Welcome!
This site is about my personal Christmas Lighting display.
Brad's Christmas Lights is a music synchronised display that has been custom built using the latest in digital LED pixel lighting technology.
You can also "Get your Name in Lights! via this website by scanning the QR Code on the letterbox. Enter your name and it will appear on the house roof* - all in real-time and in sequence with the light show.
2023 Update:After a few quieter years recently, the Lights will be on from December 1st until Xmas! Check-out the facebook page for latest details.
See below for more details about my display.
Visitor Information
Please also consider the following to make your visit as enjoyable as possible:
When is the best time to visit?
Many displays - including this one - will get busier as Christmas approaches. Plan your Christmas Light visiting earlier in the month to avoid missing out! Also with the Summer storms around, it's often best to get in before there's a week of rain!
Watch the Videos
Each year I video my Christmas Lights and these can be found on the video page of this website.
You'll also find other Christmas Light related videos on my YouTube page.
Technical Specifications
As of Christmas 2021:
F.A.Q.
- How big is your electricity bill?
- The entire display only adds about $1 per night to the power bill. I'll spend more on cable ties.
- How much power do you use?
- LED lights use very little power. Doing the ironing will actually use double the power than this entire display. For the nerds we are talking ~1500Watts when all LEDs are on (vs 2400W for an Iron). Power consumption varies greatly during the show as not all lights are on at once. Displaying a single primary colour (like red, blue, or green) also reduces the load as their other two colours (to mix) aren't required.
- How long does did it take to setup?
- Many of the elements within the display are pre-built during the year (or built in previous years). Physical assembily & testing on the house takes about three weeks during November.
- How long does it take to sequence the lights to music?
- Each song takes approximately ten hours per minute of music to sequence. Yup it is a slow process of mapping various effects out to each bar of music within the song. This process is then repeated for each element in the display - be it the roofline, Christmas tree, front garden edge, etc.
- What do you do for a living?
- I'm in IT, working in System Operations, Networking and similar Level 3 tech support fun.
- What sort of LED's change colour like this?
- Unlike your normal store-bought Christmas Lights, digital LEDs "Pixels" are fully programmable so each one can be programmed for its own colour & brightness. Every LED pixel node is numbered and their physical location is programmed in to sequencing software that is used animate the lighting effects.
- How does the interactive Wi-Fi aspect work?
- In 2013, Brad added the Wi-Fi hotspot where visitors can get their name in lights.
This involved coding custom computer software for two systems...
A) to dynamically modify the show on-the-fly so the names would appear, and
B) web portal software for visitors to interact with in order to request their name. On top of this is a database-driven system backend to manage/filter/coordinate requests.
Then on top there's the IT side of networking it to the Wi-Fi captive portal.
In 2021, this system was upgraded/converted to an Internet accessible site via QR code login. - Can I pay you to do my house?
- Nope.
As professional as my display looks, this is merely my hobby. My own display already takes considerable time & effort to organise, on top of already working full-time! - How can I learn to build a display like this?
- Checkout the AusChristmasLighting 101 Manual on the AusChristmasLighting forums, a community of like-minded Christmas Lighting Enthusiasts. You will require a technical background (or desire to learn) as these displays are far more complicated than just plugging in a few sets of lights. :)
- How should I start out doing some simple Christmas Lights?
- Start out by using the lights to outline your house, eg: gutter, around front windows, then roofline if you like climbing on the roof. If you don't like heights you can always shine a coloured light up a wall or tree from the ground too!
- Does the radio station / Christmas Light competition pay you to do lights?
- Not at all. (unless I were to win!)
- Do you get a discount on the power bill?
- I wish. Reality is I use more power in winter modestly using the A/C on heat
- Why aren't my lights on in the rain?
- Two reasons. 1. My lights are not the same as your normal cheap Christmas Lights from the shop. Whilst I design everything to be waterproof I'd rather not risk damaging them considering... 2. Since the street is narrow, road safety is also of concern whilst it's raining.
- Why don't you leave the lights all night?
- A display this size draws crowds and requires constant supervision. I'll be the first person to say that I don't want to hear extra traffic at midnight whilst trying to sleep too!
- Why is the music so quiet?
- Volume of the speakers is often reduced when there isn't many people around. Volume will often be reduced if any spectators are too noisy.
- Are you authorised to fundraise?
- Yes. Letter of fundraising authority will be attached to the letterbox.
- How long have you been putting up your Christmas Lights?
- Since 1998
- How long have you been computer controlling Christmas Lights?
- Since 2002
- Where do you get/buy the 'name in lights' thing?
- You can't. This is entirely custom programmed via 1000's lines of code to create custom software for this task. Believe it or not one Christmas Light vendor actually told me they've had multiple inquires about it!
- How does the 'name in lights' system prevent swear words from appearing on the roof!?
- There is a database which contains a 'whitelist' of 131,000+ known first names. The system also knows many 'nasty' words - and will auto-ban any one accordingly in self-defence!
- Are you in the 4KQ Christmas Lights Competition?
- Nope!
- Aren't you worried about someone stealing your screen on the garage?
- The LED Matrix screen on the garage is taken inside each night. I would've made it even bigger - but i had to factor the weight/portability of moving each night!
- I can't make it because I'm too busy with my own Christmas Light display
- Special arrangements can be considered for fellow Christmas Lighters whom are trapped supervising their own large displays
- Where do you get your sequences from?
- All LED light (Vixen/xLight software) sequencing/timings is orignal work. (Obviously I didn't make the actual music/video that the lights are synchronised against.)
- What do you think about purchased synchronised sequences being used in competitions?
- Using pre-made/purchased sequence templates is a huge time saving. I personally believe the use of such content in any competition should be disclosed to judging panels so this can be factored accordingly. After all, most people have no idea the sale of pre-made sequencing content is now even a thing! (Here's an example sequence that I could've purchased and just 'remapped' to my display.)
- Do the lights run all night?
- Definiately not!
- MEDIA Enquiries
- Any media enquiries are welcome.
- Will Brad be around for questions whilst we are visiting the display?
- Of course! If I'm not already out the front, I won't be far away.