ShaggySS Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 More questions from the new guy. I swear I tried searching this but didn’t find what I was looking for. I have been following the online stores thread to see where everyone buys lights and I was curious how everyone does it. I made the mistake of buying 30+ boxes of LED netlights and after each rainy day I was out replacing fuses. Went through 30+ fuses this year. So due to this experience I am looking at spending a little more for quality. So while on these sites I was looking at C7 and C9 LED lights. I noticed that they are different from the lights I buy from my local store. They are screw in style. I also noticed that they do not come with wire, they sell bulbs only. I then found a spool of 500 feet of Wire with C9 sockets every 12 inches. So do people buy the 500 ft spool, cut to length and just put ends on the wire? Sounds almost too good to be true, custom length lights. If I am correct is there anything I should be careful of when shopping online or making my own cables? I am all about learning from my mistakes but I would love to learn what everyone else has learned over the years. Thanks,Scott Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmoore60 Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 The simple rule for purchasing online. Do your research. Use a reputable vendor. Not all are as they appear. My favorite light vendor is doing his presale right now. You will find a thread on the LOR forums from the vendor.Ok so much for being Elusive. I have dealt with CDI for several years. Even the year that things turned bad because of the manufacture. Paul stepped up and took care of his customers. I highly recommend CDI.Oh to answer your question. YES Custom length lights are possible if you are using C-9 stringers. So don't forget to order MALE vampire plugs for your wire.Chuck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
testraub Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 One of the first purchases I made after the first year I lived here and had to do with whatever the Wife had in her attic for lights was 1 100' C9 and 1 100' C7 stringer. I cut them so they matched going around the side of the house evenly. I've been using them every year since I got them. This is my first year with LOR and convinced the Wife to switch to LED bulbs in the stringers for next season. I also have made my own stringers for a chimmney outline and on the sides of the house by buying SPT1 and purchaseing C9 and C7 sockets and placing them how I wanted.Have fun with your new addiction Tom Straub Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max-Paul Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 The only thing that was not said is this. The LED C9 or C7 bulbs are not all made the same. And it appears you are going from static to a LOR controller system, so all the more important that you recognize this issue. There are retro bulbs (aka LED bulbs that screwed in) and there are dimmable retro bulbs. Make sure that the bulbs can be dimmed. I know that at one time CDI sold both types. The non-dimmable are just fine for static displays that will not be dimmed. And these bulbs are just a wee bit cheaper. But putting non-dimmable in a display that will be dimmed. Well, you will be replacing those bulbs in short order. So, if you do not want to attend the school of hard knocks. Take heed of the above info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShaggySS Posted January 8, 2011 Author Share Posted January 8, 2011 Max-Paul wrote: The only thing that was not said is this. The LED C9 or C7 bulbs are not all made the same. And it appears you are going from static to a LOR controller system, so all the more important that you recognize this issue. There are retro bulbs (aka LED bulbs that screwed in) and there are dimmable retro bulbs. Make sure that the bulbs can be dimmed. I know that at one time CDI sold both types. The non-dimmable are just fine for static displays that will not be dimmed. And these bulbs are just a wee bit cheaper. But putting non-dimmable in a display that will be dimmed. Well, you will be replacing those bulbs in short order. So, if you do not want to attend the school of hard knocks. Take heed of the above info.Exactly what I was looking for! I was looking at the retro bulbs the other day the site had dimmable and non dimmable. They were about $5 more a box and I wasn't sure which to go with. I will be sure to get dimmable. Thanks!Can you take store bought lights and add a female plug to the end if it doesn't have one or cut and retail standard light strands instead of trying to jam them into the gutters? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max-Paul Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 ShaggySS wrote: Max-Paul wrote: The only thing that was not said is this. The LED C9 or C7 bulbs are not all made the same. And it appears you are going from static to a LOR controller system, so all the more important that you recognize this issue. There are retro bulbs (aka LED bulbs that screwed in) and there are dimmable retro bulbs. Make sure that the bulbs can be dimmed. I know that at one time CDI sold both types. The non-dimmable are just fine for static displays that will not be dimmed. And these bulbs are just a wee bit cheaper. But putting non-dimmable in a display that will be dimmed. Well, you will be replacing those bulbs in short order. So, if you do not want to attend the school of hard knocks. Take heed of the above info.Exactly what I was looking for! I was looking at the retro bulbs the other day the site had dimmable and non dimmable. They were about $5 more a box and I wasn't sure which to go with. I will be sure to get dimmable. Thanks!Can you take store bought lights and add a female plug to the end if it doesn't have one or cut and retail standard light strands instead of trying to jam them into the gutters?Sorry I could not cut our quotes down. But I can not compute what you are asking in the last sentence. Could you please rephrase? I think one part is can you put a female connector on the end of store bought light string. If that is the question, I would not advise without a lot more information. Like what gauge wire? What kind of lights are on this string. Like how much current each need, and how many. How long is the run? All of these things together with knowledge of what kind of load do you plan to attach on the end. Well all of this goes together to understand if this is a safe thing to do or not to do. If I said yes and this becomes the source of a house fire. Then someone might try to hold me legally responsible for your house burning down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmoore60 Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 If they are the C-7 or C-9 variety you can cut down the store bought strings and attach a female end. C-7 and C-9 are basically wired parallel in nature. Each socket is connected to the hot and neutral wire in the string. Bulbs in this type arrangment are all 120 volt bulbs.Minis as well as most small size LED lights are wired in series. The neutral for one bulb connects to the hot of the next bulb in line and that bulbs neutral connects to the 3rd bulbs hot and this repeats. The bulbs in this type arrangement can be anywhere between 2.5 volts per bulb up to about 12 volts per bulb.Chuck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KStatefan Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 ShaggySS wrote: More questions from the new guy. I swear I tried searching this but didn’t find what I was looking for. I have been following the online stores thread to see where everyone buys lights and I was curious how everyone does it. I made the mistake of buying 30+ boxes of LED netlights and after each rainy day I was out replacing fuses. Went through 30+ fuses this year. So due to this experience I am looking at spending a little more for quality. So while on these sites I was looking at C7 and C9 LED lights. I noticed that they are different from the lights I buy from my local store. They are screw in style. I also noticed that they do not come with wire, they sell bulbs only. I then found a spool of 500 feet of Wire with C9 sockets every 12 inches. So do people buy the 500 ft spool, cut to length and just put ends on the wire? Sounds almost too good to be true, custom length lights. If I am correct is there anything I should be careful of when shopping online or making my own cables? I am all about learning from my mistakes but I would love to learn what everyone else has learned over the years. Thanks,ScottThat is what I am doing next year with dimable c9s. I am using strands with 36" spacing and using six strands so I can make the lights chase. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShaggySS Posted January 8, 2011 Author Share Posted January 8, 2011 KStatefan wrote: ShaggySS wrote: More questions from the new guy. I swear I tried searching this but didn’t find what I was looking for. I have been following the online stores thread to see where everyone buys lights and I was curious how everyone does it. I made the mistake of buying 30+ boxes of LED netlights and after each rainy day I was out replacing fuses. Went through 30+ fuses this year. So due to this experience I am looking at spending a little more for quality. So while on these sites I was looking at C7 and C9 LED lights. I noticed that they are different from the lights I buy from my local store. They are screw in style. I also noticed that they do not come with wire, they sell bulbs only. I then found a spool of 500 feet of Wire with C9 sockets every 12 inches. So do people buy the 500 ft spool, cut to length and just put ends on the wire? Sounds almost too good to be true, custom length lights. If I am correct is there anything I should be careful of when shopping online or making my own cables? I am all about learning from my mistakes but I would love to learn what everyone else has learned over the years. Thanks,ScottThat is what I am doing next year with dimable c9s. I am using strands with 36" spacing and using six strands so I can make the lights chase.Ok you got my attention. how do you make lights chase? I read a little about using two strands and somehow make them alternate but I don't know much more than that. Did I mention that I am a newbie? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KStatefan Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 ShaggySS wrote: KStatefan wrote: ShaggySS wrote: More questions from the new guy. I swear I tried searching this but didn’t find what I was looking for. I have been following the online stores thread to see where everyone buys lights and I was curious how everyone does it. I made the mistake of buying 30+ boxes of LED netlights and after each rainy day I was out replacing fuses. Went through 30+ fuses this year. So due to this experience I am looking at spending a little more for quality. So while on these sites I was looking at C7 and C9 LED lights. I noticed that they are different from the lights I buy from my local store. They are screw in style. I also noticed that they do not come with wire, they sell bulbs only. I then found a spool of 500 feet of Wire with C9 sockets every 12 inches. So do people buy the 500 ft spool, cut to length and just put ends on the wire? Sounds almost too good to be true, custom length lights. If I am correct is there anything I should be careful of when shopping online or making my own cables? I am all about learning from my mistakes but I would love to learn what everyone else has learned over the years. Thanks,ScottThat is what I am doing next year with dimable c9s. I am using strands with 36" spacing and using six strands so I can make the lights chase.Ok you got my attention. how do you make lights chase? I read a little about using two strands and somehow make them alternate but I don't know much more than that. Did I mention that I am a newbie?I am new also so I do not know what I am doing. I am planning on using six channels on my LOR to create a chase sequence. Each channel will be six inches apart and repeat every 36 inches. I am going to have 3 channels of red and three of green. I do not have any programming done yet. I am going to wait until I get my CDI order this summer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShaggySS Posted January 9, 2011 Author Share Posted January 9, 2011 Max-Paul wrote: ShaggySS wrote: Max-Paul wrote: The only thing that was not said is this. The LED C9 or C7 bulbs are not all made the same. And it appears you are going from static to a LOR controller system, so all the more important that you recognize this issue. There are retro bulbs (aka LED bulbs that screwed in) and there are dimmable retro bulbs. Make sure that the bulbs can be dimmed. I know that at one time CDI sold both types. The non-dimmable are just fine for static displays that will not be dimmed. And these bulbs are just a wee bit cheaper. But putting non-dimmable in a display that will be dimmed. Well, you will be replacing those bulbs in short order. So, if you do not want to attend the school of hard knocks. Take heed of the above info.Exactly what I was looking for! I was looking at the retro bulbs the other day the site had dimmable and non dimmable. They were about $5 more a box and I wasn't sure which to go with. I will be sure to get dimmable. Thanks!Can you take store bought lights and add a female plug to the end if it doesn't have one or cut and retail standard light strands instead of trying to jam them into the gutters?Sorry I could not cut our quotes down. But I can not compute what you are asking in the last sentence. Could you please rephrase? I think one part is can you put a female connector on the end of store bought light string. If that is the question, I would not advise without a lot more information. Like what gauge wire? What kind of lights are on this string. Like how much current each need, and how many. How long is the run? All of these things together with knowledge of what kind of load do you plan to attach on the end. Well all of this goes together to understand if this is a safe thing to do or not to do. If I said yes and this becomes the source of a house fire. Then someone might try to hold me legally responsible for your house burning down.You are correct I have some store bought lights which do not have a female end on the other side which as you know sucks when you are trying to decorate. All my lights are LED so I would assume that wire gauge does not matter. Though with LED I noticed that many lights have those little sealed boxes which I recently discovered contains a capacator and a few diodes. Light manufactures need to learn how to seal those things better. I know what you mean about the fire, i think my best bet it to deal with those lights or toss them and get a real strand of lights. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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