The 5V pixel strings need to be pushed into the coro. This is more difficult than it looks! Use gardening gloves or a pixel-pusher (yes they exist!).
The order in which the pixels are loaded into the coro is important otherwise the software patterns won't work correctly. The numbering is provided in the Xlights software. Details in a later post.
Connecting the cables
After mounting the coro ornaments, the 12V strings and the floodlights (with lots of cable ties!), the next task was to connect up the power cables (2 wires) and the control cable (1 wire).
I bought a cable crimping tool and a box of assorted crimping connectors from eBay. I bought some other connectors from Bunnings and Jaycar which were more expensive but I noticed that the connectors from eBay were made with much thinner copper which is probably why they often didn't make a strong grip on the wire.
These are the connections to be made:
I my design I didn't use any injection, so only the first diagram applied.
The biggest challenge and the most time-consuming part of the process was getting a 3-way connection on the 'fat' power cable. I tried a number of techniques (soldering cables of this size is very difficult) and the best was a three-way crimp connector I found in the box of connectors from eBay.
I joined the control cable with smaller crimp connectors. Next time I think I will solder these cables as it provides a much more reliable connection and is easy to do with these thin cables, and I can use heatshrink. Elsewhere I have tried using heatshrink with silicon sealant in each end to form a waterproof seal and it seems to work well.
Some photos of the end result.
The snowflake
The candy cane
Connection to a flood and string
Floodlight on the house
Floodlight on the garage door
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