Cherry Tree Lights

About Cherry Tree Lights

Cherry tree lights came about from a challenge by the neighbors to get some Xmas spirit.

Since 2011 a morphasis to our little court in Doncaster East, has been taking place.

Most of our court residents do some form of Xmas lighting which makes our court one of the most lit during the month of December.

2011 : I started out with just some normal Xmas lights bought from Big W and Bunings. At the end of that Xmas I    knew I had to do more, so I started making displays out of coreflute. This took up a lot of time, but I found that I had a lot of enjoyment out of planning and making the displays.

2013 : after stumbling on an Xmas forum I found out about pixels.  With many hours of research I decided that this was the way to go. Gradually I have moved on to intelligent pixels which allow for more control over each light.

2016 : I sequenced the lights to music. I did 3 songs that year, and another in

2017. I had a lot of technical difficulties as I tried to introduce a Raspberry Pi to control the shows.

2018 : I sequenced 2 songs to some “singing faces” and did another song with the lights. It all worked out.

2019 : I added 6 new sequences as well as moving the mega tree, matrix sign, singing faces, adding 3 more floods, a 46 inch star to replace my roof spinner,  10 stars on the lawn and some vertical elements.

Some stuff was retired this year, which will make my construction a bit easier.

2020 : I will be changing my 2 signs into P5 and P10 panels. My previous horizontal sign that sat at the bottom of the gable, will now use the P10 panels from my old 2×3 sign. These will be a 1×6 setup and run of a BBB and octoscroller The 2×3 sign will be made up of P5 panels and run off a BBB and octoscroller. It will allow for much more hi def images and text to be displayed. I plan to start the construction early in November, and get it all done and hopefully complete the troubleshooting on time, unlike last year. I have added 3 snowflakes as well this year. I am hoping that I can finally get my Raspberry Pi to control the show this year.

2021: Apologies for a lack of videos from 2020. The nights I got video were raining and I ended up with the drizzle coming straight towards me, which resulted in really crap video. This year I attended the Sydney mini where i bought a number of new props, including a singing Xmas tree and a number of snowflakes. These will be integrated into the display. There will also be 4 new songs and a bunch of useless Xmas facts.

When : From December 1

Sunday – Thursday 8:30pm-10:30pm

Friday – Saturday 8:30pm – 11:00pm

What :    Animated Xmas lighting

Where : Cherry Tree Court, 

              Doncaster East

              Victoria