How many feet of DIY extension cords did you make this year?

[Speedster]

Also how many feet of ext cords have you made including all prior years?

For our Christmas display I ended up making between 850 and 900 feet of ext cords for 5 new props (three 8-channel firesticks and two 8-channel leaping arches) and about a dozen other lights.

Since this is my first year making my own ext cords, I've made 850 - 900 feet total.  I used all store-bought ext cords in the previous years.

I still have 600+ feet of SPT1 wire and 15 male/female vampire plugs left over, so I'm thinking of using them up to replace several long ugly orange ext cords that stick out like a sore thumb during the day.

Edited November 23, 2018 by Speedster

[jwblazek]

I have over 9,500 feet. To simplify storage and use, I have most in groups of 8 ty-wrapped with a different color ty-wrap or series of ty-wraps to help identify. The Ty-wraps are about 3' apart. Specifically, made just over 1,200 feet this year. Most of my controllers are in a dedicated shed I made just behind my fence. I have a handful of controllers for smart pixels etc. adjacent the props

Edited November 23, 2018 by jwblazek
Clarification

[TheDucks]

My controllers are stashed throughout the yard (and there is a CMB24 on the chimney. I used a dedicated Antenna mount to keep it upright) . With the exception of the Maxi-Tree (12' tall) which has its own controller, there were always some props that did not have a port on a nearby controller. I made about 200' of new SPT1 cords. Bought a bunch more 3 and 4 core HC cords and a few 10W flood extensions (to cut and make  pigtails so all my CMB24s can have a couple of floods as whim determine).

The longest cord: 85' to reach the far side of the driveway without crossing it

[Speedster]

I probably should have made this 2 questions with the 2nd question being Including previous years how many feet of DIY extension cords have you made?

[TheDucks]

27 minutes ago, Speedster said:

I probably should have made this 2 questions with the 2nd question being Including previous years how many feet of DIY extension cords have you made?

750'.  500 of those were SPT1, 250 were DIY 4 core RGB

[rcktpwrd]

We probably made about 300-400 feet of new spt1 extension cords this year. Over the past several years we have made about 5000 feet of extension cords from spt1. We also use several hundred feet of regular extension cords.

There is a lot of wiring in a light display!

[k6ccc]

I have used a total of about 1,000 feet of SPT-1.  The vast majority of that is used for power, ground, & data for pixels - not for AC extensions.  Other than five channels that are used year round and have permanent wiring, I have only used six AC channels in my show since I started.  This year I retired those six and added 22 for two singing face trees.  There is a controller right behind the faces, so only a couple feet of extension for the standard 16 channels and reused the six runs of SPT-1 that had been the strings on the wall for the "extra" six channels.

 

[jfuller8400]

If we want to include previous years....I think I'm over 5000' of SPT1.  Lots of 8 channel octopus cables to various props (not to mention all of the regular extension cords for controller power, single channel props, etc..).

[Kapkirk]

This year I have used 1400 feet, total the past 4 years I'm over 6000 feet but i do a lot of decorating for 8 homes on the culdesak, so I would be a poor example for an average.

[Orville]

Absolutely NONE for this year{2018} and since I went to RGB Lighting my extension cord count went WAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY Down from what it was, usually ran about 700-900+ extension cords to items, this year I only ran mostly short cords, not longer than  6-8', the longest possibly being 20 feet and that was only to power the controllers in the front.   The majority of my cords this year were anywhere from 6 inches to 3' long, if that.  And I only used about 38-40 extension cords, going RGB has saved me a ton of routing extension cords to all those LED Light Strands I used to use in the past!

The longest items in my display this year are the 2 - 75 foot cat5 cables going from inside the house from each Network, Aux A Enhanced 500K to the 1st RGB Controller and from the Regular 57.6K Network to the first CTB16PC Controller, then a 75' Cat5 between two of the RGB Controllers outside, then a 50' cat5 cable from the first CTB16PC controller to one of the two CTB16PC Controllers out front and then a 5' Cat5 between the 2 front controllers.  Also have a a 5', 20' and 15' ones connecting the rest of the RGB Controllers.  Probably have a lot more footage in the Cat5 than I do in extension cords this year!   Wiring things this year going RGB was so much easier than years past with all the LED Strands I had to connect up to!

 

[Jaynee]

I bought 1000 ft to make cords this year, and I'm hoping that's enough.  I've added 16 channels to my spiral tree and will be making cords for those tomorrow.  

[ericm]

Total I have about 7 miles worth, added about 1.5 miles this year.

[Jaynee]

My last post was incorrect.  As I said in another thread, I miscalculated.  I THOUGHT I bought 1000', but it turns out I only bought 500 feet.  But even that was not enough - I purchased another 2000 feet to make additional cords needed for this year's display.  So the FINAL answer will be:  2500 feet.

[Speedster]

For 2019 I made an additional 650 feet of SPT1 wire.  Almost all of that was for replacing longer runs of store-bought extension cords.  Some of the really long runs required 2 ext cords to be connected, so it's nice to eliminate the connections as potential points of failure.  I was also able to avoid having to use about a dozen ugly orange extension cords that have been an eyesore in our display for years.  The tear-down in January and next year's setup should go a bit quicker because of the new SPT1 cords I made this year.

I started this thread exactly a year ago today lol.

[Orville]

Absolutely ZERO!

I only had to use 2 or 3 triple taps and a couple of other long cords {commercial or hand made}, along with a few shorter ones that are I made years ago.   I used far less extension cords this year than I have ever done since my starting in this hobby in 2010. 

I have a large tote full of unused extension commercial and hand made extension cords this year. 

All other years I may have had maybe 2-5 left over, this year I have quite a LARGE amount left over. 

So I didn't have to make any this year and probably won'r have to make any for years to come, I've got enough surplus not to have top worry about that now.

[tlogan]

I'm currently at about 650 feet or so. I have a small yard and put the controllers close to the props. I'm adding 20 new props that will require new cords. I HOPE I have enough from the second 500' roll I bought last year. If not, I think I have enough commercial cords that I don't need anymore since I went to the SPT. I have a tub of "light" (SPT) cords and tub of "heavy" (commercial) cords. I only bring down the heavy tub if I need it. I expect to be pretty well over 1,000 by the time I'm done this year. 

I do have one long snake of commercial cords, data and audio that runs from the garage to the existing controllers. And I can do some re-routing this year. This summer, I had a sub panel and four 20 amp circuits installed outside. So I think I can re-route the snake and the new controller to those outlets and only have to run data and audio cables from the garage.  

[MichRX7]

I was 12 ends short, yep, just got back from Home Depot.

[tlogan]

I'm buying that HD stock!

[MichRX7]

Save your money until I start buying stuff for 2020.