Tom Clapper Posted November 22, 2012 Share Posted November 22, 2012 I have a tree full of led's. 9 strings of 25ct c9's per channel. One channel Red, one green, and one white. They all worked fine last year, but 3 strings of white went bad over the summer. I replaced those 3 strings with the same brand of lights (from Ace Hardware) but now instead of fading they blink a few times on the fade down or up. I've heard of people using snubbers. Would that fix my problem or would it help if I used a c7 style night lite. If that would work can I plug it into the piggyback of the first string or do I have to put it at the end of the strings (16' up to the top of the tree). Any help is appreciated. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
james campbell Posted November 22, 2012 Share Posted November 22, 2012 (edited) sorry missread your post Edited November 22, 2012 by james campbell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis Cherry Posted November 22, 2012 Share Posted November 22, 2012 Quick fix, throw 1 strand of incandescent bulbs on each channel. Long term, yeah you need to snub with like 47 OHM, 1 watt resistor across hot and neutral. I made 6 inch extension cords that have the resistor inside the socket.DrewNOT a 47 OHM resistor but a 47,000 OHM resistor.You will start a fire with a 47 Ohm resistor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Clapper Posted November 23, 2012 Author Share Posted November 23, 2012 Ok, so I have a pack of resistors from Radio Shack. They are 47k - Ohm Resistors, 1/2 watt, 5% tolerance. If I take a 2 prong male cord end, and run the resistor, from one screw to the other(Hot to Neutral) that would make a correct snubber right? Then do I have to plug it into the end of the series of strings(hopefully not cause it's 16' up a tree) or can I just plug it into the first string(piggybacked into the light cord where the lights plug into the extension cord? I just reread your post. You said a "1" watt resistor, the ones i have are "1/2" watt. does that matter? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
james morris Posted November 23, 2012 Share Posted November 23, 2012 (edited) what the post from last year said the resistors 1 watt 47k 5% you can plug it in the end he did a test did not see any differents at eather end I have 12 of them plug in the ends of each my 2 or more strings Edited November 23, 2012 by james morris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Surfing4Dough Posted November 23, 2012 Share Posted November 23, 2012 Sounds like a snubber issue to me. Have read of people using Glade plug-ins (and therefore not creating a light source).Easy snubbers to make: 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Clapper Posted November 23, 2012 Author Share Posted November 23, 2012 So will the 1/2 watt work? or do I need to get 1 watt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
james morris Posted November 23, 2012 Share Posted November 23, 2012 he say 1 watt in his article mousser electric have then 8.00 per 100 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frozentundra52 Posted November 23, 2012 Share Posted November 23, 2012 I use 2 100k 1/2watt 5% resistors from Radio Shack on each snubber. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Rise Posted November 23, 2012 Share Posted November 23, 2012 I had a couple of issues last year with fading. So I bought some 47k resistors from Mouser, and the plugs from ACE. I wanted to see if they actually worked, so I left them off one of my trees. That tree would flicker when it was supposed to fade. After I installed the resistor, it faded normally. So I have more stock piled in case I need them. But I will only use them if I have fading issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doug petschke Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 looks like i have to make a snubber for my LEDS too...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron Maue Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 So will the 1/2 watt work? or do I need to get 1 wattI use a 47kOhm, 1/2-watt resistor. Works great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KStatefan Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 I use a 47kOhm, 1/2-watt resistor. Works great.A 47K Ohm load on a 120 volt circuit is .3 watts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron Maue Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 A 47K Ohm load on a 120 volt circuit is .3 watts.I agree that it seems small, but it's made the difference for me on LED strands that would only flicker when attempting to fade them before I applied the "snubber". YMMV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmturner54 Posted December 2, 2012 Share Posted December 2, 2012 Only use a snubber if needed. I am 100% LED. Never needed a snubber, guess I am one of the lucky ones. All LED's from CDI. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jstorms Posted December 2, 2012 Share Posted December 2, 2012 The other thing that helps get the flicker out is to have shorter extension cords. I was able to keep all my glade plugins in their box this year by doing 30' or less runs of extension cords. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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