It’s offi
cially Christmas season, and the lights are in full swing! The switch on was broadcast live to Facebook, a HD video of this years display will appear over the next few weeks. The display runs from 8Am till 6PM daily, so still plenty of time to see the show if you couldn’t make it to the switch on.
Merry Christmas!
Dean
Today is the 25th November which means Christmas is fast approaching (really must do some shopping). This years display is coming on well, with new additions and even more lights! I’ve built extra controller circuits to add more light channels, I expect the new total channels to be a scary number when I’m done.
I’ve now got a Facebook page (linked to Twitter), so fully embracing social media with regualr(ish) updates posted on Facebook. This years switch on is scheduled for 4:30PM on Thursday the 1st of December, and if the technology works the switch on will be broadcast live to Facebook!
You can see videos of previous years on my YouTube channel.
More soon!
Dean
As usual I’m collecting for Cancer Research, please donate if you are able.
Merry Christmas!
Dean
This years lights are up and running!
With over 100 control channels, this is the most complex display yet. Please drop by CSE/106 Monday, Tuesday or Thursday to watch the show.
As usual I’m collecting for Cancer Research, please donate if you are able.
Merry Christmas! 🙂
Dean
The Department of Computer Science lights are also now in full swing, do pop by CSE/108 and take a look (after 4PM is best when its dark outside!). The display will be up until the new year, so plenty of time to see the lights in action. As always I’m collecting money for Cancer Research, so please donate if you can.
Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year 🙂
The Selby College lights are now in full swing, with shows running every 30 minutes from 8AM daily. The display is in the usual place, top floor of the Academy building. As always I’m collecting money for Cancer Reasearch, so please donate if you can.
The CS Dept. lights get switched on Monday 16th December, time to be confirmed.
Installation started today on the final Selby College Christmas Lights display!
Here is a piccie of my car all loaded up ready:
A few shots of installation progress:
If everything goes to plan, switch on will be at:
4:45PM on Tuesday 3rd December.
Due to work commitments (not to mention it’s really expensive building two sets of lights!) I’m afraid this will be the last year I do a lights display at Selby College. Next year everyone is very welcome to visit me instead at The Department of Computer Science 🙂
It’s nearly time to put the lights up at Selby College, work begins this Friday (29th) and if all goes according to plan switch on will be 4:45PM on Tuesday 3rd December. Check back regular for installation progress 🙂
This weekend I have fitted the reed switches to the track and glued a small magnet to the underside of the train so I can plot the position of the train on the track. This is so I can switch lights accordingly throughout the lighting sequence (and because its cool! 🙂 ).
Here is a close up of the reed switch in place:
All the cables from the sensors feed back to a single point, with a 12 core cable carrying everything to the USB IO board:
This is the IO board that connects to the PC:
Now I’m back at work, I’ve been doing bits here and there as I get time (will be aiming for another big push this weekend). I have started to wire things up, and the snowmen are now attached:
Next job is to fit the sensors to the track, so the control system knows the location of the train on the track. I do love Christmas 🙂
