Conical WLED pixel tree halfway to lighting up

Oct 12, 2026 Last reply: 3 hours ago 3 Replies
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The number that jumped out at me was the price: 100 metres of pixels for just over £100, and those pixels are already scrolling horizontal rainbow and multi-coloured bands even though the build is only halfway there. That is a lot of animated tree for the money.



The structure looks well thought through. A central vertical metal pole sits on a base hub, ringed by a circular white pipe perimeter, and vertical strands of addressable RGB nodes run from a top cap down to that ring, held with black fasteners. The frame mixes PEX, metal conduit and PETG printed parts, and a megatree print was modified for the mounting. The connectors where the LEDs attach to the PEX were printed as well, and the maker followed the megatree guide for the pole and perimeter sizes. Each string stands 2m tall.



The electronics plan is tidy. There are 1280 12v seed pixels in total, arranged as two big segments of 640 with three power injections along each one. A domraem esp32 controller, described as a gledopto knock off, is fed by a 20a 12v PSU. Wagos split the power to the injection lines, homemade T junctions sit along the bottom, and three-pin wire bridges the bigger gaps there. Splitting the LEDs across two channels keeps each within the controller's 800 per channel limit. A small enclosure clamped to the lower pole carries the wiring, and a part at the top lets guide ropes be attached.



The open question is the weather. The tree is meant to live outside, and waterproofing rests on the joints and connectors being done correctly, which is not yet confirmed. Months of planning went in before any assembly, so I would expect that detail to get the same care.


Splitting the 1280 pixels into two channels of 640 seems like a smart call to me. It keeps both segments comfortably under the 800 LED per channel ceiling instead of riding right at the edge, and it lines up neatly with the three injection points per segment. The trade-off is more wiring at the bottom, but the T junctions and wire bridges look like they handle that.

I am curious about the printed connectors that hold the LEDs to the PEX. How do they grip the pixel nodes, and are the black fasteners a separate part or moulded into the same print? Getting that attachment right matters doubly here since the waterproofing depends on the joints, so I would love to know how the maker approached it.

Before this tree spends its first night outside, I would suggest a deliberate water test of the joints and connectors, since the waterproofing is not confirmed yet. A hose over the top cap and lower enclosure would show any weak points while everything is still easy to reach and reseal. Given the maker spent months planning, a wet rehearsal seems well worth an afternoon.

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