As expected, the the half completed mega tree brought the light sticking issue with it from 2008. The cause in simple terms is that the LED light strings on the tree draw so little power that the light controllers have difficulty 'seeing' the light sets, so fail to switch them off.

The solution is to raise the power use for each affected channel.. making up a DIY light fitting that plugs in to a regular powerpoint would cost $6 or more for the parts plus time which is at an absolute premium, so the next best thing is a whole bunch of budget mini rope light shapes for around $7 each.

Last night, the lights which were up so far were turned on just before dusk to do the first full on computer control test.

Results were better than expected, although not perfect. With two different types of controllers being used this year, (Light-O-Rama CTB16PC's and DIY Olsen 595 Switches) there appears to be a very slight delay with the former, of only a fraction of a second. This is fixable by adjusting the light patterns in the sequencer (Vixen 2.5.0.0) so that all the channels of light that use the LOR controllers send out the message a fraction before messages are sent to the Olsen 595 controllers. This, I hope, will correct the problem. Testing will continue leading up to opening night, which this year is Tuesday December 1st from 8:00 pm (lights on from 8:30 pm).

Set up over the past week has been slow due to record breaking heatwave conditions, but while there's a break in the very hot temperatures I shall get to work setting more decorations up.

Yesterday the 240 volt cables needed for the rope light train and stars were installed in the roof once again and today the five LED red/white roof triangles put up.

If all goes to plan, the rope light train and stars will go up tomorrow followed by all the roof lights being connected to the show computer on Wednesday or Thursday.

The three windows now have lights around them as do the three verandah poles.

Regarding the streaming webcam, I've calculated that I should be able to turn it on on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday nights of December for three hours (such as 8:00 pm to 11:00 pm) without running out of bandwidth like last year.

The first of the display was put out today. The data cables (ethernet patch cable) for computer control have not yet been put in as planned.. they were supposed to go in last weekend but will finally be installed tomorrow.

The next job after that will be laying out power cables to various points in the roof, and putting up lights on the roof.

Time is ticking! There are now under 3 weeks left until I need to begin setting up the lights, cables, computer, etc.

In terms of those 'leaping features', I do not think they will be in this year's display. I haven't settled enough on how many arches I need and how big they should be, so I'd rather put it off and get it right.

I am nearly done with sequencing the lights to this year's soundtrack. The opening night track is all done, as well as three regular songs. The fourth song is about a third complete.