Animated Christmas Lights http://www.liquidretro.net/lightshow Animated Christmas lights controlled with a homemade control system and hundreds of hours of work. Mon, 14 Dec 2009 03:40:32 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 Come and See the 2009 Christmas Light Show http://www.liquidretro.net/lightshow/2009/12/13/come-and-see-the-2009-christmas-light-show/ http://www.liquidretro.net/lightshow/2009/12/13/come-and-see-the-2009-christmas-light-show/#comments Mon, 14 Dec 2009 03:39:53 +0000 admin http://www.liquidretro.net/lightshow/?p=45

The snow has come, the roads are cleared so come and see the 2009 show. It looks amazing with snow around it! The show is up and running every night until early January.

Make sure to tune into 103.5 FM to hear the music that goes with the over 8000 lights. Due to the snow plows piling a huge pile of snow in front of the display sign it can be hard to read from some angles so just remember to tune into 103.5 FM.

Directions to the show are linked on the left side of this page as are videos from last years show. At midnight the show runs a special non-Christmas themed show. Its worth staying up for!

Here are some facts about the 2009 display.
• Over 8000+ lights
• At peak electric usage the display uses 42.43 amps and 5096 watts of electricity. Yes fokes this is a 5kw Christmas light display.
• Our control system is 100% home made. It is our own design built from the ground up.

Hours of operation for 2009 are
Sunday through Thursday 5:00pm – 10:00pm
Friday and Saturday 5:00pm – 10:30pm

Songs played during the Normal show include
• Carol of the Bell – Mannheim Steamroller
• Wizards in Winter – Trans Siberian Orchestra
• Hail Varsity – University of Nebraska Marching Band

Songs played daily at the special midnight show
• Love is Gone – David Guetta
• Knights of Cydonia- Muse
• Welcome to the Jungle – AC/DC
• Sandstorm – Darude

Please tell all your friends, family, neighbors and coworkers about the display and website.

We wish everyone a happy and healthy holiday season.

]]> http://www.liquidretro.net/lightshow/2009/12/13/come-and-see-the-2009-christmas-light-show/feed/ 0 2009 Show is up & running. http://www.liquidretro.net/lightshow/2009/11/29/2009-show-is-up-running/ http://www.liquidretro.net/lightshow/2009/11/29/2009-show-is-up-running/#comments Mon, 30 Nov 2009 02:23:09 +0000 admin http://www.liquidretro.net/lightshow/?p=42 Just a quick note to tell everyone that the 2009 show is up and running. The show started up on Friday the 27th but the first real day was the 28th. We are experiencing a few issues that are taking a while to get resolved but over the next few days things should improve. So if you decided to drive by and things are not quite right just come back in a week or so and everything should be ironed out.

Currently the non Christmas songs are not set to play. We will add these once we make sure we have a stable and predictable show.

This is probably our last large show for the foreseeable future. I will be graduating in May and my engineer friends have already graduated. We will just have to see what the future has in store.

Please continue to check this website for updates as I will periodically post about news and videos.

JM

]]> http://www.liquidretro.net/lightshow/2009/11/29/2009-show-is-up-running/feed/ 1 2008 Show Wrap Up http://www.liquidretro.net/lightshow/2009/01/06/2008-show-wrap-up/ http://www.liquidretro.net/lightshow/2009/01/06/2008-show-wrap-up/#comments Wed, 07 Jan 2009 05:22:32 +0000 admin http://www.liquidretro.net/lightshow/?p=37 I wanted to tell everyone thanks for a great 2008 show.  We spent most of the day today taking down the display, so if your hoping to drive by and see the show you will have to wait till next year. Thanks to everyone who helped out this year especially everyone who helped set up the display, helped with the technical issues, programming (especially Ben, Woodfin, Jazzman, and FlyingWrench), clean up (Tim), and especially the neighbors who let us buy a little power to help control the brown out.  The show this year pulled an impressive 45 amps at peak.

I got around to filming the entire show in high definition this past week.  The video will take a little while to edit but I hope to have it up within the week.  Watch the videos page for the video.

I got a very touching card in the mail the other day from a family who enjoyed the show so much that they sent us a Christmas card/Thank you.  It was a very classy move in my opinion.  They could of easily wrote a comment on the site or wrote a quick e-mail but instead they took the time to send a real card.  It was a very nice gesture and I thank them.  Below I have posted it.

]]> http://www.liquidretro.net/lightshow/2009/01/06/2008-show-wrap-up/feed/ 0 New Song added to the show Wizards in Winter! http://www.liquidretro.net/lightshow/2008/12/02/new-song-added-to-the-show-wizards-in-winter/ http://www.liquidretro.net/lightshow/2008/12/02/new-song-added-to-the-show-wizards-in-winter/#comments Tue, 02 Dec 2008 22:39:43 +0000 admin http://www.liquidretro.net/lightshow/?p=26 Another new song is running in the show now and here is the video.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra – Wizards in Winter

Click here to view the embedded video.

]]> http://www.liquidretro.net/lightshow/2008/12/02/new-song-added-to-the-show-wizards-in-winter/feed/ 2 2008 Show is Up and Running! http://www.liquidretro.net/lightshow/2008/11/29/2008-show-is-up-and-running/ http://www.liquidretro.net/lightshow/2008/11/29/2008-show-is-up-and-running/#comments Sun, 30 Nov 2008 05:55:23 +0000 admin http://www.liquidretro.net/lightshow/?p=21 The 2008 Holiday show is up and running.  So far there is only one song that is up and running but expect a second song sometime this week.  Right now the show is running the following song below.  Here is a short video. Expect more and a video of the entire show when it is up and going.  If you drive by and enjoy the show please tell all of your friends and neighbors.  I also started a 2008 Video page which you can find here http://www.liquidretro.net/lightshow/2008-videos/

Carol Of The Bell – Mannheim Steamroller

Click here to view the embedded video.

]]> http://www.liquidretro.net/lightshow/2008/11/29/2008-show-is-up-and-running/feed/ 1 It Has Begun 2008 Show http://www.liquidretro.net/lightshow/2008/10/19/it-has-begun-2008-show/ http://www.liquidretro.net/lightshow/2008/10/19/it-has-begun-2008-show/#comments Mon, 20 Oct 2008 03:09:16 +0000 admin http://www.liquidretro.net/lightshow/?p=18 Yesterday we got 300 C9 Lights hung on the house.  We hung 100 of each Red, Green, and White lights on the eve of the house.  We decided to get started this year early while it was warm out.  It was a great decision.  Expect more lights to be hung around Thanksgiving and the show to start sometime soon around that time.

]]> http://www.liquidretro.net/lightshow/2008/10/19/it-has-begun-2008-show/feed/ 4 The 2008 show http://www.liquidretro.net/lightshow/2008/07/09/the-2008-show/ http://www.liquidretro.net/lightshow/2008/07/09/the-2008-show/#comments Thu, 10 Jul 2008 01:06:57 +0000 admin http://www.liquidretro.net/lightshow/?p=17

We are hard at work for the 2008 show.  The engineers are busy working on a new version of the control hardware and software to make the lights dim this year. I am in the process of updating the website and starting to choose music for this years show. I will then start programming soon. My goal is to start the programming by the end of the week. Keep checking the website as we will try and update everyone when major developments happen.

]]> http://www.liquidretro.net/lightshow/2008/07/09/the-2008-show/feed/ 0 Award Winning Display & News Coverage http://www.liquidretro.net/lightshow/2007/12/26/award-winning-display-news-coverage/ http://www.liquidretro.net/lightshow/2007/12/26/award-winning-display-news-coverage/#comments Wed, 26 Dec 2007 20:35:31 +0000 admin http://www.liquidretro.net/lightshow/2007/12/26/award-winning-display-news-coverage/ On Friday December, 21 I was notified that the display had won 3rd place in a local radio stations Griswold Christmas Light Contest. http://froggy981.com/morning/christmaslights.htm We won a gift certificate to a Local Spa!

On December 24th I was contacted by the Local News paper the Lincoln Journal Star. They wanted to do an article about my Christmas Light Display. Later that evening Michah Mertes came and spent about an hour interviewing us and learning all about the display. The article was printed today with two nice photos. One of the house and one of the creators.

 

News Paper Photo (by: Michael McNamara)

(Photo by Michael McNamara, Lincoln Journal Star)

 

Please read the articles below and drive by and see the show.
Link to the print article (PDF)
http://liquidretro.net/lightshow/images/lightarticle.pdf

 

Link to the article on the Journal Star’s Website
http://www.journalstar.com/articles/2007/12/26/news/local/doc4771b19d6eede852422813.txt

 

]]> http://www.liquidretro.net/lightshow/2007/12/26/award-winning-display-news-coverage/feed/ 0 The 2007 Video is up and Online! http://www.liquidretro.net/lightshow/2007/12/08/the-2007-is-up-and-online/ http://www.liquidretro.net/lightshow/2007/12/08/the-2007-is-up-and-online/#comments Sat, 08 Dec 2007 23:25:45 +0000 admin http://www.liquidretro.net/lightshow/2007/12/08/the-2007-is-up-and-online/ I borrowed a High Definition video camera this weekend and filmed the 2007 Lights display and got the video online this afternoon. Please take a look at it and feel free to leave comments. Here is a like to the video page. http://www.liquidretro.net/lightshow/2007-video/

]]> http://www.liquidretro.net/lightshow/2007/12/08/the-2007-is-up-and-online/feed/ 0 Success, The Lights are up and working!!! http://www.liquidretro.net/lightshow/2007/12/02/success-the-lights-are-up-and-working/ http://www.liquidretro.net/lightshow/2007/12/02/success-the-lights-are-up-and-working/#comments Sun, 02 Dec 2007 17:55:28 +0000 admin http://www.liquidretro.net/lightshow/2007/12/02/success-the-lights-are-up-and-working/ Saturday December 1st at 2:18am we had success. The show had its first successful run and viewing. After a stressful weekend last week we managed to get the project working. We could not have done it with out the support of the community at Planet Christmas Forums. The show runs from 5pm to 10pm weekly. Please stop by and see the lights.

  • 2 of 3 songs are currently operational on the display. The third song Carol of the Bells by Manheim Steamroller is currently being programmed. However I am in school and feeling the pressure of the end of the semester. The programming has been put on hold till I have more time. This will more than likely be near Christmas when my semester is complete.
  • Please check back often for a new and updated video. This week I should have a little time to go and take a video of the display and put it on the website. For now I have a video of this display’s first run through.
  • If you need directions to the display please click on “Directions” on the left side of the page.

Please enjoy the show!

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