Greg Macaree

Beginners Course ’26 – #1 What do I need ?

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Welcome to my first video of 2026.

This starts the new ’26 Training Course to help you get up & running in pixel lighting ready for the 2026 autumn season (Halloween and Christmas). Over the next 20ish weeks we’ll take you from Zero to Hero so you’re proficient and ready to take on your own show.

xLights software is available from https://xlights.org

Our Raffall Competition to win a Baldrick B17 Controller runs until the end of Feb ’26. Find our more at https://raffall.com/408576/enter-raffle-to-win-baldrick-b17-pixel-controller-hosted-by-gregmacaree

It’s a Wrap! – the end of the year – Well done everyone!

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A quick wrap-up show for the end of the year…

I’ll be back on the 18th Jan with a new starter series to get the newbies up & running.
Have a great Christmas & New Year with family & friends and don’t forget to like, share subscribe – and tick that notifications bell so you know when we get going again!.

Merry Christmas!

Greg

Native 12v volt pixels for bigger props ?

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If you’ve bought a new HD prop and are struggling with power distribution around the prop, then 4-Wire GS8208 Pixels might be the answer.
We look at the current utilisation between legacy WS2811 Resistor pixels vs the 4-wire versions and then setup a 500 node string using power balancing to complete the setup.

Thanks to Build a Light Show ( https://buildalightshow.com ) for sending me the pixels used in this video.

DNS – Domain Name System & xLights

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Hey everyone, and welcome! Ever wonder how you type in https://www.google.com/and your computer instantly knows where to find Google’s massive server? It’s not magic, it’s the DNS—the Domain Name System! Think of it as the internet’s phonebook. In this video we discuss how it works and how in might be useful in your show setup.

DHCP Reservations > Static IPs (Here’s Why)

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If you’ve ever set a static IP on a device and later wondered why your network suddenly stopped working… this video is for you.

Today I’ll show you why using a DHCP reservation is almost always smarter than manually setting a static IP address.

What You’ll Learn:

The difference between static IPs and DHCP reservations.
Why static IPs can cause conflicts and connection issues
How DHCP reservations keep your network organized
Why troubleshooting is way easier with reservations

Hardware: Updating Firmware on Kulp & Falcon Controllers

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In this weeks video we take a look at how to upgrade the firmware on Kulp and Falcon boards.
We explain why it might be needed, how to get the files and then how to apply the updates using a Kulp K-16 and a Falcon F16 (with Srx1 v5) as examples.

Kulp Firmware from: https://kulplights.com/firmwares/
Falcon Firmware from https://github.com/Pixelcontroller/f16v5_issues/tree/main

From Workshop to Parade: Ramblers & Wick Carnival Clubs Build Their Bridgwater Carts

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Go behind the scenes of Bridgwater Carnival like never before! 🎇
We follow Ramblers Carnival Club and Wick Carnival Club inside the workshop as they design, weld, build, paint and wire up their incredible carnival carts ready for the big night.

From giant set pieces and flashing lights to late-night fixes and final touches — this is the real craftsmanship, dedication and passion that makes Bridgwater Carnival the biggest illuminated carnival in Europe. 🔥

If you love creativity, engineering, music, community and pure spectacle… you’re in the right place.

📍 Filmed in Bridgwater & Glastonbury, Somerset
🎉 Featuring: Ramblers Carnival Club & Wick Carnival Club
✨ Event: Bridgwater Guy Fawkes Carnival

Improving Wifi on Raspberry Pi running FPP.

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https://youtu.be/JOIMpAw_klc

In this weeks video we take a look at how the Raspberry Pi could be seen as having slightly limiting Wifi performance – especially when used in an enclosure with power supplies, controller etc.
We add an external USB wifi adapter, with a removable antenna which can then be mounted outside the case for optimal performance.
Finally, I demonstrate how to disable the internal (onboard) wifi in software so that it cannot inadvertantly come back into use.

Notes:

Look for a USB Ethernet adapter (preferably with removable antenna) based on the RTL8812BU Chipset.

Pi-Config change:
edit /boot/firmware/config.txt
and append:
dtoverlay=disable-wifi

Save & reboot.

Normalising your Audio Levels for FPP and xSchedule.

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In this weeks video we take a look at how music from different sources can end up at different volume levels and what we need to do to fix it – so that we have a nice quality audio level across the whole show.
We demonstrate the use of MP3Gain within FPP v9.2 and for more advanced users, or those running xSchedule we look at using Audacity to normalise the files before uploading.

Audacity is a freeware music editing tool and is available from: https://www.audacityteam.org/download/

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