USCS31 Posted November 17, 2010 Posted November 17, 2010 hello everyone! i have had my LOR units (16 channels each) since after the holiday season last year. This is my first time stepping up to bat and I'm extremely nervous that I'm going to screw things up. I have my lights up on the house along with the wreaths. The bushes are complete. I just have to put my Megatree together, outline my front yard with my lights, put my small x-mas trees out, and finish off with a couple of misc things. I'm not going too crazy this year because it's my first time trying this (my wife is ready to send me to the pyschiatric center soon...lol). I am using mini lights this year, however, I have been doing a little research (didn't find much) on LED Ropelights (spools). They seem easy to manipulate to a specific size you need, they seem very colorful, and they're bright! My question is that if I decide next year to go ALL LED Ropelights; how many feet of Ropelighting is appropriate for one channel on my LOR unit? I know LED don't use as much energy as the Mini lights do. I figured they are a lot better than the mini lights. My other question is if a light goes out on a ropelight, how do you correct that issue? do you have to cut a section out and connect the two working ends? Any help is appreciated? Thanks in advance!
testraub Posted November 17, 2010 Posted November 17, 2010 I bought 2 spools of 150' incandesent rope light last year for use this year. I have approx 120' of each on a channel with no problems.
JBullard Posted November 17, 2010 Posted November 17, 2010 USCS31 wrote: My question is that if I decide next year to go ALL LED Ropelights; how many feet of Ropelighting is appropriate for one channel on my LOR unit? I know LED don't use as much energy as the Mini lights do. I figured they are a lot better than the mini lights. My other question is if a light goes out on a ropelight, how do you correct that issue? do you have to cut a section out and connect the two working ends? Any help is appreciated? Thanks in advance!1st question -Check the specs for the LED Ropelight that you purchase, it will be a bunch2nd - Yes
Paul Roberson Posted November 17, 2010 Posted November 17, 2010 Going by the specs for this LED rope light.150' spool is 98 watts or 0.816666 amps.A LOR PC controller with high power (regular) heat sinks can handle 1468' :shock: of this LED rope light per channel. (Not to exceed 30 amps for the whole controller of course)I have 300' (in pieces now) of this in blue. Actual kil o watt reading is 13 watts for a 21' piece. So my meter is showing it to use a little less power than what the specs show (92.86 watts per 150')Of course like what has already been said you would need to check the power usage of the actual LED rope light you use.I would run out of money way before I was able to buy enough LED rope light to max out a LOR PC controller.There are clear splice connectors available so you can join pieces of rope light together without it being very noticeable. (I do not recommend trying to join 1468' together like this)
Jim Saul Posted November 17, 2010 Posted November 17, 2010 I dont know about the LEDs but my incandescents are 150w for 18 feet.just an FYI - about 5 years ago I purchased 36 sets of 18 feet, by the second year, 20 of them had failed in at least one 2 ft section. Mine were GE brand from Walmart or Kmart, dont remember for sure but i would never spend the money on them again. These days, I like to buy 50 per set of LEDs so if i cant easily fix it I don't have to throw out an expensive set.
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