Presentation

[micheleboato]

Hi to all :-)

I' m Michele from Italy (sorry for my macheronic english). I bought the kit and now i m building the CTB16K

I want to prepare for next year with a 4x4 configuration with light on the windows, roof, 4 tree and 4 arch

Now i don t now what light to buy. I would like buy only led light, so what led light? Candle light? mini led light? m5 led light? c6? strip?

Could you help me? I have a small budget but now there are all sales and would like buy all now

 

Ciao da Venezia - Italia

Michele & Son Alessandro (5 years old ) :-)

 

 

 

[jtomason]

Hi Michele,

Most LED lights will work, which type you pick should be based on your design preference.

You should try to find "full wave" lights as they will have less flicker and be able to dim properly.

Every Philips LED product I have purchased has worked just fine.

[micheleboato]

Hi,

thank you for your reply!!

What mean full wave?

The led light could be with effect or i need only without effect (fixed light). ? I think that i need with fixed light

Other question :-) ... What's the rgb leds flexible strip light lamp ? And led rope light?

 

Bye

Michele

 

 

[Bassun]

Hi Michele ---

 

I am a noob so take my answers and then research, but the full wave he is referring to is "full wave" vs "half wave" or 120 refreshes per second vs only 60.  All LED lights actually flip on and off at a very high rate of speed.  Half wave, do this at 60 Hertz, which can be noticed as a flicker.  "Full Wave", as Jtomason suggested, have a frequency of 120 Hertz, and do not appear to flicker, and also dim properly. 

 

As for with or without effect, I think that becomes opinion.  I personally would prefer without so that I have the most control using the sequencer.  Sure I may give up on chasing lights within one singular strand, but given we are directing an entire show I would rather give up a simple "chase" for a more controled and defined pattern.

 

RGB LED's flexible light strip is simply a strip of LED's in which you can control the color, usually via an assocaited controller.  There are options with LOR to control RGB lights, but they are not your "standard" 16 channel controllers for example.

 

LED rope light, is a differnt style of LED's.  Instead of having sockets like a standard string of lights, these have lights within the string itself.  Here is an example of a rope light:

http://www.amazon.com/Spacing-Christmas-Lighting-outdoor-lighting/dp/B001G7HS6U/ref=lp_15704861_1_4?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1419838497&sr=1-4

and here is an example of an RGB LED Strip, which also have the leds within the strip vs using "sockets".

http://www.amazon.com/32-8Ft-600LEDs-Water-resistant-Flexible-Lighting/dp/B00JYVEQ42/ref=sr_1_6?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1419838628&sr=1-6&keywords=led+rgb+strip

 

Usually the LED strips come with self adhesive tape on the back.  They can be bought for simple indoor use, or with waterproof (ip67) ratings.  I use them personally on my boat and trailer.

 

Hopefully I pointed you in the right direction.

[micheleboato]

Thank you!!

Now i would like buy the ligh Holiday Wonderland, in ITaly i can t find a good place where i can buy the philips m5 light o other m5 led candle light :-(

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009IN5AA/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A2II6LGQTY8VIA

 

How is this light? Maybe i can buy this for roof and trees. While in the windows i can mount the strip or rope

 

Bye

Michele

[spomalley]

You have pointed to lights that run on 110v the voltage system here in Europe is 240v. Those lights will not work over here. Here in Europe it is very hard to find lights that work with LOR controllers. Most lights will have multifunction controllers and transformers. These will not dim although you can do on/off (many also feature a delay when turned in so they cannot be synchronised). You will find lights that work but at a high price. Unfortunately that's the way things are...

[gmacw]

Thank you!!

Now i would like buy the ligh Holiday Wonderland, in ITaly i can t find a good place where i can buy the philips m5 light o other m5 led candle light :-(

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009IN5AA/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A2II6LGQTY8VIA

 

How is this light? Maybe i can buy this for roof and trees. While in the windows i can mount the strip or rope

 

Bye

Michele

 

 

Michele,

 

Please note the link to the lights you show are incandescent lights and not LEDs.  As spomalley mentioned, I believe Italy also is 240v 50Hz so most lights you see on Amazon and Ebay wont work.  I would reach out to Creative Displays(CDI) or Holiday Lights and see if they can offer LEDs that work with your countries power requirements.  Not sure if they do but worth a try.  Good Luck!  BTW YOu have a beautiful country, loved visiting there...

[Steven]

Please note the link to the lights you show are incandescent lights and not LEDs.  As spomalley mentioned, I believe Italy also is 240v 50Hz so most lights you see on Amazon and Ebay wont work.  I would reach out to Creative Displays(CDI) or Holiday Lights and see if they can offer LEDs that work with your countries power requirements.  Not sure if they do but worth a try.  Good Luck!  BTW YOu have a beautiful country, loved visiting there...

 

Now i would like buy the ligh Holiday Wonderland, in ITaly i can t find a good place where i can buy the philips m5 light o other m5 led candle light :-(

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009IN5AA/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A2II6LGQTY8VIA

 

How is this light? Maybe i can buy this for roof and trees. While in the windows i can mount the strip or rope

 

With a few cuts and splices in the middle of that 100-bulb string, you can easily convert it from 120v to 240v. A 100-bulb string is usually 2 sets of 50-bulb strings connected together. Each bulb is 2.5v and are connected in a series of 50 to run on 120v. If you rewire it to run 100 bulbs is series, then it will run on 240v.

 

Yes, it requires knowledge and experience in working with electricity.

[micheleboato]

Yes, thank you! I saw that this light was 120v and not was LED!! I need 220v (i have electricity experience if need)

So...i don t know where i can buy :-( this light...I try some rope and string with 220v (but expensive) and i can t find mini led light m5.

 

On Holidaylights they do not directly export our products to foreign markets such as Asia, Europe, Australia and South America....the same with home depot, Target, BigLots, Lowes

[spomalley]

Yes. It is very tricky to find lights that work. Lights from big box stores over here get fried the moment you hook them up to the controller. A tried and tested company is http://festive-lights.com but you will pay a premium for their lights. I said it on another thread yesterday if I was starting over I would go straight to low voltage RGB lights which are much more reasonably priced.

[cowboy casey]

It may be expensive but there are a couple ways to go about this...   Disclaimer, I have not run Christmas lights this way but I did run everything in my house while in Europe for 3 years..

 

1.  You could buy 220V converter to 110V and use those...  3000 watt/25 AMP converter should be able to run 1 LOR controller box at 110/120V..  I dont know how well they would hold up to the power draw/on off, but with LED lights it is minimal.. I have seen huge transformer/converters that could run everything but I just don't know how much they would cost.

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Voltage-converter-220V-to-110V-voltage-transformer-power-3000w-Power-transformer-is-used-after-American-electrical/32242667665.html

 

2. You could buy 240V lights directly from China, there are many but you would have to make sure they would work...   Maybe buy 10 different type sets to see what will work then buy many of the 1 that works..  here is a link to 1 type I found..

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Promotion-10x-10M-Waterproof-Christmas-100LED-White-String-Lights-X-mas-Fairy-Lights-For-Outdoor/375030516.html

 

hope this helps..

[micheleboato]

Yes,

i would like buy similar this:
http://www.target.com/p/philips-60ct-warm-white-led-smooth-mini-string-christmas-lights/-/A-14556891#prodSlot=medium_1_4

 

Alternative i ll buy on aliexpress similar:

http://it.aliexpress.com/item/220V-164FT-50M-500LED-IP44-Warm-White-Red-Yellow-Blue-Green-Purple-Pink-MultiColor-String-Lights/1986953441.html

 

The problem was the 8 effect mode, for the controller i need fixed light without effect...maybe i can remove the box with effect controller

[Grinch]

You will really have to know what you are doing if you want to remove the controller, if the lights will work at all after removing the controller.

[spomalley]

If you have electronics skills you can remove the multifunction controller. That still doesn't remove the transformer however which will be fried if you try and dim that.

[micheleboato]

Hi,

i m waiting led light from china for test :-). Then i talked with festival-light and they have light with mains voltage that working with 220v

For example this

http://www.festive-lights.com/christmas-lights/5m-white-diamond-lights-connectable-40-leds-black-cable.html

or

http://www.festive-lights.com/christmas-lights/5m-warm-white-diamond-lights-connectable-42-leds.html

 

So:

1- I don t know if it s possible to have the fade effect with lor sequence editor. 

2- i would link to build the christmas face the sing :-) i maybe it s better the led string light with m5 bulb

http://www.festive-lights.com/christmas-lights/50-led-white-traditional-fairy-string-lights-5-metre.html

i saw that they have 24v, so maybe if i ll buy a power pack 220v AC to 24 DC i ll resolve the problem. What do you think?

[spomalley]

You can fade with mains voltage lights. Power pack will probably not be dimmable