type of lights to use

[samrobert]

Just starting out and want to use leds, but it seems there are a lot of different styles and sizes. I don't know what to use. What is the most commonly used? We don't get snow, freezes occasionally, and get a few inches of rain in December.

I have 16 chs and want to use strings of lights on the house and trees this year. I purchased some sequences from LOR, as I know I won't have time to do my own. I notice some people use only 3 colors. Is there any rule of thumb on how many colors to use? Any good places to buy the lights?

Thanks.

[rainyoregonchristmas]

Good places to buy lights, tons of sites online. Or shop Black Friday sales next week. As far as weather, really most of the stuff out there is pretty tough. Just stay away from steel leads on the lights, use a magnet to check, they tend to rust readily. Up here in Oregon we get TONS of rain, we're expecting up to five inches just over the weekend. The only thing that rain can do that can really mess with your style is if you get water in LED plastic housings then get a freeze. The ice that results will pop off the housings and drop them all over the yard or in the gutter.

[samrobert]

thanks for the info. I see that there are different styles - C6 ,C7, M5, M6 and so on. Is there one in particular that I should use, or does it really matter?

thanks again

[rainyoregonchristmas]

Really with size it is personal preference when it comes to LED. If you're talking incandescent, size matters, the bigger the bulb, the more power it takes, the less lights you can use on a given circuit. LEDs are more expensive, but incandescent lights will cost you more over time due to electrical costs. It is all weighing costs and benefits. You can even use a mix of lights and then decide what YOU like. Some of us use exclusively LED while others stand by the incans, and a portion of us use both picking the light for each element that best fits the effect we are trying to achieve.