Animated holiday light shows require you to be the following:

• A computer geek

• An amateur electronics guy

• A bit of an electrician

• Fluent in wood, metal, and coro work

• Knowledgeable about 3d layouts

• Own one or more 3d printers

• Possess excellent troubleshooting skills

• Exhibit incredible Patience

• Have a huge supply of zip ties.  In fact, when you think you have ordered enough zip ties, double the order.  Then add 20% more!

Or you can just reach out to Santa's Custom Shop!  We would love to consult with you on your dreams and provide whatever services you need to get up and running on time and on budget.  If you're just getting started, we could schedule some time on the phone with you to help get your game plan together.  (Mention you read this FAQ and get 50% off that initial phone consult!)  If you just do not have time to get those props together for your show, Santa's Custom can be your work horse to get it done.  If you hate soldering or the thought of having to put all those ends on those seed pixels makes you need a drink, let Santa's Lab do that meticulous work for you.  Of course, you can still have the drink!

That completely depends on what it is you need.  Custom length light strings generally have about a one week turn around, depending upon stock levels and the time of year.  Our standard props can usually be shipped out in about 7 to 10 days.  Custom props just depend upon the complexity and design requirements.  We can absolutely discuss it with you and make our best estimate up front.  And anything ordered between January 1 and September 30 will have a shipment guarantee.  From January 1 to July 31, if we do not ship your order within the time we commit to, you will receive a 10% refund on that order AND 10% off your next order with us.  Orders from August 1 to September 30 will have a 5% refund and next-order-discount if we miss the shipment estimate.  Unfortunately we cannot honor that shipment estimate after October 1 due to seasonality, although we still do everything possible to get your order out timely, knowing you need it for your shows.

Well, because it's Santa's CUSTOM Shop!  We have some standard props that we build and sell such as our Pebble Trees, PEX Arches, and PEX Ornaments, but our primary purpose is to take care of your custom needs.  If you need something you do not see listed, reach out to us.  So far there has not been anything we have not been able to come up with.  And we always love a good challenge.  

Simple, if it quits working correctly within two years of you receiving the item, send it back and we will replace it.  If it fails within 6 months, we will even cover the cost to ship it to us!  Obviously we cannot be responsible for things like wind, hail, or other weather damage.   If you  back over a prop or squirrels chew through your wires, we cannot really be responsible for that either.  But if lights quit working,  a power supply fails, a printed part breaks, or something that is a material defect in the electronics or the workmanship, we will make it right.  We not only want to keep you as a customer, but we want you to tell others about us.  

For those that do not know, Ray Wu is one of the three major manufacturers of RGB pixel lights, all of whom are from China.  I have personally worked with Ray for the past 10 years, buying directly from him that entire time.  I have found Ray to be a genuinely nice person.  More importantly, he has stood behind his product.  For example, many know about a major problem with all of the manufacturers that occured in 2019 and 2020 regarding the epoxy used to fill bullet nodes.  That particular year I had only ordered around 5,000 pixels and ended up not using them until two years later, well outside the standard warranty.  When I found they were faulty I reached out to Ray to see if he would consider a discount on the replacement of them.  Instead of a discount, he replaced the pixels and sent an additional 10% for the trouble I had experienced.  That is just one example.  

I have found his products to be very well designed and quite robust.  He has a line up that enables us to get various products for different needs and designs.  With all of this in mind, we have entered into an agreement with him where he will honor his warranty, even on products that we have custom built for our customers, for the full two years.  

Over the years we have used various light controllers.  Honestly, they have all been great and the manufacturers have always been good to work with.  Our products will generally work with any standard pixel controller on the market.  To be clear, we have no agreement or financial tie to Kulp Controllers, we just really like them!

Dan Kulp is one of the many developers of FPP and does quite a bit of the project coordination.  Because of his commitment to the project, he is able to drive a large amount of the development.  In our experience this has kept his controllers at the forefront of the market, utilizing all of the capabilities available.  In addition we have been able to utilize the DMX capabilities to expand our own show by putting DMX ports anywhere we have a controller, making cabling much, much better.  

You are certainly free to use whatever controller you prefer, but if you would like us to build a ready-to-run controller for you, it will be a Kulp controller.  As such, these are the only controllers we offer any support for as well.

The design of addressible pixels require the data signal flow in order, from the start of the line sequentially to the end.  The power to the line normally enters at the start of the string of lights and progresses with the data to the end.  The problem is that each light uses a bit of the energy along the way.  While most lights are 12 volts, the data chip inside each light requires 5 volts.  That means that the voltage has to be regulated or resisted from 12 to 5 at each light, which also eats up just a bit of power.  While each node only uses a small amount, when you put 50, 100, or more on a string, it adds up.  While you may have 12 volts at the start of the string, you will probably only have 9 or 10 volts at the end.  While the data can only flow one-way in the string, the power does not have that same restriction.  That is where power balancing comes in.

Santa's Custom Shop can add a pair of wires from the input connector to the output connector on your custom length strings.  This accomplishes two things.  One, by sending power in both directions, it becomes "balanced" across the string reducing any possibilities of dim lights or off-color white due to lower voltage.  Two, by placing full power at the output connector, this enables you to add additional strings of lights.  Kulp Controllers will support up to 800 pixels per channel at 40 frames per second.  If you do not power balance  (or inject), however, you will not be able to get more than about 200 bullets or 400 seeds before you run out of power.  

As an example, the mega tree in our show has 9,600 pebbles being run by a Kulp K8 controller with one four port receiver card for a total of 12 ports.  Do the math.  We run 800 pebbles on each pigtail coming out of the control box.  Each strand is 400 pebbles, 200 going up to the topper and 200 coming back down, and power balanced at the bottom.  The first strand connects to the second strand of 400, also power balanced.  And that's it.  No additional wires.  Setup is clean and quick.  

The same principle applies to our triple arches, our candy canes, our glow trees, our pixel sticks, our pixel forest stakes, our snow flakes, you name it.  By utilizing power balancing and dependable seeds and pebbles, we are able to get full use out of our controllers and power supplies.  Power balancing reduces your total cost while making setup much faster.  Please note this is NOT power injecting.  If you have a specific need for power injection, let us know and we can help with that as well.

Over the years we have used all sorts of light sources.  Having experienced the good and the bad, we have settled on seeds and pebbles as our preferred pixels.    If you are worried about all of the soldering required for custom lengths, well, that's where Santa's Custom Shop can help.  Custom length light strings are one of the many things we can help you with!  And all of our light strings, made exclusively of Ray Wu pixels, have a full two year warranty!