How do I create special effects with strobe
lights?
Of all the lighting effects at PlanetChristmas, the most dramatic...
and the most talked about is when the strobe lights kick in. It's
like being at a rock concert when the entertainer first walks out on
stage and everyone with a camera takes a picture... lights flash, almost
all at once from many different directions.
I
use a variety of strobe lights, most are cheap "curtain strobes" which
range between $7-15 a piece. Each typically flashes at the rate of
once a second. (a source for these is
Visual Effects, Inc. or
Christmas Light Show whose strobes are already modified) I
change out one resistor to make it flash about twice a second. See
the yellow pictures. I then wire 20 of these in parallel, spaced
three to five feet apart on lamp cord and then drape the "strobe light
string" all over a tree. When you turn on the string, it's very
dramatic. 
The resistor (where the red arrow is pointing) is replaced with a
2.2M 1/4 watt version which doubles the frequency of the strobe to about
twice a second. Playing with the value of this resistor changes
how fast the light blinks.
Don't get too creative and make the strobe housing absolutely
waterproof. No matter what you do, water will get inside the unit
and then you have a bigger problem because the water can't escape and
will short out the circuitry. Just assume water will get in so
provide a way for the water to drain out naturally at the bottom of the
fixture.
The
picture to the right shows a tree with a bunch of strobe lights in it
(the blue-white dots). Put 10-20 strobes, spaced five feet apart
on one length of wire and drape the strobes in a tree. When they
turn on, everyone will go WOW!
Another
trick is to put a lot of strobes in your yard. I use electrical
tape and attach a couple of long nails to the base of each strobe so it
can be punched into the ground, yet keep it above the grass and
moisture. I have several strings of 20 spaced across the yard.
The computer will sequentially turn each group on for a few seconds so
it looks like the lights are moving as a wave across the yard.
