Hollidays China Style

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chris kennedy

chris kennedy

Senior Member
Location
Miami Fla.
Occupation
60 yr old tool twisting electrician
My charming wife bought 10 one hundred mini light sets from Target for $2 each. I put the tree up today and this is what I found.

Out of 20 flashers I have replaced 13 already with steady burners as the flashers have failed.

There is no brand name on the box, only:
Distributed by Target Corporation
MADE IN CHINA

Heres the best part, the box says:
WARNING:
Handling the coated electrical wire on this product exposes you to lead, a chemical known to the State of California to cause birth defects or other reproductive harm. WASH HANDS AFTER USE.
(thank goodness I live in Fla. as two headed babys scare me!)

On the up side, the box does say:
Product may vary from image shown due to continual improvements.
 
iwire

iwire

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Massachusetts
What do you want for $2? :grin:

When I worked at an amusement park we had to buy 1000s of S-11 sign lamps each year.

At the time the ones from Phillips would run about $2.10 each. Ones from a Brazilian company where like $0.40 each. It still was cheaper to use the Phillips as so many of the cheap ones where junk right out of the box.
 
Rampage_Rick

Rampage_Rick

Senior Member
Location
British Columbia, Canada
Dennis Alwon said:
For $2.00 you might find a cape
Click to expand...
captain-obvious.jpg
 
B

badabing

Member
Speaking of Christmas lights, what do you guys think of the new LED style lights? We recently got called to find a way to get long lenths of lights for a shopping plaza here and they wanted to go with LED's... Most of the regular stores only allow you to connect 3 sets together, but we found some online that allow you to connect up to 125sets end to end with a special power cord. The sets are 25' long, so that makes it easy along a roof top, of being able to connect up to over 3000' worth of lights from 1 receptacle. Their biggest thing was that they be energy conscious, and these lights per strand of 25' only draw like 1-2WATTS. Really big energy saver. I just bought some for my christmas tree, hope they work out as well on a big scale as they do at home. http://www.christmaslightsetc.com/led-christmas-lights.htm Only problem is a lot of places are selling out of these little guys quickly!
 
480sparky

480sparky

Senior Member
Location
Iowegia
chris kennedy said:
OK Ken, I have to ask what you were doing here. I know thats you.
Click to expand...

Dang! Busted again. My secret, crime-fighting, evil-busting identity as SuperSnout? has been revealed. :mad:

No more resisting the powers of the NEC..... no more battling the forces of UL... no more locking heads with the omnipotence of the AHJ.....

Soon the world will crumble and succumb to the power of the corrupt and pernicious Authority Alliance!





I'll just have to come up with a new SuperIdentity.

Like................................................... Cardboard Box Boy!?

............................
troll11.jpg
 
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Energy-Miser

Energy-Miser

Senior Member
Location
Maryland
badabing said:
Speaking of Christmas lights, what do you guys think of the new LED style lights? We recently got called to find a way to get long lenths of lights for a shopping plaza here and they wanted to go with LED's... Most of the regular stores only allow you to connect 3 sets together, but we found some online that allow you to connect up to 125sets end to end with a special power cord. The sets are 25' long, so that makes it easy along a roof top, of being able to connect up to over 3000' worth of lights from 1 receptacle. Their biggest thing was that they be energy conscious, and these lights per strand of 25' only draw like 1-2WATTS. Really big energy saver. I just bought some for my christmas tree, hope they work out as well on a big scale as they do at home. http://www.christmaslightsetc.com/led-christmas-lights.htm Only problem is a lot of places are selling out of these little guys quickly!
Click to expand...
These are cool, thanks for posting the link. I checked the price, seems like around $1 per lamp, at least for the bigger bulbs, which is the one I looked up, plus shipping of course. There must be a driver that they get plugged in, not sure if that is included in the price. Sort of pricy, but can't beat the energy saving and durability of the bulbs. e/m.
 
L

LawnGuyLandSparky

Senior Member
badabing said:
Speaking of Christmas lights, what do you guys think of the new LED style lights? We recently got called to find a way to get long lenths of lights for a shopping plaza here and they wanted to go with LED's... Most of the regular stores only allow you to connect 3 sets together, but we found some online that allow you to connect up to 125sets end to end with a special power cord. The sets are 25' long, so that makes it easy along a roof top, of being able to connect up to over 3000' worth of lights from 1 receptacle. Their biggest thing was that they be energy conscious, and these lights per strand of 25' only draw like 1-2WATTS. Really big energy saver. I just bought some for my christmas tree, hope they work out as well on a big scale as they do at home. http://www.christmaslightsetc.com/led-christmas-lights.htm Only problem is a lot of places are selling out of these little guys quickly!
Click to expand...

Don't put too much stock in what the UL labeling requirements are on the store-bought strings. UL either requires a generic set of instructions, or the Chinese manufacturers are loathe to get different specifics translated into proper instructions on each of their product lines.

I noticed when I purchase strings of 50 or strings of 100 (which is 2 strings of 50, electrically) of the typical mini lights, both packages state the same thing - plug no more than 3 strings together. But 2 strings of 50 is 150, and 3 strings of 100 is 300. The wire guage is the same, and the "fuse plugs" are the same.

As for the LED strings - bought a dozen 70 light strings last year and experimented- I plugged them all in tandem - no problem. (Again, instructions stated no more than 3) The load was less than 30 watts.
 
Rampage_Rick

Rampage_Rick

Senior Member
Location
British Columbia, Canada
We were in a parade yesterday. I ran about 4000 LED lights off one of those little 300W inverters they sell at the local auto-parts stores. Sure beats a belching generator...

It was actually my 10th year in the parade... This was the first time my company had their own entry. The previous 9 years I was the one responsible for the electrical on the 60' flatdeck carrying Santa at the end. Never got the call this year. THAT one was a blast. 3x 5500W gennies, 15,000 lights, 1600W sound, 2x snow machines (fun to watch the kiddies try to catch the soap-based 'snow' with their tongues)
 
Energy-Miser

Energy-Miser

Senior Member
Location
Maryland
Rampage_Rick said:
We were in a parade yesterday. I ran about 4000 LED lights off one of those little 300W inverters they sell at the local auto-parts stores. Sure beats a belching generator...

It was actually my 10th year in the parade... This was the first time my company had their own entry. The previous 9 years I was the one responsible for the electrical on the 60' flatdeck carrying Santa at the end. Never got the call this year. THAT one was a blast. 3x 5500W gennies, 15,000 lights, 1600W sound, 2x snow machines (fun to watch the kiddies try to catch the soap-based 'snow' with their tongues)
Click to expand...
Yeah more power to the LED's, I think they will take over the world !
PS, did you know you are one post away from senior status?? As the commercial says "but you are just one click away" e/m.
 
H

HighWirey

Senior Member
Location
Cocoa, Florida, USA
"Yeah more power to the LED's, I think they will take over the world !
PS, did you know you are one post away from senior status?? As the commercial says "but you are just one click away" e/m."

I thought it was less power to the LED's? Those guys will take over the world, once they have a evolved a little more.

Wondered what elevated us to the next plateau. Another 10k posts, and I'll be the Head Potentate here!

Best Holiday Wishes
 
mxslick

mxslick

Senior Member
Location
SE Idaho
The Target sets aren't bad...

The Target sets aren't bad...

Despite the price, and the made in China syndrome, they are the best quality in that price range, I have several sets that are over 6 years old..and they are still in great condition. Bulb life has been excellent. The only reason I get rid of them is when the colors on the bulbs fade too much..it's cheaper to replace the strings than all those bulbs!! :)

I have also safely connected six and seven strings of 100 in tandem without any problems or even making the wire on the first string warm. I think the "rule of three" is due to the overzealous safety nazis trying to avoid lawsuits.

A few years back, these sets were allegedly recalled due to unspecified safety issues..I never did get an answer from CPSC or UL as to the specific problems...I'm still using those strings, and they're on a gfci which has never tripped even in the rain.

To the OP's mention: yeah, the flasher bulbs never last...better to use an external plug-in flasher. Remember that flasher bulbs can't, by the nature of how they operate, contain the shunt device used in the steady burning bulbs to bypass them when they blow out.

Now as for the strings found in the dollar stores....fuggedaboutit!! I had one of them, despite the "Safety Plug" catch fire after four of the fifty bulbs burned out. Not surprising since the wire appeared to be 24 or 26 awg!!
 
iwire

iwire

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Massachusetts
I am big fan of reading 'Consumer Reports' and if I recall correctly they did some testing and found LED holiday lights are not really money saving yet when purchase price and longevity are factored in.
 
I

ItsHot

Senior Member
Location
A little piece of heaven!
a new suit

a new suit

480sparky said:
Dang! Busted again. My secret, crime-fighting, evil-busting identity as SuperSnout? has been revealed. :mad:

No more resisting the powers of the NEC..... no more battling the forces of UL... no more locking heads with the omnipotence of the AHJ.....

Soon the world will crumble and succumb to the power of the corrupt and pernicious Authority Alliance!





I'll just have to come up with a new SuperIdentity.

Like................................................... Cardboard Box Boy!?

............................
troll11.jpg
Click to expand...
mdshunk finally bought another suit! This one only killed 2 trees! Where is Marc??
 
tom baker

tom baker

First Chief Moderator & NEC Expert
Staff member
Location
Bremerton, Washington
Occupation
Master Electrician
badabing said:
Speaking of Christmas lights, what do you guys think of the new LED style lights? We recently got called to find a way to get long lenths of lights for a shopping plaza here and they wanted to go with LED's... Most of the regular stores only allow you to connect 3 sets together, but we found some online that allow you to connect up to 125sets end to end with a special power cord. The sets are 25' long, so that makes it easy along a roof top, of being able to connect up to over 3000' worth of lights from 1 receptacle. Their biggest thing was that they be energy conscious, and these lights per strand of 25' only draw like 1-2WATTS. Really big energy saver. I just bought some for my christmas tree, hope they work out as well on a big scale as they do at home. http://www.christmaslightsetc.com/led-christmas-lights.htm Only problem is a lot of places are selling out of these little guys quickly!
Click to expand...
The LED lights are great. We just installed 1,000 feet on a bridge on two circuits.

We were testing some and plugged 7 strings together and could not get a reading on a amp meter.

The colors are very sharp esp with the reds, blues.

I got a Sylvania 40 colored light set from my wholesale house. each bulb is tri-color and changes in a different pattern.
 
Rampage_Rick

Rampage_Rick

Senior Member
Location
British Columbia, Canada
I really liked the LED rope lights, although they're not solid-core like the incandescents. It's more of a textured clear hose with wires inside. You can't warm it up by mutually heating a big coil, so I immersed everything but the plug ends in a bucket of hot water. When it's -6?C you'll never get those in a straight line otherwise. More about the blue lights here

Oh, you're looking at over $1000 worth of LEDs.

Yours truly in the lime-green jacket:

Parade_float_3.jpg

Parade_float_1.jpg
 
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