Arches with Three Colors??

**SCBonner384** · 01-19-2012, 09:41 PM

I've read a few different build plans for Arches and am still debating exactly what I am going to do but I did want some opinions on how you wrap multiple Solid colors in each segment of your arches. I am planning on having arches made of 8 segments X 3 colors each for a total of 24 Channel arches.

My questions are as follows:

Do you zip tie the three different colors together before wrapping so you only have to wrap them on each segment once?
Or, do you do it one color at a time? One over the previous and if you do that do you end up pinning any of the lights down with the new color?

Thanks in advance for the input!!

I will probably be using 5mm LEDs on 3/4" grey pipe BTW.

Scott

**maffeirw** · 01-19-2012, 10:26 PM

When I used red and white incandescent lights on my arches a few years ago I wrapped them separately and it looked ok, but some of the white bulbs did get partially obscured by the red. I think adding a third color on top might have been problem, so if I were you I would apply them at the same time keeping all the LED facing out as I wrapped. (or think about using pixels

)

**Slite** · 01-20-2012, 07:09 AM

Hmmm, seriously, why not use RGB string instead? Then you arent restricted to three colors. And you won't have the problem of "blending" either. Not to mention that the arches would weigh much less as well.

Might be a "tad" more expensive though, so if cost is an issue... maybe not

**folksy** · 01-20-2012, 08:21 AM

Originally Posted by Slite

Hmmm, seriously, why not use RGB string instead? Then you arent restricted to three colors. And you won't have the problem of "blending" either. Not to mention that the arches would weigh much less as well.

Might be a "tad" more expensive though, so if cost is an issue... maybe not

+1 on RGB if possible. I currently have 6 arches 3 with incandescent on 3/4 gray pipe and 3 with LEDs on 1" gray pipe. I wrapped them one over the other and they do look good. The reason I went with 1" pipe was when I was wrapping my LEDs on 3/4" pipe every LED lined up perfectly in a row. So I bumped it up to 1" pipe to make is a bit more random. Glad I did because the LEDs added more weight than the incandescent which causes me to have to support them with cables if we get a lot of rain or wind.

**SCBonner384** · 01-20-2012, 08:26 AM

Originally Posted by maffeirw

When I used red and white incandescent lights on my arches a few years ago I wrapped them separately and it looked ok, but some of the white bulbs did get partially obscured by the red. I think adding a third color on top might have been problem, so if I were you I would apply them at the same time keeping all the LED facing out as I wrapped. (or think about using pixels

)

I think I will definately try wrapping them together. Pixels is over my head and out of my budget for the first year. Tx.

**SCBonner384** · 01-20-2012, 08:29 AM

Originally Posted by folksy

+1 on RGB if possible. I currently have 6 arches 3 with incandescent on 3/4 gray pipe and 3 with LEDs on 1" gray pipe. I wrapped them one over the other and they do look good. The reason I went with 1" pipe was when I was wrapping my LEDs on 3/4" pipe every LED lined up perfectly in a row. So I bumped it up to 1" pipe to make is a bit more random. Glad I did because the LEDs added more weight than the incandescent which causes me to have to support them with cables if we get a lot of rain or wind.

I think RGB is out of Budget for the first year. thanks very much for the tip on the 1" pipe. I did read about the LEDs at 4" spacing all lining up perfectly and I'm really not sure how I feal about that. So, It's nice to know that 1" breaks them up as it would obviously do.

Thanks all,
Scott

**maffeirw** · 01-20-2012, 08:35 AM

Originally Posted by Slite

Hmmm, seriously, why not use RGB string instead? Then you arent restricted to three colors. And you won't have the problem of "blending" either. Not to mention that the arches would weigh much less as well.

Might be a "tad" more expensive though, so if cost is an issue... maybe not

I'm not sure it would be that much more expensive, it might even be cheaper, lets see.
24 strings of LEDs @ $12 a string and a SS24 controller (about $50) for a total of $338 for every arch. (ouch!)
I've seen postings for arches made with a single 4 meter (120 node) pixel flex strip in tubing. If you used the setup I have, the flex strip is about $75 (for 1 with shipping from China), an SSC controller, EtherDongle and Active Hub together are under $200 and each additional arch would only require a flex strip and SSC which would be under a $100 total for up to 10 additional arches. So using this logic 11 LED string arches would cost about $3700 while 11 flex strip arches would be under $1275. Using a 128 node string instead of the flex strip would only add about $25 per arch.
I think if you ran the numbers with the E681 and matching pixels or flex strips the numbers would be similar.

These numbers are a very rough guesstimate and your mileage may differ.

**SCBonner384** · 01-20-2012, 08:43 AM

Originally Posted by maffeirw

I'm not sure it would be that much more expensive, it might even be cheaper, lets see.
24 strings of LEDs @ $12 a string and a SS24 controller (about $50) for a total of $338 for every arch. (ouch!)
I've seen postings for arches made with a single 4 meter (120 node) pixel flex strip in tubing. If you used the setup I have, the flex strip is about $75 (for 1 with shipping from China), an SSC controller, EtherDongle and Active Hub together are under $200 and each additional arch would only require a flex strip and SSC which would be under a $100 total for up to 10 additional arches. So using this logic 11 LED string arches would cost about $3700 while 11 flex strip arches would be under $1275. Using a 128 node string instead of the flex strip would only add about $25 per arch.
I think if you ran the numbers with the E681 and matching pixels or flex strips the numbers would be similar.

These numbers are a very rough guesstimate and your mileage may differ.

HEHE!!, I just thought of another reason that I can't do the pixel for the first year. That reason is this: Pretty much everything you just said confused ME!!!!! LOL

That's not to say it's out of scope for the future but I really just want to get my head around the Renard Controller and Vixen Side of it this year and move on from there in following years.

Thanks very much for thinking about my pocket book though.

Have a great day and again thanks for the input,
Scott

**djulien** · 01-20-2012, 10:56 AM

Originally Posted by Slite

Might be a "tad" more expensive though, so if cost is an issue... maybe not

The OP did not specify incandescent vs. LED, so for comparison purposes:
8 segments x 3 colors x $1.50 USD/string (incandescent mini-lights, 1 string per segment) = $36 USD per arch (excluding controller)

don

**maffeirw** · 01-20-2012, 02:21 PM

Originally Posted by djulien

The OP did not specify incandescent vs. LED, so for comparison purposes:
8 segments x 3 colors x $1.50 USD/string (incandescent mini-lights, 1 string per segment) = $36 USD per arch (excluding controller)

don

Even with your numbers each arch is $86 with controllers so call it $946 vs $1,275 for 11. Not nearly as big a difference as I would have first imagined.