Christmas Tree Lights

[squerly]

Christmas is over, the problem is not a problem.

You're right, much more than you realize. Turns out that replacing the string with LED's provided the desired results. But it also stood out quite brilliantly in the rural mountainside where I live and unfortunately made a target for some clown who threw a large rock threw a 220 watt panel. Providing Christmas lights is just to expensive and will probably not be attempted again.

[justjun]

Add a radiator?

Mod note - Forget the advertising links - repeats will lead to being banned.

[russ]

Christmas is over, the problem is not a problem.

Well put!

[justjun]

Christmas is over, the problem is not a problem.

[moguitar]

For years we used a small light 25' string with a box for different patterns, but it was a 50 watt draw so could not leave it on a lot. Then last year we got a 15' tube of colored LEDs that only uses 9 watts. We also found deals on LEDs with 25, 40 and 60 watt lumen equivalents, and replaced 11 of our CFLs. We gave them to our son who moved out into a rental with all incandescents.

[Athrothe]

I tried running some Christmas tree lights off my solar system and the controler kept warning me of a low battery and then disconnecting. But testing the batteries shows they have a 95% charge. So I plugged the strings in one at a time. First string runs OK. Second string OK. But as soon as I connect the third string the controler shuts off the batteries.

So I bypassed the controler and ran the inverter straight off the batteries. First string clicking here OK, Second string OK, but as soon as I connect the third string the wires coming from the battery to the inverter start to get hot. Real hot! Appears to be a lot of resistance somewhere. Anyone have this problem before?

I am looking to use LED lights with bright colors. I hope they work well this Christmas.

[robartdonald]

plastic garden posts

Christmas lights are lights used for decoration around Christmas. The custom harks back to the use of candles to decorate the Christmas tree in upper-class homes in 18th-century Germany. Christmas trees displayed publicly and illuminated with electric lights became popular in the early 20th century.

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Mod note - forget the links

[robartdonald]

plastic garden posts

I agree with sunking. poor terminations is the problem. As it is common point of failures and electrical fires. You either terminated the terminals onto the copper cable poorly, or poor connection to the battery post.

[tandrews]

An observation for consideration:
Not all led strings are so efficient...

I bought a sale string (10' rope light) of "christmas" LEDs for ambient lighting in my shiny solar shed.
On a 12v DC power supply they drew almost 5amps to make useful light.
The rope light was designed for AC and as such had resistors on every LED in the string.
In contrast, three handheld 26LED worklamps in series drew just over half an amp.
Same voltage, no resistors and made my foiled shed like daylight.

I did try some "battery operated" LED strings as well, but their output was so puny they fell out of the running.
Just something to consider when 120v items get repurposed.
Add in inverter losses and you may be wasting energy for the same output as dedicated 12v appliances.

[squerly]

You need a good clamp on amp meter, to cut out some guess work. A fluke meter is great for this, but $$, surely there is a good cheaper meter out there now.
After Xmas, LED lights will be cheap, switched over to them 4 years ago, power draw is minuscule, wife keeps some on year around.

I've got a kill-a-watt around here someplace but after two days of looking I decided it wasn't that important anyhow. Wife found a few thousand LED's at Kmart today and I'll make another run at it with those. Thanks everyone for the help and Merry Christmas!

[solorone]

It's a 1,250 watt AIMS inverter. When all the lights are on the inverter is reading over 40 amps. (Kind of hard to tell exactly what the amp draw is because the meter on the inverter is sketchy) go.

I guess I could look into changing out to LED's, but damn.... how much is this Christmas cheer supposed to cost???

.

You need a good clamp on amp meter, to cut out some guess work. A fluke meter is great for this, but $$, surely there is a good cheaper meter out there now.
After Xmas, LED lights will be cheap, switched over to them 4 years ago, power draw is minuscule, wife keeps some on year around.

[TnAndy]

LOL, because the house if 1/2 mile up the road. No power down by the gate except the solar setup I have for the electric gate opener. I think I'll call Duke Energy tomorrow and see if they can drop a wire for me. Even if it costs a couple thousand dollars it will be cheaper than solar.

If you already HAVE a solar setup for the gate, it might not cost too much to simply expand it some.

My gate is also a long way from the house (1500'), but I ran 120vAC down to it originally to avoid having to use a solar powered opener. Now, the funny part is, I have THAT circuit in my subpanel of "critical circuits" on my solar backup system......ahahahaaaaa

[Mike90250]

... I guess I could look into changing out to LED's, but damn.... how much is this Christmas cheer supposed to cost???.......

A single 12V "marine battery" with a cheap-o 150W mod-sine inverter can power dozens of strings of LED lights a night. 200w of panel would recharge it, if you have good sun. Or just haul the battery back and forth (or use 2 and swap them) to charge from ac outlet.

[Sunking]

LOL, because the house if 1/2 mile up the road.

OK you got me. My bad.

[squerly]

Why don't you do it the old fashion inexpensive way and plug it into your house power? You get all the lights you want for dirt cheap power.

LOL, because the house if 1/2 mile up the road. No power down by the gate except the solar setup I have for the electric gate opener. I think I'll call Duke Energy tomorrow and see if they can drop a wire for me. Even if it costs a couple thousand dollars it will be cheaper than solar.