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how many lights do you use on mini trees


Guest Don Gillespie

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Guest Don Gillespie

-klb- wrote:

For the city show, our mini tree frames are 36" tall, and 18" wide. They get full 360 wrap with 4 color 5mm concave lights. The strings are bundled up in advance, with wire ties to either side of the light cluster. Then these are wrapped with each turn in contact with the last turn. So each of our 20 mini trees has 500 of each color on it, and is wrapped to usually 3 inches from the bottom of the frame. Though ones wrapped in warmer temperatures may be higher, and cooler temps may be lower. These look pretty darn good by day, as they look like green cones with lots of little green needles sticking out.

But, I would be hard pressed to talk myself into 8 of them for my home display. Let alone the numbers you are talking. Also depending on your frames, a skinnier tree won't take nearly as many. And, nobody really needs mini trees that can be seen from space anyway.

Good point after recalculating I only need 3 grand to this the way I want, I am using 36 inch tomato cages doubled up to give it the rounder look, what I haven't decided is do I wrap one in white and then one in green etc etc and hook them up so I can chase them I have a large yard and I have ground lights that go around the whole yard thought I would replace those with the mini trees
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One more thought on 5mm vs M5... If you are wrapping dense, the adjacent wraps will keep the 5mm facing out, if you put them on that way, so they will be visible. If you wrap loose, some may fall back facing inward, and be blocked by their own base. With the M5, it takes a looser spacing before they can fall back inside, and they are much less likely to be self obscured...

But, if you keep all the 5mm facing outward, I really like their look. We are using them on the arches, tree trunks, and mini trees. C7 in the tree top and building outline, and C6 for the lawn fan.

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Now I am going to display my ignorance. What is the difference between M5 and M6? Got the 5mm size down, but... The strings I ordered this year from CDI are listed as M6. Are they referred to by different names by different vendors?

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Guest Don Gillespie

jim6918 wrote:

Now I am going to display my ignorance. What is the difference between M5 and M6? Got the 5mm size down, but... The strings I ordered this year from CDI are listed as M6. Are they referred to by different names by different vendors?

The m5s are mini lights I am not sure about M6s maybe someone smarter than I will chime in (pretty much everyone) :P
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jim6918 wrote:

Now I am going to display my ignorance. What is the difference between M5 and M6? Got the 5mm size down, but... The strings I ordered this year from CDI are listed as M6. Are they referred to by different names by different vendors?
per the internet...so it MUST be true!!!

About Christmas lights

Mini Lights

M5 – Of the mini lights, the M5 is the most frequently used for both indoor and outdoor decorating. At 1 to 1½ inches the M5 is the perfect light choice for lighting almost any anything. M5s use 2.5 to 3.5 volt bulbs which are more energy-efficient than the classic lights.


M6 – As the bigger brother of the M5, the M6 is about an inch or so longer and just a little wider. Because the M6 is larger it is many times used in commercial decorating. M6s are also use in residential decorating projects but not as regularly. M6 draw about 3.5 to 4.5 volts, but the LED versions are much more efficient.

so are M5 incandescents and M6 LED's?





Attached files 290309=16057-minis.PNG
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The leading letter indicates bulb shape. M = mini, C = Conical. 5mm concave is the exception, in that it is just the size of the bare LED, and the concave reflector end, instead of the lens, for better dispersion of the light. Then on M&C series, the number is a very rough indicator of relative size, bigger number, bigger bulb around the LED.

Some vendors offer both M5 & M6. Other times, one vendor will call theirs M6, but it will be the same exact bulb that someone else calls a M5.

I have some M5 here, where the diffuser is very close to the size of a standard walmart mini. The diffuser is smaller diameter than the cast plastic base. The M6 samples that I remember seeing, the plastic diffuser is a touch longer, but the diffuser diameter is about the diameter of the largest part of the plastic base.

One thing to remember, is that generally, they use the same LED in all of them. So the bigger the diffuser, the less bright it appears. The C6 bulbs that used to be about the brightest thing in our display, are now pretty much the dimmest, due to all the 5mm around them. But they still look spectacular, since we have 60 4 color bundles covering a 6 foot tall hill, in an arc, where the top where all the strings plug in is 19 feet wide, and the bottom is roughly 60 feet wide. You sweep that side to side, and you get a pretty nice rotational effect..

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jim6918 wrote:

Well, Paul may see this and jump in, but what he sells as M6 appear in fact to be M5.


The terminology is as follows:

M = mini style
G = globe
C = cone shape

5/6 is the millimeters

On the M5/6, C6, 5MM - they all have the same LED inside, just different shapes on top.
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paul sessel wrote:

jim6918 wrote:
Well, Paul may see this and jump in, but what he sells as M6 appear in fact to be M5.


The terminology is as follows:

M = mini style
G = globe
C = cone shape

5/6 is the millimeters
The 5/6 refers to a length, but not directly the length, correct? Where 5 mm is truly the length of the lens (abot 1/4 inch, or thereabouts), would seem that M5 versus M6 is a relative indicator. If that is the case, is there an official size for an M5 and an M6?

To Jim's question, I have some M6s from Paul, and they are a bit bigger than some M5s I have, but from a distance, not noticeable..and even close up, not anything close to obvious.
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In the old day, the numbers were allegedly actually in 1/8ths of an inch. So the base of the cone on a C7 was a bit under an inch, and the base of the cone of a C9 was a bit over an inch. This still holds true for fluorescent tubes. T8, and T12 are tubular bulbs, 1 inch, and 1.5 inches in diameter.

Honestly, I think for everything newer, the sizes have become about as meaningful as the horsepower ratings on vacuums. There is no official standard to them, but generally a M6 will be bigger than a M5, but each manufacturer may play things a little different.

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Don, my best advice would be to grab a couple strings of a single color and wrap a cage. Take it outside and see if it is bright enough. The cages I have with 100 5mm LEDs are MORE than bright enough. I also have some with incans but they have 200 lights. No sense wasting money on something you don't need when you can waste it on something else you don't need. :P

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Mwhite7097 wrote:

The cages I have with 100 5mm LEDs are MORE than bright enough.
maybe it's not about how BRIGHT the minis are...

but all about how MANY lights one has in ones display!!! :P
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Guest Don Gillespie

jimswinder wrote:

Mwhite7097 wrote:
The cages I have with 100 5mm LEDs are MORE than bright enough.
maybe it's not about how BRIGHT the minis are...

but all about how MANY lights one has in ones display!!! :D


Now yer talking might not be able to keep up to all the big channel guys but might pass em on light counts :P



Mwhite7097 good idea, good project for tomorrow
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Guest Don Gillespie

Mwhite7097 wrote:

Don, my best advice would be to grab a couple strings of a single color and wrap a cage. Take it outside and see if it is bright enough. The cages I have with 100 5mm LEDs are MORE than bright enough. I also have some with incans but they have 200 lights. No sense wasting money on something you don't need when you can waste it on something else you don't need. :D

Ok I wrapped one with a 100 count minis incadesandts cause I have a few boxes of them left over from two years ago how is everyone tying the tops of their mini trees together just zip tying them or taping them I am trying to get a decent shape
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Guest Don Gillespie

DonFL wrote:

2 cages, zip tie the top "tails"..and then i cut off the ends with a pair of (get ready...you know I couldn't let it go without sliding one in...) frickin' wire cutters.

LMAO I wasn't sure what everyone did with the tops now where did I put those frickin wire cutters. :(
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I use just plain wire cutters. Figured it was a waste to pay for fricken wire cutters when I could not order "fricken wire" online or find it in my local big box store.

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