Shortning LED C-9 Wires

[Joe Faggione]

Can I cut & shorten the lenth of a roll of LED C-9's Its a 46 foot roll, need to shorten to 25 foot for roof ??? I think I should be able too....Joe

[Max-Paul]

C9, not that it should matter in this case, but I didn't see if you are talking about LED or ican. But as I said in this case we are talking about C9 so I think the answer is yes, you can cut off 1 or 100 or anywhere between. Reason is that each bulb is rated at 120VAC each.

Unlike the small ican or LEDs like M5 or C6. These are all low voltage, usually 2 to 5 volts each so they need to be in a series circuit that cant be cut.

[JBullard]

Max-Paul wrote:

C9, not that it should matter in this case, but I didn't see if you are talking about LED or ican. But as I said in this case we are talking about C9 so I think the answer is yes, you can cut off 1 or 100 or anywhere between. Reason is that each bulb is rated at 120VAC each.

Unlike the small ican or LEDs like M5 or C6. These are all low voltage, usually 2 to 5 volts each so they need to be in a series circuit that cant be cut.

Not necessarily 120 VAC each.


The OP specified that they are LED C9s.

If they are a string of retro C9s, then probably yes.

If they are a string of regular series/parallel wired LEDs then probably not without more information about how they are wired. After all, they possibly are made with the same LEDs as the M5 or C6 strings

[Rafter Bar R]

What voltage is the string rated? is it 120 volts or a low voltage string (12 to 24 volts)?

[gizmomkr]

I have been successfull in "triming" my strings (have done some C-7 and Some C-9)

In my case these were Home Depot "Holiday Decore" (I tihnk) brand. red and white logo.

I made some educated guesses before clipping the line, but this was the thought:

Most of the LED strings are made up of several sections of series citcuits. Each series circuit appears to be designed for 120v. I further noted that within each section I have 3 wires (2 carry coltage to the LED, while the 3rd is used to carry voltage to the next section) Yes technically one of the other 2 wires also carries voltage section to section - but im trying to keep this short and to the point.

If you have lights like the above description, you should not just cut anywhere - You want to cut at the end of a section. A quick way to tell - pull a bulb. somewhere on that string, you will see the section you just "killed" by removing a bulb ends, and the next light begins a new section. On my particular string, this was also easy to spot because the wire changes from (3) down to (2) conductors.

I THINK my 46 ft roll had a section every 10 - 15 feet.

I have some other lights with rectifier's every couple feet (small bulge / buble covered in plastic along the wire) - these are only found on LED sets. I have NOT tested my theory here, but I suspect each rectifier begins a new section, and the string could be cut just prior to the rectifier.

I bought 3 large spools, and cut them into 6 sets. I soldered vampire connectors to mine. (the wire is too small to "bite", but soldering worked fine)

[wglyons]

It's interesting that this topic was just posted, as I was considering this EXACT issue last night...

While pondering, I came up with a couple of possibilities. The first was, "I only paid $8 per 25 count LED C9 string, so I'll cut it and see what happens. If it seems to not work, I'll re-attach the wires back to original. If I ruin a set, it's only 8 bucks...

The second possibility I'm considering is this - As a worst case scenario, I'd have to clip maybe only 10 feet (not 25 like the OP). So, being that the LED is so small, I can just remove the outer plastic covering from each bulb, and then put black electrical tape over the non-needed LED's. Then, roll up the unused, and hide them as best as possible. The benefit here, is that I don't have to cut any wires, and since the bulbs are so small, it would take very little tape.

Just my thoughts, but I'm probably going to go with option B...

Greg

[Joe Faggione]

Thanks for the info,,I bought these lights at "Walmart" they sell "Holiday Time" lights..I was so surprised on how much the prices went down from last year, that I swiched to LED's but did not consider what I'd do if I need a shorter run... they are 120v 60hz and they do appear to have several rectifiers in line. I guess the safest way out is to buy a few shorter lenths and return a few of my 46 footers...I also learned that all of my lights on the house have to be LED due to the differance in colors with regular lights.. One or the other, but not both close to each other.. This is my first year with the LOR (16 ch) and with these LED's you can really put some serious light up...Joe,thanks again...

[Max-Paul]

JBullard,

Got me on that one. I read right past it and it did not register in the old noggen.

Op, ya if you have rectifiers then no you cant cut the string. I just go done making up a supper string of 4 colors and those dimable retro C9 so needless to say. That what I envisioned. Forgot about those so called C9 strings.