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

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 🙂

Most of the construction work is now complete, I have attached snow and fronts to the tunnel today:

Here is a picture of the full tunnel section:

The signal is now in place ready to be wired up:

I’ve also built the housing for the RGB DMX Spotlight that will light the large snowman:

Now to wire everything together 🙂