WHAT'S COMING IN 2011?
(As of August 2011)
Planning for the 2011 season has just begun. As has become something of a tradition, more lights were purchased the day after Christmas, and the total number of lights that I own is now sitting just above 50,000. Only about 40 to 45 Thousand of those will be used in the display, which is expected to draw almost, if not over, 125 amps of power with all lights on. Although last year was a large jump in channels, from 32 to 96, this year will only see another 32 channels added. With the plan that is in place right now, that will give me somewhere around 5 free channels, which hopefully will remain open. (Even though I know I'll find something else to plug in...)
Thankfully the power requirements for the display will be just barely satisified with the 6 dedicated circuits that were added last year plus the exising two circuits in the basement and two in the garage. There should be no need for additional circuits, although I will need to be very careful and exact as I distribute lights and controllers between circuits.
The design for the display is close to finalized. It contains elements from last year's display, some totally new things, and also a few things from 2011's Christmas in July.