challenging or easy 0:12:40.640 --> 0:12:43.320 it is to do this, though these days with my eyesight, 0:12:43.360 --> 0:12:45.720 I imagine it'd be devilishly tricky if I don't have 0:12:45.720 --> 0:12:48.760 my peepers on. One other thing that I should mention 0:12:49.320 --> 0:12:53.040 is the transition from incandescent bulbs to LED bulbs. So 0:12:53.360 --> 0:12:55.719 incandescent bulbs that was what we had when I was 0:12:55.760 --> 0:12:59.520 a kid, those big Christmas lights. We even had bubblers 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:02.840 disslights that would include liquid in a little vial that 0:13:02.880 --> 0:13:05.679 would bubble as the light would heat the liquid up. 0:13:05.679 --> 0:13:07.720 It was really neat or I thought it was really neat. 0:13:07.920 --> 0:13:09.720 But in stranger things. You know, the crew were working 0:13:09.720 --> 0:13:12.080 with these old incandescent bulbs because again that's what we 0:13:12.120 --> 0:13:14.760 had in the nineteen eighties. But these days Christmas lights 0:13:14.800 --> 0:13:18.880 tend to be LEDs, light emitting diodes. Now that's great 0:13:19.000 --> 0:13:22.440 for lots of different reasons. One is that LEDs need 0:13:22.679 --> 0:13:26.360 way less energy to generate light, something like seventy percent 0:13:26.520 --> 0:13:30.080 less than incandescent strings, which is both good for the environment. 0:13:30.160 --> 0:13:32.480 It's also good for your wallet because you won't be 0:13:32.600 --> 0:13:35.160 footing a massive electricity bill just to keep your house 0:13:35.200 --> 0:13:39.000 all holly jolly. Also, LED bulbs last a whole lot 0:13:39.080 --> 0:13:43.240 longer than incandescent bulbs do. And you can even create 0:13:43.360 --> 0:13:46.400 strings of LED lights in which each LED can be 0:13:46.480 --> 0:13:50.640 turned on or off individually. That's advanced level stuff that 0:13:50.640 --> 0:13:53.199 we're going to talk about. Now. Your typical LED string 0:13:53.240 --> 0:13:55.800 of lights you can't do that. They're not designed to 0:13:55.840 --> 0:13:57.840 do that. They just plug into your wall, they all 0:13:57.880 --> 0:14:00.840 come on. They might have a simple controller on them 0:14:00.920 --> 0:14:03.960 that allows them to do things like dim and brighten 0:14:04.240 --> 0:14:09.080 or twinkle or flash those kinds of things. That's basic 0:14:09.160 --> 0:14:16.320 level stuff. Serious hobbyists get into the individually controllable LED bulbs, 0:14:16.840 --> 0:14:20.560 where each LED bulb has its own microchip, which in 0:14:20.560 --> 0:14:23.160 turn has to be wired to a controller. When we 0:14:23.200 --> 0:14:25.760 talk about addresses and stuff, we'll get more into that, 0:14:25.800 --> 0:14:28.440 because that's kind of like the advanced level thing. On 0:14:28.480 --> 0:14:31.600 a side note, those last types of LEDs aren't something 0:14:31.600 --> 0:14:34.360 you're going to find in your typical big box stores. 0:14:34.760 --> 0:14:37.800 Those Christmas lights tend to be far simpler in design. 0:14:37.920 --> 0:14:39.760 Those are like the off the shelf things that you'll 0:14:39.800 --> 0:14:42.960 find in your basic retail store. Some retail stores are 0:14:43.440 --> 0:14:48.760 selling kits for holiday light shows, but they tend to 0:14:48.800 --> 0:14:53.240 be proprietary, and at least in the hobbyist field, the 0:14:53.280 --> 0:14:56.560 serious hobbyists tend to look down on those kits. One 0:14:56.600 --> 0:15:00.000 because they don't have as much flexibility. You can't incorporate 0:15:00.360 --> 0:15:04.400 things that are outside those proprietary kits to work with them. 0:15:04.560 --> 0:15:07.800 Another is that there's at least an opinion, a fairly 0:15:07.840 --> 0:15:11.320 prevalent opinion, and the hobbyists that I listened to as 0:15:11.360 --> 0:15:13.920 I was listening to podcasts and watching videos and stuff, 0:15:13.960 --> 0:15:17.840 who feel that the quality of those products is lower 0:15:17.880 --> 0:15:20.840 than what you'll get if you're doing things yourself, and 0:15:20.880 --> 0:15:23.480 that a lot of those things will break down after 0:15:23.520 --> 0:15:26.040 a season or two and that it just gets really 0:15:26.040 --> 0:15:30.160 expensive and wasteful. So your mileage may vary, but that's 0:15:30.200 --> 0:15:34.240 what I heard. So most of the hobby blogs and 0:15:34.360 --> 0:15:37.240 videos that I encountered suggested that you should order straight 0:15:37.280 --> 0:15:40.040 from where the lights are manufactured, which is China. They 0:15:40.080 --> 0:15:42.480 also warned that this also comes with its own risks. 0:15:42.720 --> 0:15:46.320 If something doesn't work correctly, it may be difficult or 0:15:46.360 --> 0:15:49.360 even impossible to return the lights to get working ones, 0:15:49.440 --> 0:15:51.320 so you have to be really careful to make sure 0:15:51.360 --> 0:15:55.600 that you're ordering from a reputable seller. But yeah, the 0:15:55.720 --> 0:15:59.160 LEDs that serious hobbyists use typically are meant for stuff 0:15:59.160 --> 0:16:02.120 like digital disp lays and signage where you need to 0:16:02.120 --> 0:16:05.360 be able to control individual lights in order to spell 0:16:05.440 --> 0:16:08.560 things out right like roadwork ahead or whatever it may be, 0:16:09.120 --> 0:16:13.080 except you're using it to make frosty, you know, melt 0:16:13.280 --> 0:16:15.200 or something. I don't know what you do for your 0:16:15.280 --> 0:16:18.600 Christmas lights displays. So these have just been repurposed to 0:16:18.680 --> 0:16:21.960 be really a holly jolly kind of approach. And now 0:16:22.280 --> 0:16:24.880 we're going to take a quick break. When we come back, 0:16:25.080 --> 0:16:27.640 I'm going to talk about some more details of the 0:16:27.680 --> 0:16:40.640 early days of Christmas lights show as a hobby, so 0:16:40.800 --> 0:16:44.600 we're back now. In the early days, light show hobbyists 0:16:44.720 --> 0:16:48.040 ran into problems similar to those of the Stranger Things Crew. 0:16:48.280 --> 0:16:51.280 The old style Christmas lights could only be controlled by 0:16:51.320 --> 0:16:54.240 the string rather by the individual bulb, So you could 0:16:54.240 --> 0:16:57.920 turn a string of lights off or on, and that 0:16:58.040 --> 0:17:00.960 was relatively simple on a high It just meant that 0:17:01.040 --> 0:17:05.119 you had to control the electricity that was going to 0:17:05.200 --> 0:17:08.040 that particular string. You know, you turned the electricity off, 0:17:08.080 --> 0:17:09.640 the lights go off, you turn it on, the lights 0:17:09.680 --> 0:17:12.560 come on. That's it. The old lights had no ability 0:17:12.600 --> 0:17:15.520 to change color either. If you wanted to create an 0:17:15.560 --> 0:17:18.080 effect of a color change, then it meant that you 0:17:18.080 --> 0:17:21.000 actually had to use multiple strings of lights. Like let's 0:17:21.000 --> 0:17:25.119 say you wanted to outline a window frame outside your 0:17:25.119 --> 0:17:27.280 house in lights and create an effect that those lights 0:17:27.280 --> 0:17:29.919 are changing from red to green. Well, you would actually 0:17:29.920 --> 0:17:32.800 have to use strings of red lights to outline the 0:17:32.840 --> 0:17:35.879 frame and then strings of green lights to outline the frame, 0:17:36.080 --> 0:17:39.119 and then you would just have to alternate which string 0:17:39.280 --> 0:17:42.160 was getting power at what time in order to get 0:17:42.200 --> 0:17:45.640 that effect of red changing to green and green changing 0:17:45.720 --> 0:17:50.399 to red. Modern led lights often have RGB red green 0:17:50.480 --> 0:17:55.240 and blue elements inside each bulb, meaning that you control 0:17:55.320 --> 0:17:58.600 the concentration of what kind of light is allowed to 0:17:58.600 --> 0:18:01.680 be emitted, so you can actually change the color within 0:18:01.720 --> 0:18:03.760 a single string of lights. Now you don't have to 0:18:03.840 --> 0:18:06.280 double up or triple up whatever it may be, which 0:18:06.320 --> 0:18:10.359 does simplify things at least from a wiring perspective, not 0:18:10.400 --> 0:18:14.840 necessarily from the programming perspective. As for controlling which string 0:18:14.920 --> 0:18:17.080 received power at any given time, well, you would need 0:18:17.119 --> 0:18:20.240 to run your lights to a controller box. So essentially 0:18:20.280 --> 0:18:23.400 this box acts as a switch, and in the old 0:18:23.480 --> 0:18:26.240 days it is simply just switched power going from one 0:18:27.000 --> 0:18:30.719 outlet connected to one set of lights or a different outlet. 0:18:30.960 --> 0:18:33.200 The strings of lights would attach to the controller box. 0:18:33.280 --> 0:18:35.879 But the controller is just a tool. It doesn't know 0:18:36.640 --> 0:18:39.119 when it's supposed to switch stuff on or off on 0:18:39.200 --> 0:18:42.760 its own. It has to be programmed. And with a program, 0:18:42.880 --> 0:18:47.120 the controller follows a preset series of instructions a sequence 0:18:47.560 --> 0:18:51.119 in order to achieve whatever the effect was that was desired. Again, 0:18:51.160 --> 0:18:54.440 those early variations essentially just being which strings of lights 0:18:54.440 --> 0:18:56.840 were on or off at any given moment. Now, as 0:18:56.880 --> 0:18:59.200 we'll see, if you really want to go all out 0:18:59.200 --> 0:19:02.880 for the holidays, you could get wicked complicated with your setup, 0:19:03.160 --> 0:19:06.240 but let's start with the simple stuff. So let's say 0:19:06.400 --> 0:19:08.639 you've got your strings of lights hung with care on 0:19:08.680 --> 0:19:11.639 your home. You know, the trees, the family dog, whatever 0:19:11.680 --> 0:19:13.520 it might be, And now you want to create a 0:19:13.680 --> 0:19:17.480 sequence for these lights to follow. They shouldn't just twinkle 0:19:17.840 --> 0:19:20.000 or stay on. They should go on and off according 0:19:20.040 --> 0:19:24.119 to your whimsical nature, perhaps creating animated effects or spelling 0:19:24.240 --> 0:19:27.920 stuff out. Even it takes an awful lot of technology 0:19:27.960 --> 0:19:30.760 and effort to enable whimsy. As it turns out, we 0:19:30.800 --> 0:19:33.600 aren't all like Willy Waka, where things just magically happen. 0:19:33.960 --> 0:19:37.280 So the world of hobbyists Christmas lights shows ends up 0:19:37.560 --> 0:19:41.040 borrowing a lot of technology and technique from the world 0:19:41.040 --> 0:19:43.439 of stage lighting. Now, if you've ever been to a 0:19:43.480 --> 0:19:47.720 big professional theatrical production like a Broadway show or an 0:19:47.800 --> 0:19:51.640 arena concert, you've likely seen some pretty amazing lighting effects, 0:19:51.720 --> 0:19:55.400 like entire banks of lights might sweep around and focus 0:19:55.400 --> 0:19:59.200 on a specific spot, or create interesting patterns on the background, 0:19:59.280 --> 0:20:02.200 or all sorts of other effects. To achieve that, and 0:20:02.240 --> 0:20:06.439 not to have five hundred stage hands manually controlling every 0:20:06.560 --> 0:20:10.520 light with precision, you need some special circuit boards. Now 0:20:10.560 --> 0:20:13.880 I mentioned a controller earlier. These are large logic boards 0:20:13.880 --> 0:20:17.320 that the direct power or commands to specific elements according 0:20:17.320 --> 0:20:20.280 to a pre program set of instructions. Now, before we 0:20:20.320 --> 0:20:23.320 get into those more, let's talk about LEDs. Let's say 0:20:23.320 --> 0:20:25.840 that you've gone all out. You've decided to get the 0:20:26.000 --> 0:20:28.480 LEDs that you're able to control one bulb at a time. 0:20:28.640 --> 0:20:32.280 Each of these bulbs can create any number of colors 0:20:32.840 --> 0:20:35.040 using a variation of the red, green, and blue elements 0:20:35.080 --> 0:20:39.280 that are inside each bulb. Essentially, these bulbs are pixels, 0:20:39.760 --> 0:20:42.720 just like you would have on a television or other display. 0:20:42.920 --> 0:20:45.840 Each light bulb represents one point of light, and by 0:20:45.880 --> 0:20:49.880 controlling them collectively, you can create different shapes, including words. 0:20:50.359 --> 0:20:53.720 The pixel lights typically will be able again to create 0:20:53.840 --> 0:20:57.840 pretty much any color you want. Some Christmas lights sequencer 0:20:57.880 --> 0:21:02.600 programs refer to these pixels as nodes. Technically, a node 0:21:02.720 --> 0:21:06.960 is any singular controllable element in a show. So let's 0:21:07.000 --> 0:21:09.000 say that you have a string of lights that's an 0:21:09.040 --> 0:21:12.520 old style string right the series lights where you can't 0:21:12.520 --> 0:21:16.960 control individual light bulbs, that string would be a node. 0:21:17.160 --> 0:21:19.639 But if you do have bulbs that can be controlled individually, 0:21:19.720 --> 0:21:22.880 each bulb would be a node, So it all depends 0:21:22.920 --> 0:21:25.840 on what are you controlling. Whether it's a string or 0:21:25.880 --> 0:21:29.000 a single light bulb, each one would be a single node. 0:21:29.359 --> 0:21:32.240 These lights have a different kind of plug, the fancy 0:21:32.359 --> 0:21:33.919 led ones, they have a different kind of plug than 0:21:33.920 --> 0:21:35.720 the ones you would find on your regular old Christmas 0:21:35.800 --> 0:21:37.919 light strings. You wouldn't plug them into the wall. And 0:21:37.960 --> 0:21:41.200