As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you for supporting this site by purchasing through the links below!

Twinkly Shopping List

Here’s a recommended shopping list for a small to medium Twinkly display to run with FPP you will need to adjust quantities of lights based on your situation. You may be able to run this on your existing WiFi network if you have a good router with coverage out in your yard (see WiFi troubleshooting). If not, I recommend adding an outdoor Access Point and a dedicated Gigabit Switch to your network to ensure stable connections. Everything below is available from Amazon (links provided). You may already have some of this stuff laying around (I repurposed a Raspberry Pi, audio amplifier and outdoor speakers I had in the basement). Please see the buyer’s guide for more details on products recommended below.

2-5 boxes of Twinkly String lights: Twinkly Strings 600 (or choose other sizes based on needs)
2-3 boxes of Twinkly Icicle Lights: Twinkly Icicles
1 Raspberry Pi to run FPP: CanaKit Raspberry Pi 4 Pro Kit
Outdoor extension cords: 2-Pack 15 Foot AC Extension (choose lengths and as many as needed to support light locations)
120 volt AC 4-way Splitter: 4-Way Splitter or 120 volt AC 2-way Splitter: 2-Way Splitter (as many as needed to support number of light sets)
1 FM Radio Transmitter: FM Radio Transmitter
1 USB Sound card for Raspberry Pi: USB Sound Card
1/8 inch to 1/8 inch stereo audio cable: 8 Foot 3.5mm Cable (connects sound card to radio transmitter)
Optional if you want speakers out front in addition to FM transmitter:
- Outdoor Polk Audio Atrium 4 Speakers: Polk Audio Atrium 4 Speakers (these are a newer version of the speakers I use – but any outdoor speakers should be okay)
- Stereo audio amplifier — I’m repurposing an old one, so don’t really have a specific recommendation here – do not try to use bluetooth (you will have synch issues with the audio vs. lights)!
- Speaker wire : Gear-It Outdoor Speaker Wire (keep amp inside, run to speakers outside)
- 1/8 inch stereo splitter cable: Splitter Cable (splits audio output of sound card to FM transmitter and Audio Amplifier)
- 1/8 inch to RCA stereo patch cable: Amazon Basics Patch Cable (goes from one output of splitter to amp)
Optional WiFi (if you want rock solid WiFi):
- Outdoor Access Point: TP-Link Omada Long Range Outdoor Access Point – WiFi 6 AX1800 Dual Band
- Gigabit Switch: TP-Link 8 Port Gigabit Ethernet Network Switch
- Outdoor Ethernet cable to run to Access Point: Outdoor Cat 6 Cable

Twinkly Props

Singing Snowman with Twinkly Lights fro Charlee — Twinkly Singing Snowman from Charlee’s Props

Twinkly singing tree from Charlee — Twinkly Singing Tilted Tree from Charlee’s Props

It used to be difficult to find props that would fit Twinkly lights, but availability has gotten better over the last 2 years or so. I have had great luck with Charlee’s Props for both Twinkly sized (4.3mm lights) and WS2811 pixels (12mm lights). The snowman shown is a Charlee’s Twinkly Singing Snowman, which uses 300 lights, and looks great. The interesting thing about Twinkly light strings is that on sets of 250 lights or greater, the strings are split — so a set of 600 is really 2 strings of 300 coming off the controller. Since Twinkly doesn’t make a 300 light set, The snowman you see is using half of a 600 string — the other half of the lights are being used for a Charlee’s Twinkly Singing Christmas Tree. Charlee’s is a family owned business, and has been great to deal with! Singing props like these might add a little complexity to your setup, or you can choose less complicated props like stars or spinners. Please see our guide to Twinkly Props!