If you haven’t begun already, you’re most likely about to dive into setting up your Christmas light display very soon. As I was setting up my own display, I decided to think about different tips and tricks that would help you set up your display more easily, and want to share them here with you.

With the holidays coming, you don’t want to have to spend all of your time setting up a Christmas display. So, with organization, planning, and prep work you are able to cut down the setup time so that it won’t be nearly as time consuming!

In this post, we’re going to cover tips and tricks that will make the setup experience easier and help save you time so that you can spend more time doing what you want to do.

#1 Label, Label, Label

My first and foremost suggestion is to label, label everything. Labeling all of you cables will definitely make the whole setup process so much more simple in the long run.

What should start labeling exactly? My recommendation is that any time you have a cable or a wire coming out of a control box, label the pigtail with the number of the output of the controller. The same would go for the power injections, you can just label them as power.

I decided to use a more industrial label maker since most of the equipment will b outdoors and the labels tend to stick much better. The Dymo Ryno is what I decided to use and I love it. But you can use any label maker or even consider the Klein Book which is a label book for numbers and available just about anywhere.

With everything properly labeled, I didn’t have to keep going back and forth to the controllers to see what was what. Labeling everything kept it organized and I knew exactly what belonged where.

Next, I decided to label the control boxes as well and used letters A, B, C, and so on. This was also simple and helps keep things in order.

2. If It’s the Same, It’s the Same

My next tip for an easy setup may be contested by others but if it’s the same then it’s the same. What do I mean by that?

When it comes to individual extensions that go to your lights, controllers, or receivers and they are truly the same and interchangeable then I wouldn’t concern yourself with trying to differentiating them.

In the extensions, ports, and plugs are the same and interchangeable then you don’t need to worry about trying to remember the difference between them.

3. Make a Drawing or Sketch

This brings my next suggestion which is make a drawing or sketch of your house and setup.

With having an outline, I marked where the controllers, props, pixels, would be placed. Along with a map key so that I could reference what I was labeling. I even marked with arrows the direction of lights.

It helped having this because I knew where my equipment would be plugged in, the power sources, an the flow of the setup.

4. Keep Things Neat and Tidy

My last suggestion plays more into the actual tear down stage but some organization before hand will make the entire process much more simple.

When wrapping up cables, I recommend using ties or a bungee ball to help keep your wires and cables organized.

I like to use these bungee balls because it does keep everything organized and they are reusable.

Keeping your cables and wires nice and neat definitely makes the tear down part very easy to manage. You want to take the time to make sure everything is labeled and organized so that it helps save you time and frustration in the long run.