Light-O-Rama Controller Setup

Unpackaging and easy sett up of a Light-O-Rama CTBPC-16 Christmas light controller. Purchased 4 new controllers for my 2011 Christmas show as part of the Light-O-Rama March Mad Grab spring sale where they sell off their inventory after the Christmas season.

Needed:
* PC running Light-O-Rama S2 Software
* USB to 485 Converter
* USB Cable
* RJ45 Ethernet cable

[rustygriswold]

I've been sitting on the fence to see if I should make the leap and buy this controller. LOR owes you commission as I'm now going to buy the unit thanks to this video. Thank you for putting together this tutorial.

[NGIEharrison]

New to LOR, i just bought my starter kit and this tutorial made my life easy ! Thank you so much !

[joefarrell]

dude, it took 5 minutes to set up just like you said it would... don't listen to the haters, your video was dead on. thanks a

[metalchic]

THANK YOU SO MUCH JOHN, YOU'VE INSPIRED ME TO TRY AGAIN AND MAKE MY LIGHT O RAMA WORK. It had been sitting in my garage since I bought it 3 years ago. You make it very easy to figure out, Kudos!!

[ModelBoatMayhemPhotos]

Great video John.
.... Just be extra care everyone, that's FULL mains voltage floating around inside that box!

[noahchapman]

Thank you, you are my new favorite person I’ve always wanted to make a light show but didn’t know how

[randyschatz]

Christmas 2020 and I just used your video to program my second controller. Thanks for the help! =)

[ValerieSmith]

Thank you for making a video that is simple and to the point. It answered lots of my questions in a very short time :-)

[hasabigrock]

That is a good question. Thing is there are 2 main things you do with the LOR SW. 1 - Developing the sequences. For this a beefy computer is not required, but handy. You can sequence on a crappy computer, but the visualization does better on a faster one. 2 - Running the show. I use a very low-end netbook that can barely run a browser and it runs the shows fine. What you have listed will handle both.

[bonesattain]

Extremely helpful. Thank you for this!

[jwnewman]

John, How long do you think it will be before this sort of light show is done on a larger scale? For example A Navy Aircraft Carrier, Chi Town (Chicago), or New York City! Yea its a hell of a lot of led lights and labor but if we can build things of this size, I'm sure they can be lit up. - just a thought or a challenge?

[listentoourlights]

@jenny91763 Pretty much this box is only sold from the manufacturer Light-O-Rama. They do have some partners, but I don't think they have special pricing. You can sometimes find them used, but you have to be careful that it was not put together from a kit or that the previous owner didn't modify the unit. Each year after Christmas they do a clearance sale, then in the summer they do another sale as well. This is the best way to get a good price.

[Thunderstarln]

Dear Mr. John, I have been watching your video. I have connect my light o rama to my computer. The green light in the controller is blinking. However, when i play the sequence the light is not blinking. Am i missing something?

[NoahCarbonePoker]

Thank you! First time user and you made it super simple!

[pauljohnson]

Yes they can be used with a MP3 people do it every day.

[listentoourlights]

Light-O-Rama controllers can fade in and out.

[listentoourlights]

@QuesoJim The Light-O-Rama S3 software only runs on Windows XP or newer.

[VinslomBardy]

What’s the purpose of the 2 x 120 VAC inputs? Is it designed to load-share using two separate circuits?

[IamSamdelacruz]

this is freaking awesome. I really thought it was more difficult.
One question, do you have to use LED lights? Last year i purchased a bunch of regular xmas lights on special and would hate to throw them away and have to reinvest on new LED lights.

[listentoourlights]

@killbert3 I have never setup an 8 channel controller, so I'm not sure. I would imagine it would be very close.