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Lighting Pumpkins / Fun-kins


mrtugs

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Hi all,

I'm new to this, but hoping to do something next year for Halloween with some 'singing pumpkins' (or more likely the fake "fun-kins") on my yard.

So a really dumb question - could you folks recommend any particular lights to illuminate the funkins from the inside? I would prefer LED for many reasons, but typically I see them for sale in strings/ropes/etc. Are there good units that fit inside nicely, or am I being stupid and really you just buy one of those LED replacement light bulb things and a standard fitting and hack something together? I'd value your input!

Thanks.

John.

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Personally, The LED C7 bulbs I've experimented with just don't cut it. I use a standard, single C7 socket and an incandescent C7 bulb in all my "artificial" pumpkins/Funkins. They work out the best for their interior lighting. An Orange C7 incandescent works the very best for the best look, especially if you use a "flickering effect" to emulate a flickering candle flame.

Here's a sequence I created using the "flickering candle" effect that I use in all my Jack O' Lanterns:





Attached files Flickering Jack-O-Lanterns.las

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I have 2 c7 white LEDs (from CDI) in mine.

The older ones have a yellow interior, so the white worked out find. However I added 3 new ones this year, and have a white interior and the white LEDs made it too white, so so I ended up using 2 red and one Green LED. Makes a nice yellow with a strange green/red tinge and they are about as bright as the rest. (I did not have any orange bulbs on hand to use in the new pumpkins)

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That's great info - thank you both. Silly question - where do you get your C7 lamp holders from? Not something the regular DIY stores stock, so I'm figuring there are some good places online. I'll search for myself, but if you have any recommendations that would be super.

Thanks!

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This is where I buy mine at:
http://www.nationalartcraft.com/subcategory.asp?gid=1&cid=27&scid=27

I buy the white ones listed under "D" on the page. I buy them in lots of 100 for .58¢ each ($58.00 per 100). They have a $15.00 minimum order.

I use these in all my indoor and outdoor Halloween decorations. They've worked well now for 2 years with no problems.


EDIT: BTW: These have the metal spring clips on them that hold them in the hole you'd drill for the pumpkin/funkin. Makes them much easier to use in Blowmolds, Artifical Jack O' Lanterns and other items.


BTW: even though it says "end of cord" installation, I have used these in dual and triple sets by placing one of the sockets before the last socket that may have already been attached to a cordset. I added two of these to my Halloween Pumkin-Head BOO Ghost blowmold characters to light their head and lower body. Original cord only had 1 socket on the end and was inserted in middle of character, I put the end socket in the head and added 2 sockets below it for the mid section and bottom section of the body of the character. I also created multi C7 socket sets for other items that may get used in my display on an empty cordset.

You can see how well they look in my videos on Vimeo (including my Jack O' Lantern I used them in.)

Videos are here:

http://vimeo.com/groups/109696

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I lite mine with some c9's .. Standard string I got at after Christmas discount put one lite in each and use plugs chopped off of mini lights wired to the c9 each individual split from the string works great just enough light to look like the real thing.

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And so I did - managed to hit up two Hobby Lobby stores in the area and got 7 funkins (including two of the 16"w x 36"h ones) at 80% off. Result :P I should be able to build up the rest of my funkin army at my leisure.

And as expected, I'm now thinking that I want 32 channels, not 16... *whistles* I read that this is very common, and I can see why. :-)

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