Designs/Ideas

A "megatree" is simply a display of lights shaped into the general form of a triangular pine tree. There is no "right" or "wrong" way to make one -- it's completely up to the whim of the DIY'er. The only overriding ideas everyone should use in making a megatree are (1) electrical safety and (2) physical safety so it doesn't fall down.

• A Basic Megatree

Here's an example of a simple but effective 360° megatree and the general design idea the individual used to make the tree. It used 24 strings of LEDs (8 red, 8 blue, 8 green); the height and base diameter of the tree was dictated by the lengths of the LED strings (32'/string): the midpoints of the strings were looped over hooks at the top of the tree and simply zip-tied to a PVC ring base. The ring base was staked to the ground in 8 places for safety. No guy wires were used to hold the tree vertical as the 24 strings (48 verticals zip-tied to the base ring) provided adequate strength to keep the tree vertical. A single, 24-channel A/C controller operated the 24 LED strings around the perimeter of the tree. The topper star added another 2' onto the center pole and several short sections of white lights were wrapped around the pole. The topper star and pole used a separate 16-channel A/C controller. The center pole was made of four, 4' fiberglass sections of military surplus tent poles. The controllers were placed inside the base ring. The tree was easy to animate, fairly easy to assemble every year (2 persons required).