The majority of our show is run off a single Raspberry Pi for data.  We use the Falcon Pi Player, or FPP.  

What is a Falcon Pi Player?

The Falcon Pi Player starts out with a Raspberry Pi (think teeny tiny computer), and then adds some fantastic software from Falcon to make it able to manage our entire display

The above kit was $65 (as of Jan 2020), but you may be able to get better or cheaper options. The magic happens when you install the Falcon Pi Player (FPP) software onto this sucker.

What version of Raspberry Pi should I get?

Since I’m only writing this related to the equipment I’ll be selling, I can’t really answer that. In general, the newer the better. However, I’d highly recommend to read the forums to see if newer models work well. I am using Raspberry Pi 3 B+ (which I ordered back in 2018).

How do you turn a Raspberry Pi into a Falcon Pi Player (FPP)?

This is simply by adding the free software available on the Falcon website. There is a specific process and it has changed recently (for the better). But the best method is to go to the source: go to Falcon Christmas and look at the instructions on the Falcon forum on how to do this. So, follow their stuff.

Make a separate display network

We purposely create a separate Ethernet network just for our display.  This keeps the kiddos (and myself) happy with being able to run Netflix while the lights are running.  Although it may not be required, I think it’s a much cleaner method. 

The FPP is connecting to my main house network using a USB wifi dongle.  The FPP is also connected to the Christmas on Front Street (COFS) Router (hard-wired).  This allows me to connect to the FPP wirelessly from my phone on either my home network or my Christmas display network.

The COFS router is used to distribute the wired connections to all the Falcon F16 controllers (we’ll get to those in another post).  These controllers would then be wired directly to the 12V RGB lights.  

Minor note: I show different router styles for my main house router and my display router. You can easily use the same style one. These are simply the exact ones I use. I typically will upgrade my home router, and then use the old version for my display.

What’s on the FPP?

The FPP is the brain of the entire display. You will upload your sequences (when you export from the Xlights simulation software), where you will upload your songs, and configure all of your controllers.

The FPP is also where you can run schedules automatically, perform testing of your display and more.

Pretty amazing for a small little computer that’s under $100!