Guest guest Posted December 11, 2006 Share Posted December 11, 2006 No it has nothing to do with lost sleep and my mental abilites slowly slipping away. Or then again maybe it is. Has anyone had issues with keep lights dimmed for hours on end? I want to keep my lights on all night but at 10pm I want to dim them to about 50% and keep then that way till about 6:30am. Just curious if this will cause an issue with the controller or something else.Greg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 11, 2006 Share Posted December 11, 2006 Greg, A fellow NJ ian... My first year with LOR I kept my kights dimmed at 50% until 3 am... never had an issue.... I know this partially answers your question... but I do not see it as being an issue... I was dimming over 20 strands of c-9s during that time... On a side issue, wher in NJ are you... Im down by Ocean City in Linwood...Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 11, 2006 Share Posted December 11, 2006 I recall reading that dimming would shorten the life of the bulb, but I may be mistaken.I am waiting for one of the pro's to answer, as I wonder the same thing.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 12, 2006 Share Posted December 12, 2006 Why do you guys keep your lights on for that length of time?Even if you dimmed them, I would think your electric bill has got to be insane.Besides, I like to give my neighbors a break. With my 15 minutes of fame last year, I didn't think I would get as much traffic this year. Well I was wrong, I don't have cars lining up and down the street, but I have noticed a heavier flow of traffic this past week. I'm sure this weekend will be busy...So far all of my neighbors had assured me their is no problem with my lights and the traffic it causes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 12, 2006 Share Posted December 12, 2006 BetterDays wrote: I recall reading that dimming would shorten the life of the bulb, but I may be mistaken.I am waiting for one of the pro's to answer, as I wonder the same thing....From what I have read dimming will increase the life of Christmas Lights... The same is not necessarly true for high wattage bulbs on some dimmers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 12, 2006 Share Posted December 12, 2006 After the show ends at 11:00PM, I have all of the white icicles and three high-wattage flood lights come on at 40% to light the front of the house. They stay on until about 5:30 the next morning. During the light show, the floods are on at about 25% to give some definition to the house. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 12, 2006 Share Posted December 12, 2006 rsingletary wrote: After the show ends at 11:00PM, I have all of the white icicles and three high-wattage flood lights come on at 40% to light the front of the house. They stay on until about 5:30 the next morning. During the light show, the floods are on at about 25% to give some definition to the house. lol I do exactly the same thing. I run a show, called "security," after my normal show until 6:30 in the morning with spots at 33%. haven't had a problem at all..yet. I dont see why it would be hard on the bulbs because they arent working as hard while being dim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 12, 2006 Share Posted December 12, 2006 John Pidliskey wrote: Why do you guys keep your lights on for that length of time?Even if you dimmed them, I would think your electric bill has got to be insane.Besides, I like to give my neighbors a break. With my 15 minutes of fame last year, I didn't think I would get as much traffic this year. Well I was wrong, I don't have cars lining up and down the street, but I have noticed a heavier flow of traffic this past week. I'm sure this weekend will be busy...So far all of my neighbors had assured me their is no problem with my lights and the traffic it causes.Partly because I don't want to trip over the lights on my lawn in the morning. The christmas lights will be the only lights on as the porch light gets shut. The eletric bill really isnt that much more, I'm only running around 5000 lights and it adds maybe 15-20 a month to the bill for the time its on now.The dimming will extend the life of non-led lights, I have no idea about led's.I'm up north in Clifton.Greg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 12, 2006 Share Posted December 12, 2006 My entire neighborhood lights up all niight! I have a static show that turns most everthing on for an hour after the show ends at 9pm on weekdays and 10pm friday and saturday. Then it goes into overnight mode where the candy canes are on all night, and some different things come on for awhile. After midnight, there is only the canes and the window candles, along with a pole lamp in the yard. I have had no complaints from neighbors, only complements. As for the hefty electic bill, I work for the electric utility. I consider a large electric bill job security:laughing::laughing::laughing:jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 12, 2006 Share Posted December 12, 2006 LightORama wrote: BetterDays wrote: I recall reading that dimming would shorten the life of the bulb, but I may be mistaken.I am waiting for one of the pro's to answer, as I wonder the same thing....From what I have read dimming will increase the life of Christmas Lights... The same is not necessarly true for high wattage bulbs on some dimmers.As I mentioned, I wanted one of the pro's to answer.Thank you!Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 14, 2006 Share Posted December 14, 2006 Far from a pro but for everyones reading.........http://members.misty.com/don/bulb1.htmlBy moving the on/off point in the AC wave are we not reducing the Power/Amperage applied to the bulbs?Reduced Power Reducing the voltage applied to a light bulb will reduce the filament temperature, resulting in a dramatic increase in life expectancy.One device sold to do this is an ordinary silicon diode built into a cap that is made to stick to the base of a light bulb. A diode lets current through in only one direction, causing the bulb to get power only 50 percent of the time if it is operated on AC. This effectively reduces the applied voltage by about 30 percent. (Reducing the voltage to its original value times the square root of .5 results in the same power consumption as applying full voltage half the time.) The life expectancy is increased very dramatically. However, the power consumption is reduced by about 40 percent (not 50 since the cooler filament has less resistance) and light output is reduced by reduced by about 70 percent (cooler filaments are less efficient at radiating visible light). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 15, 2006 Share Posted December 15, 2006 How can I add the diode to say, 8 or 9 thousand lights?Wait, make that 10 or 11 thousand, since I could run more then! :devil::laughing::laughing::laughing: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 15, 2006 Share Posted December 15, 2006 If you did attempt to add such a diode, it would have to be done right at the channel's outlet plug, not at the controller power. If these controllers don't get nice, clean, nearly perfect Sine Wave power, they have trouble. While I haven't tried putting in such a diode (and probably won't), it wouldn't surprise me if it interfered with normal operation of both LOR and D-Light controllers.I may try adding a "security" sequence after 11pm. I've heard that reindeer are a tempting target and I've got nine of them. They may be less tempting for theft or vandalism if they are lit up at 40 or 50% Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts