Thread: LED placement and type used with your IZOMBIE or FIREFLY lightning gen

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So I am in the market for an I-ZOMBIE or Lights Alive Firefly. I am curious to learn not how many people have them and how they deploy them in the field. For example, I have (5) 25' high pin oaks spaced 30' apart in my front yard. I would like to uplight each tree and also have maybe 3 seperate LED lights pointed towards the house. I am unsure which LED's to buy as well as the fixture to place them in. I have heard from at least one source to get a 50 to 75 LED for the trees and 75 to 125 for the house. I also want to put them in a shielded fixture so the ligth cannot be seen from the side which may cause blinding or light bleed.

Any suggestions?

PS- Lights Alive sells their own brand of LED which is priced at an insane price of about $250 per light. THAT is not reasonable. Especially when I need 8 seperate white or cool white LED's.

I have the same issue. I am currently using two Christmas tree FX boxes (which work fantastic) with halogen spots in stake lights. These bulbs are not "white" enough for me though. Minions Web has LED spot lights for around $55, but I'm not sure if I want to spend the money this year since I need four of them. Any cheaper suggestions to get through the season would be appreciated. BTW I have my lightning going for the whole month of October, so a bulb with a short life span is out of the question...

So that one source I was referring to happens to be Minions. Corey is a nice guy. He responded to my question with several options for me. I am convinced I am going with 72 to 120 LED's over halogens. What I am not convinced about is the need for the zipline or whatever he sells to connect the lights together. I might just run several long extention cords that I can buy cheap from costco or online. I also want to place the LED's in a more robust, weatherproff ground fixture. Maybe one with some sort of shield too so that tot's can't see the light from the side.

I bought the firefly a few years ago and absolutely love it. So much so that I bought two!

Here's what I did for lights. I used some of the cheap aluminum clamp on light fixtures and two photo flash bulbs. It's a very bright white and looked pretty authentic to me. Plus they were a lot cheaper than par lights.

Originally Posted by Dminor

I bought the firefly a few years ago and absolutely love it. So much so that I bought two!

Here's what I did for lights. I used some of the cheap aluminum clamp on light fixtures and two photo flash bulbs. It's a very bright white and looked pretty authentic to me. Plus they were a lot cheaper than par lights.

Which photo flash bulbs did you use? How long do they last? I hear that photo bulbs will explode if they get wet...any issues with that? I keep my lightning going all throughout the month of October...so I need bulbs that are going to last. I was strongly considering getting the Minions Web 120 LED Cool White bulb. They are about $50 a piece but claim to be weather proof, give off the "blue arc" white light, and have a 40,000 hour life span. Has anyone ever used these?

I used a bulb similar to this one: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...500W_120V.html but never left it outside to potentially get wet. Then again, as a San Fernando Valley resident, I rarely worry about inclement weather.

Because the lightning strikes are so infrequent or non-constant (for lack of a better word) I'm able to use the same bulbs from last year without any issue.

If weatherproofing is a major consideration for you, I'd definitely look into the Minion's bulbs. I've never used them, but everything else I've ever purchased from Corey has been excellent.

Originally Posted by Kngtmre

Which photo flash bulbs did you use? How long do they last? I hear that photo bulbs will explode if they get wet...any issues with that? I keep my lightning going all throughout the month of October...so I need bulbs that are going to last. I was strongly considering getting the Minions Web 120 LED Cool White bulb. They are about $50 a piece but claim to be weather proof, give off the "blue arc" white light, and have a 40,000 hour life span. Has anyone ever used these?

I am considerign buying 8 lights from Corey. 6 72led and 2 120led. Still not certain yet but close. Let me know if you order them too.

I just purchased my FireFly this year and I am still working out the details on lights and placement. I think I have the speaker situation resolved. My brother-in-law is in a couple of bands and they have some extra speakers and mixing board. It's going to rock! I set up the FireFly for a test run a couple of weeks ago using four 100w floods. (Used what I had.) I did not like the results. They were to yellow, which I expected, and didn't provide enough umph in my opinion. I just purchased 4 LED strobes. I hope they can provide a better punch for my next test run. Here is the link for the lights I purchased.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LED-Techno-S...43721028711972

If anyone has video of their lightning, could you please post it to help out the rest of us? Thanks.

I have the 501. Could not be more pleased. I made some light boxes last year and mounted them high. One at the peak of the house and the other off the top of the garage off a tall pole. I used 3 100 watt GE pure white bulbs. I will post a video of last years event.

Thanks Porter. Once my strobes arrive I will have a go at another test run. Hopefully, with better results.