Using Boscoyo strips, we outline the garage with RGB pixels. I cover a couple of different ways to insert the pixels into the strips and what we did over the weekend.

Boscoyo strips are ~1-inch-wide strips of plastic with holes for pixels every three inches. They are available in black or white and 3″ or 1″ centers – I use the 3″ version. They work great for holding pixels in straight lines and can be rolled up for storage at the end of the lighting season. I use them for many of my props.

When outlining a window or garage door opening, the vertical lines are simple. Secure them at the top and then use ball bungees at the bottom. The ball bungees are stretchy so they have will take up the slack and hold the strip in place. Plus, they are fun to say.

Horizontal lines will need some support. Boscoyo also makes ChromaTrim corrugated plastic mounts for 12MM RGB pixels suitable for mounting to something like 1/2″ EMT, but I used the strips themselves this year. I’m not sure I’m sold on my horizontal mounting method.

When setting up the pixels in software, I used the wrong numbers of pixels so the patterns were off center. Once I realized my mistake, I adjusted the numbers and the patterns looked right. Fortunately, that only took about 2 days to figure out!

I’m outlining a fence with RGB pixels. I ran into an issue with the mounting design and took a different approach. It’s amazing how a small number of lights can look really great in your display!

My original design was to hide the mount and pixel bases behind the fence and mount the pixels on PVC pipe, but the weight of the pixels and wire ties was too much for the PVC. I decided to go with one inch EMT because it is more rigid and mount them on the outside because the top of the fence isn’t straight.

I also tried using hot glue to the base of each pixel, but it doesn’t bond well with the EMT. Wire ties worked fine and allow for fine adjustment of each individual pixel. I strapped both sides of each pixel. I recommend using a wire tie tightening tool for this. They are fairly inexpensive, but make tightening and cutting wire ties a breeze – even one-handed!

I also added pigtails to each ten-foot section of EMT to make storage easier. It may look a little unsightly during the daytime, but they become invisible at night.

This outline is 175 pixels in length which exceeds the recommended number of pixels for a single string – 100 for 12V pixels and about 50 for 5V pixels. However, I run them at 30% brightness to keep the neighbors from being blinded by the flashing lights so I did not see issues that would need power injection.