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To control the static portions of our display (the portions of the display that aren't controlled via Light-O-Rama controllers), we rely on X-10 technology.  X-10 is a means of sending control commands across the power line.  Controllers (in our case, a computer) send commands to modules, which switch lights or appliances on and off.  It's a relatively cheap system, and easy to use, since you just plug the modules into a power source, and don't have to rely on separate control cabling.  (X-10 devices are available at www.x10.com but are usually found cheapest on eBay).

We first started using X-10 for the  2002 season, when we replaced our old "army" of standalone timers with an X-10 based system.  The standalone timers worked well when the display was smaller, but as we grew, and needed to add more and more timers, they were very hard to keep in sync.  We like the display to turn on and off at the same time, so that viewers can see the entire light show, and not just portions of it on at any given time.  

Standard X-10 "appliance" modules are designed to handle only 500 watts of lighting (lamp modules handle even less).  Since our display pulls much more power than that, and we wanted to avoid having a new "army" of X-10 modules, we decided to create two of what we dubbed the "super module".

Our two "Super modules" are based around exterior-grade lighting contactors purchased on eBay, as well as a standard appliance module.  They are designed to carry up to 40A of power per module, via two circuits each. 

In addition to the super modules, we use a few standard appliance modules as well.  One is dedicated to controlling the slide projection box for our Linus Shares the Gospel display (which has a slightly different operating schedule than the other displays).  

For the 2003 season, we greatly increased our available power capacity.  Rather than create more super modules, we instead used X-10 Super Sockets (SR227), which are hardwired X-10 outlets which can handle 15A of power.  The super socket outlets are more convenient and cost effective than the "super modules" we created for the 2002 season.  The original super modules are still used for the older circuits which do not have the super sockets, although eventually we may phase them out altogether.  

Our Light-O-Rama software contains X-10 capabilities as well as controlling its own hardware.  This allows us to use one piece of software to control everything in the display, animated and static.

We've received several requests for more info on how our "super modules" were wired, so here's a bit more information.  To the right is a really poorly drawn schematic of how this works.  Basically, we used a DPST contactor (basically a high-current relay) rated at 20 amps per pole.  We added two 12-gauge inputs and outputs to the contactor, wiring the neutrals straight through, and letting the contactor control the hot lines.  The contactor's control coil (rated at 120V) gets its power from an x-10 appliance module, which in turn gets power from one of the two inputs.  If you're considering building these, though, I'd recommend checking out the SR227 Super Socket outlets instead -- they're more cost effective, and this is what we currently use for new circuits.

Although this is a behind-the-scenes display feature, it  helps us to run the display more efficiently and professionally, as well as allows us to automatically run the lights longer on weekends than on weeknights (or any other combination we want).  And we're glad to be rid of the old manual timers which never stayed in sync.

This page was last updated on Thursday, September 14, 2006

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