PQHolidays.com
A Computerized Christmas Lights Display
in San Diego, CA
Frequently Asked Questions:
A large number of the people who see the display have seen videos of computerized Christmas lights online, but our display is usually the first they've seen in person. (We hadn't seen one in person until ours either). The first question they have for us is usually how it all works. You can see that explanation in the How it's done section of the site. However, here are some of the other questions that we get asked a lot.
How do you get the radio station to play the music?
Some of this was explained in the other section, but we have our own low power radio transmitter. This is perfectly legal as long as the output is very low and it doesn't interfere with any licensed radio stations. Even though the power output is low, if you can see the house, you should be able to get the radio signal.
How long did this take?
It took about a week and a half all together to put up all the lights and get everything running. However, a lot of time was spent in the summer to plan how the display would look and how I would run all of the extension cords. Then, each song had to be "sequenced", which basically means that for each song, I have to go through and tell which lights to turn on and off at what times. A single song could take ten hours or more to sequence.
How do the neighbors feel about this?
As far as I know, they love it :) Actually, they do enjoy it and we haven't had any major problems so far. There's a speaker on the lawn playing music but it can only be heard within 30 feet and traffic hasn't been an issue.