Newbie Question

[Rafter Bar R]

The problem with some LED strings is that they use capacitors in them and capacitors do not function very well on dimming circuits, most of the time they fail. It's hard to tell what is being used lessen the flicker without having to butcher the "bulges" on the string. Most of the time its just a couple of resistors, and some strings have full wave rectifiers in them. I have not come across capacitors in LED strings. Also most LED strings have no notices about dimming either. I have found LED fixtures (bulb replcaements) that do have "Non Dimming" on them.

[George Simmons]

lonewolvie wrote:

I have not come across capacitors in LED strings.

That means that you, fortunately, haven't bought LED lights from either Home Depot or Mill's Fleet Farm in the last couple of years. In 2008 I bought a bunch of Sylvania sets at Mill's and every one of them crapped out in less than one evening. Also, one of the bigger vendors around here had some well-publicized capacitor flare-up issues with LED stringers that same year.

[toddmoon]

In the last five years I have noticed a big difference between Home Depot and Lowes.

Lowes over the last five years has had a much better selection of decorations. Overall Lowes customer service has been much better in my personal opinion.

I have not notice much of difference in price. Customer service and selection been the big difference for me.

[csf]

Depends on how long the pole is, how tall you are, and how high off the ground you are.

If the pole is 35 feet and your 5 feet and you have a 10 foot latter then you can reach 50 feet high.

Do be carefully about using a long pole on a latter, it can become tricky and you don't want to lose your balance and fall.

[Nova5]

Don't worry just about the ladder, 50ft of lifting pole is ALOT of weight if it starts to shift wrong it can do some seriously unpleasant work on your back.

[csf]

This past year I put up double strands on the tree I posted the pic of. It looks like one set of lights but its actually a set of white and a set of color, with every bubble interlocked.

That was quite heavy to get up.

I will advise a few things things when using poles.

1) avoid over head electrical lines... I am sure you can see the issue here
2) may want to move any cars out of the way.
3) watch for windows.
4) watch for people you are working with.
5) make sure the pole is in good condition and can lift the wait you are putting on it.

Poles can work good but there is a level of danger with them, don't want things crashing down on top of you or someone else from 40 feet.

[saveglamis]

reading this post got me thinking about how the strand measuring pole I use at work would be perfect, until I saw the price of them. I never ordered one before so I didn't realize the price, I would look into hiring a tree contractor with a bucket truck. http://cableorganizer.com/jameson/telescoping-measuring-pole.html

[csf]

This may be a cheaper option

http://www.hardwareandtools.com/invt/0844860

8-23 foot pole for $46.89

I also came across this

http://www.reliablepaper.com/TelePlus_Extension_Pole_30_Foot_Reach_p/UNGTF900.htm