Troubleshooting Solve this problem

[David Rise]

LMAO!

Air freshener is good, but not for 60 plus strings.

[Guest wbottomley]

I tried this but all my mini trees smelled like potpourri, I knew I should have used the pine tree ones.

I don't know what was in mine... after turning the red led's on, it smelled like a French whore in a red-light district.

[scubado]

Post of the week^!

[EARLE W. TALLEY]

Gee William, wish I were there I have never smelled anything like that, you have been around !!

[Ken Benedict]

You guys are just envious because someone thought of it before you (and before me).

It was actually on the old LOR forum pages that this Glade thing popped up (and yes, there was humor then) about 3 years ago.

Some creative person was looking for a small electrical load without having to design anything.

Hence, the Glade thing (yes, he used pine scented ones).

Earle, ya got any more of these to solve?

Edited January 5, 2013 by Ken Benedict

[rwertz]

Neeeoowww...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gu_wXpCMADU

[scubado]

LMAO!

[Guest wbottomley]

You guys are just envious because someone thought of it before you (and before me).

Really? I've been around since 2005 before this forum was moved to its own and current site. No envy here. Eventually, every dog gets a bone.

[tjflory]

Sorry... gotta ask.

In this case:

What's the point in using LEDs (over incans), which are a lot more expensive, at times less dependable, just to use less power...

then have to add load to make them work properly?

I live, work and play by the KISS philosophy... What I have learned here is that adding another component is just adding

something else that scan fail.

Am I missing something here?

tj

[EARLE W. TALLEY]

Ken, no I don't any more at this time but will work on it. Glad you liked the project.

Earle

[Guest wbottomley]

Sorry... gotta ask.

In this case:

What's the point in using LEDs (over incans), which are a lot more expensive, at times less dependable, just to use less power...

then have to add load to make them work properly?

I live, work and play by the KISS philosophy... What I have learned here is that adding another component is just adding

something else that scan fail.

Am I missing something here?

tj

Come back in a few years and tell us how those incandescent lights are working for you - especially the color fade on them. As one as the veteran users said "been there done it."

[scubado]

Sorry... gotta ask.

In this case:

What's the point in using LEDs (over incans), which are a lot more expensive, at times less dependable, just to use less power...

then have to add load to make them work properly?

I live, work and play by the KISS philosophy... What I have learned here is that adding another component is just adding

something else that scan fail.

Am I missing something here?

tj

Yes, leds cost more, but they hold their color better plus have better color. They use a heck of a lot less power even with a 'load'. The load is probably the equivelent of one mini bulb. The only problem with leds is that they can't melt the snow off your elements.

I just went up and looked at your signature, you have 13,000 rgb lights, what are you whining about? At least with the RGB's you don't have to worry about any of the above problems, at least with flicker.

Edited January 5, 2013 by scubado

[tjflory]

Come back in a few years and tell us how those incandescent lights are working for you - especially the color fade on them. As one as the veteran users said "been there done it."

Sir.

This was year #3 for 8 incan mini trees, 4 colors each. this year I had 1 blue string go out. found the bad bulb and fixed it in about 5 minutes.

They look and work good as new.

tj

[tjflory]

Yes, leds cost more, but they hold their color better plus have better color. They use a heck of a lot less power even with a 'load'. The load is probably the equivelent of one mini bulb. The only problem with leds is that they can't melt the snow off your elements.

I just went up and looked at your signature, you have 13,000 rgb lights, what are you whining about? At least with the RGB's you don't have to worry about any of the above problems, at least with flicker.

Oh... I've got lots of different stuff all over my house and yard. The signature generator is kinda limited.

I've probably still got 10,000 of the good old incans.

tj

[Guest wbottomley]

Sir.

This was year #3 for 8 incan mini trees, 4 colors each. this year I had 1 blue string go out. found the bad bulb and fixed it in about 5 minutes.

They look and work good as new.

tj

Then luck is on your side. For me, after starting the process of switching to LED's, I have not looked back and never will. Best move ever made in a light show. 80% less power consumption, better color, less troublesome, only four strands out of 576 that has gone bad. I can't say that for incandescent lights. They have their place, but LED's in high wind/ice snow area's are a must.

[rwertz]

Maintenance was the key factor for us. We spent a fair chunk of change on Sylvania Stay-Lit lights several years ago. They were crap, and I spent an hour every other night keeping the lights lit (with a fairly small display). This year with mostly LEDs I spent maybe an hour all season.

And the colors are definitely beautiful

[tjflory]

Then luck is on your side. For me, after starting the process of switching to LED's, I have not looked back and never will. Best move ever made in a light show. 80% less power consumption, better color, less troublesome, only four strands out of 576 that has gone bad. I can't say that for incandescent lights. They have their place, but LED's in high wind/ice snow area's are a must.

Agreed. Personal preference wins here. (apparently I'm getting cheap in my old age)

Still, my original point: the failure in this post occurred in a components which was necessitated by a failure in yet another component.

I'm curious. My old incans are $1.88 a string of 100. How much for equivalent LED's/ snubbers, including time to build snubbers?

tj

[Surfing4Dough]

Buying LEDs was a lot cheaper than upgrading the power limitations of my house (circuit breaker box, etc.).

[tjflory]

Buying LEDs was a lot cheaper than upgrading the power limitations of my house (circuit breaker box, etc.).

Ah. Point conceded! (I did my own wiring for my lights)

I paid $800.00 7 years ago to run power 25 feet to my hot tub... ridiculous!

tj

[-klb-]

If I have blue incandescents, I have to rewrap the mini trees, and anything else where I have blue in the bundle every 3 years, and things look degraded by the end of the first season. Most of the red/gree/white mini trees started to develop obvious banding in shade of red across the different strings after 4 years. I'm done with incandescent just from the maintenance aspect.

For many of my props, I'm ading one half watt phantom load serving an average of 5 strings. So adding 1/2 watt of load to move from 200 watts of incandescent to 25 watts of LED is far from erasing the increase in efficiency. For two strings it would be adding 1/2 watt to move from 80 watts to 10. That still comes out way ahead, but one or two strings nearly never need the phantom load added...