NickByrd Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 I have a 22 foot flag pole that I turn into a 19 foot mega tree with star at the top. I had problems with the GFCI for that controller tripping after about 2 weeks if it was raining, strong winds, and later in the season if I farted too hard.I converted a toilet flange repair kit into the topper for my tree that I ran the lights up on. (flange would open up around the 4 inch commercial flag pole and bolt shut on the back side).I finally went from strand to strand unplugging and resetting the GFI until I found the "problem strand."I didn't want to lower the whole rig in the middle of the season so I left it one as is one channel short.WHAT THE PROBLEM WAS: a small piece of the wire strand had become trapped between the flange and flag pole. The wind caused the rig to wiggle and over time it rubbed through the wire and the strand grounded out on the flag pole, tripping the GFI.I am going to modify the rig to manage cords at the top a little better. Also I am going to put a small piece of electrical tape over the unused female plugs at the top of the flag pole. Pain in the butt to take it down and fix something.Seems like alot of folks have discussed weather proofing, but this is just a bug I wanted to share.Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khawes Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 Think about liquid electrical tape... It's my new best friend This was my first LOR year but in previous years during heavy rains a string or two would fail, due to a blown fuse. I was paranoid with my new LOR controllers so I painted the exposed ends to seal them, and had no troubles this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OregonLights Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 Nick, thank you for the input. Good for me (newbie) to hear lessons learned from others!Okay, maybe this is a stupid question...but if a guy was using minis, would sealing the female end of the string help any since each conductor was exposed to the weather at each unprotected bulb location?I see it as the same issue at the vampire plugs on SPT wire. These aren't sealed and are subject to the same moisture. I had someone ask me this question regarding my extension cords. They asked me why I don't weatherproof the connections, but I thought it wouldn't do any good since the lights I was plugging into (inflatables and minis) were exposed anyway. Am I wrong? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Don Gillespie Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 NickByrd wrote: I have a 22 foot flag pole that I turn into a 19 foot mega tree with star at the top. I had problems with the GFCI for that controller tripping after about 2 weeks if it was raining, strong winds, and later in the season if I farted too hard.I converted a toilet flange repair kit into the topper for my tree that I ran the lights up on. (flange would open up around the 4 inch commercial flag pole and bolt shut on the back side).I finally went from strand to strand unplugging and resetting the GFI until I found the "problem strand."I didn't want to lower the whole rig in the middle of the season so I left it one as is one channel short.WHAT THE PROBLEM WAS: a small piece of the wire strand had become trapped between the flange and flag pole. The wind caused the rig to wiggle and over time it rubbed through the wire and the strand grounded out on the flag pole, tripping the GFI.I am going to modify the rig to manage cords at the top a little better. Also I am going to put a small piece of electrical tape over the unused female plugs at the top of the flag pole. Pain in the butt to take it down and fix something.Seems like alot of folks have discussed weather proofing, but this is just a bug I wanted to share.Nick#1 quit farting#2 sounds as though everything qwent down the toilet#3 glad you got it figured Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickByrd Posted January 22, 2011 Author Share Posted January 22, 2011 Hey OL,Ithink that coverin these connectors will help in certain situations. You aren't just trying to keep a little bit of water out, you are trying to prevent a short... EX: the female end of a string sitting in a puddle or the same thing occuring with a junction.I had a problem with some 3 foot mini trees tripping GFIs also. I found that water was getting into the junctions between male and female connectors. The water was completing the circuit between the two male prongs and tripping the GFI. I put sandwich bags and rubberbands around them and solved the issue.Someone else here with better eletrical knowledge may be able to speak up on this issue.And Don, it was a crappy situation... but it all came out in the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ace_master Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 I discovered last fall that one of my wire frames (second hand with lights installed) had a fray in the main power wire that the base was sitting on, and the wire made contact with the metal frame where the powder coating had worn off the bottom... If I had touched that in the wrong spot, I could have been in a world of hurt. Right now I have about 8 layers of Cold Weather electrical tape wrapped around it, and have ziptied that to the back of the frame about a foot off the ground. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickByrd Posted January 23, 2011 Author Share Posted January 23, 2011 Jeff Millard wrote: Don Gillespie wrote: NickByrd wrote: if I farted too hard.Nick#1 quit fartingEVERYONE DUCK! NICK'S GONNA EXPLODE!!!!Jeff:cool:PS Sorry, just another useless post entered in an attempt to maintain my feeble lead over jimsw....ANOTHER USLESS POST...I figured this was your first non-serious, tongue in cheek post ever!Well, this entire thread is about to become fodder between Jeff and Jim... everyone stand back.Plus stand back cause I need to fart. (edit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Don Gillespie Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 Jeff Millard wrote: EVERYONE DUCK! NICK'S GONNA EXPLODE!!!!Jeff:cool:PS Sorry, just another useless post entered in an attempt to maintain my feeble lead over jimsw....Are any of these post usefull? I think not it smells in here, any way who else can catch Jim I think he has a computer tied to his a$$ LOL the only way I can see you catchting him Jeff would be to have a computer surgically implanted in your a$$ LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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