- 1). Purchase an eight-channel controller from your local hardware store or online or, for a slightly more professional result, an Olsen 595 controller with optional SSR (solid state relay). Use a separate SSR if the controller you buy does not already come with one integrated into it. Add extra controllers if you wish to add more than eight zones of lights, since one eight-channel controller controls eight zones, as the name suggests.
- 2). Build a set of modified power strips. Cut the cord of one power strip with wire cutters, and identify a black wire, green wire and white wire inside the cut cable. Remove a 1/2 inch or so of the plastic sheath around each wire using a razor blade. Cut the male end off a 20-foot two-prong extension cord using the wire cutters. Use the razor blade to strip a 1/2 inch of plastic sheath. Run the edge of your wire strippers along each of the three wires to expose the metallic surfaces.
- 3). Create a break in the electricity by adding a specialized extension cord. To do this, you must take note of a completely smooth wire and a wire with small notches running along its length coming from the 20-foot two-prong extension cord. Fit a wing nut to the notched wire. Attach the wing nut wire to the black wire in the piece of cord you cut off with the wire cutters, which has three prongs. Use a second wing nut to connect the smooth wire coming out of the extension cord to the black wire at the power strip end. Connect both white wires together and both green wires together using wing nuts. Tighten the wing nuts using an adjustable wrench. Wrap each joint up with electrical tape.
- 4). Connect the controller to your home computer using a printer cable. Power it from a 12-volt DC adapter, which can plug directly into your mains electricity supply. Use DMX (digital multiplex, the industry standard computer programming language) to set up communication between your computer and the controller. DMX512 protocols are used for professional stage lighting rigs, and their effectiveness comes from their 512 dimmer channel circuitry, as explained by On Stage Lighting.
- 5). Purchase a DMX Dongle with USB cable. Connect it to the USB port on your computer. Program the Dongle to accept DMX using firmware, a type of software which can be downloaded from the Internet that is designed to be loaded into the controller to enable it to function properly. Connect the Dongle to your computer using the printer port so the computer can effectively generate DMX code to run the controller. Connect the Dongle to the controller using a category five network cable.
- 6). Make sure each lighting zone or large single light has its own power supply. Connect the different power cables from the zones to one or more power strips (also called four-ways). Use power cords, also called "kettle leads," and extension cords to send power to the various components. Create a circuit between the controller and the Christmas lights you wish to animate, such as your lasers, snow machines, tree lights or robotic lights using the cables that come with each light. Connect them together using extension cords if necessary. Use the SSRs to act as safety switches so that the instant electrical connection between your home's power supply and the outdoor lighting circuits is broken and can only be activated when the relay closes, which is the part of the process controlled by the DMX code.
- 7). Build a small safety box around the controller since it is dangerous to touch when the system is in operation. A plastic or rubberized box material should be used to dampen the current flowing through it to the outside. Use any plastic or rubber box structure that fits, or buy one from a hardware store since the design of the box is not important as long as it provides adequate coverage of the whole controller unit.
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