Kids/Youth Designs

Light Sticks

Andrew Acuna from Palm Valley Church in Mission, TX brings us this great and simple use of LED tape.

Materials:

Andrew started by purchasing regular indoor tape that was 150 count. But he quickly realized it was an inferior product. Also the first DMX decoders he purchased were also pretty bad. The one he ended up with was good.

This 300 ct. LED tape was waterproof and great! It had a coating over the lights that made it look and feel great. He cut 2.5″ PVC to 7′, 6′, 5′, & 4′ lengths, then the LED tape to length. The tape stuck right on with little problem and because it has the clear, you could tape over it to reuse it. He then cut the wires and wired them RGB w/ the white as the power supply as pictured. He used the 18 ga wire to go to the power supplies. He then patched them into his Jands Vista as a Generic LED RGB.

A couple of problems he encountered:

The power supply. He started with regular 12v power supplies. The light was inconsistent and had intensity issues so he went with the more powerful power supplies and wired three decoders into each using the power cables to power the supply itself.

The wire stripping. He started out not being very diligent about using his wire strippers. This is important as you need a good connection for all your ends.

Don’t skimp on the power supplies or the decoders. They need to be good quality. One final thought would be that it takes a long time. He made 16 separated fixtures which meant 10 wires to strip and connect per fixture (not to mention the ones he messed up). Total man hours are around 30 to do it right.

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Mt. Grinch Mapped Mountain

56 responses to “Light Sticks”

  1. Eddie says:

    I’m completely new at using LED strips with DMX Encoders. Does each light stick have it’s own Encoder? A diagram showing the wiring would really help.

    I’m guessing all the encoders go to one power supply or multiple ones?

    • Andrew Acuna says:

      Yes, each one has it’s own decoder- think of it as being it’s own fixture that you assign a DMX value between 1 and 512. You can buy decoders that have 24 channels, but then it uses only one address so you will have 24 sticks (or whatever you make the tape into) that all act as one, which could still be cool.

      The power supplies take three decoders. I just used general 16 ga red and black wire to extend from the decoders to the power and it works flawlessly. I can send you a diagram if you wish, I can’t attach it here. Let me know- I hope that helps!

  2. Eddie says:

    I forgot to ask if you could send the diagram.

    eddcen@gmail.com

    Thanks!

  3. Eddie Perez says:

    Nice to see the Valley on here! :P
    KUDOS!

  4. Ryan says:

    so is this just PVC pipe standing up with LED tape stuck to it?

  5. Antonio says:

    HI Andrew, I forgot to ask if you could send the diagram.

    anthonyvalenz@gmail.com

    thanks.
    God Bless.

  6. Hey Andrew,

    Great design and even better, thanks for all the product links! Could you send me the wiring diagram as well? I think this is a great way to get into using LED tape.

    christian@trygrace.org

    Godspeed,

    Christian

  7. Jeremy says:

    This looks amazing. Would you mind sending me a diagram and specifics?

    Thanks so much,
    Jeremy

  8. How goes Andrew? Really cool design. Would you be able to email me diagrams and specs as well (to andrew@lifechurchlv.org) ??

    Thanks much, Andrew Kelley

  9. Ozzie De la Cruz says:

    Hello Andrew, could you email me the design at ozieldelacruz@gmail.com

  10. Manuel Vallejo says:

    Hey Andrew, Great Design Idea! Could you email be the diagram specifics at manuelv4@yahoo.com. Thanks

  11. Dan Grueber says:

    Andrew,

    We’ve been using LED tape for some time now and something we always ran into was voltage drop when connecting 2 LED strips together. If we ran pure white, the end of the second strand would take on a more green appearance.

    Did you guys run into this issue with these? We use the exact same LED tape you linked too and we just purchased the same power supply you linked to as well and still have the same result. Our DMX boxes I believe are the same. Did you only run maximum of 1 strand off each DMX or did you do seperate wire runs to each strand from the DMX boxes? Any advice would be awesome because we are tired of beating our heads against the wall.

    Thanks,

    Dan

  12. Nate says:

    Hi Andrew, if you get a chance could you email the design diagram?

    nate@wordandworship.org

  13. Domenic says:

    Could you send me the diagram as well? Thanks Andrew, this looks rad!

  14. Jed says:

    Hi, can I please have the diagram. Jedonhismac@me.com

    Thanks
    Jed

  15. Isaiah Magana says:

    Hey Andrew can I get a diagram sent to me. Great design. isaiah@journeychristian.org

  16. Luke Still says:

    Andrew Any chance I could get the diagram as well? Trying to use this idea for a camp coming up!!!

    Luke.still@gbcfl.org

  17. Parker says:

    Hey Andrew this is incredible! Could I get the diagram as well that others have been asking for? And are all the links to Amazon all the supplies needed? My email is: parker@graceevan.org

  18. Dan says:

    Hey this looks amazing! Can you email me the diagram? Danplants24@gmail.com

  19. Moses says:

    Amazing. I would love to try this please could you send me the diagram please my email is mosesogbeche@gmail.com

  20. Kris says:

    I have a question about the “Youth” sign in the middle. What do you have going on there? ow did you make that and light it?

    Thanks!

  21. Todd says:

    Can you email me the diagram as well?

    Looks fantastic!

  22. Tim says:

    Not sure if your still looking at this feed…but if you are I’d quite like the diagram. email is nunnen@gmail.com

  23. Áron says:

    Hi, I love this!
    Could you send the diagram to me also?
    Hope I’m not too late to the party.

    varga.aaron.bme@gmail.com

  24. Austin says:

    Can I get a diagram? Thank you so much!
    austingay9720@gmail.com

  25. Austin says:

    Can I get a diagram? I would really appreciate it! thank you so much!
    austingay9720@gmail.com

  26. Cazylock says:

    Hey there! I’d love a diagram! Thanks for you hard work!

    cazylock@hotmail.com

  27. Garrett Ivey says:

    Hey! This is great! Can I get the wiring diagram please?

    garrett.ivey@tworiverschurch.org

  28. Jorge says:

    This is amazing! Would you guys be able to send the diagram to me as well. My email is jorge@newlifeaz.net I appreciate your help, and thank you!

  29. gurpreet singh says:

    this is amazing bro i want to know how to made youth letter must reply….

  30. Laneil Worker says:

    Hey Andrew! This looks amazing! Could you send me the diagram and the product links? Thanks brother!

  31. Jamie Contreras says:

    Oooo I love this!!! Could you send me the diagram?
    Thank you!!

  32. Nic Guptill says:

    This looks awesome! Could I get the diagram sent to my email? Would love to use it as inspiration. nic.guptill@thejchurch.com

  33. Jonathan Nichols says:

    This looks so good!!! Would you be able to email me the diagram? Thanks you!! jnichols@wwfgchurch.com

  34. Telvin Boateng says:

    Great works for God. Awesom Andy.
    Can you send me the diagram here btelvink@yahoo.com. thank you man God bless you

  35. Frank Rogan says:

    Hello. I could use your insights with the diagram. Please share it with me on rogananjili@gmail.com

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