Sheldon_15 Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 I've been hearing a lot about spt1 and spt2 wire and vampire clips. And that your going to need alot of it. Can someone explain what it is? Like are they homemade extension cords or what? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Simmons Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 Yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark J. M. Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 They are indeed used to make homemade extension cords. spt1 and spt2 are different thickness of covering with spt1 being the smallest. This has nothing to do with the gauge of the wire enclosed. Vampire slips? I assume you mean what I know as vampire plugs. These are a variety of connectors for making the cords. Male ends, female ends and in-line female plugs are commonly used. There are sales on these at different vendors during the year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly jett Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 spt 1 and spt 2 are wire that you can make you own extension cords with.the only difference between 1 and 2 is the insulation on the wire. 2 is thicker than 1.also 2 costs more and the plugs for 2 are more than they are for 1.unless you have alot of water and alot of snow, spt 1 should work perfectly fine for you.check around to alot of vendors for the best price and the best availability. i bought 1000ft last year and have already run out. it a heck of a lot cheaper to make a 6in, 4ft, 13ft or 57ft cord than to buy alot of extension cords at the store that you don't need. its also alot easier to make cords with multiple plugs on it.i have 3 wireframe choir singers and its alot easier to make 1 cord with 3 female plugs a 1 male plugs and space them exactly the distance i want.you'll find out in the long run you'll save a lot of money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fxdwg Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 when using spt and vampire plugs, you can make custom wiring harnesses, zip tie them together and label both ends of the cords, this will speed up both setup as well as tear down each season! just be sure and label them as soon as you get them setup. (unlike me, who says "I will do that later" and EVERY year, i am calling myself some very nasty names cause my cords aren't labeled.fyi, most of the vendors offering pre-sales, also sell spt wire and plugs as part of their sales. great pricing when they do that. also, figure what you think you will need, and at least double it, if not triple it. (especially if you have a buddy that never buys enough for his own display!! CHADLY!!! LOL) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Rise Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 WLC Ventures is doing their annual sale on plugs and wire right now.http://www.wlcventures.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
columbus27 Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 Can SPT 2 plugs be used on SPT-1? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duckman Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 Who are some of the vendors that sell the wire. I see WLC Ventures sells SPT2 wire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron Maue Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 Can SPT 2 plugs be used on SPT-1?They can, but your level of success will vary. Because the SPT2 plugs expect a thicker cord, I had trouble getting them to completely pierce the insulation on the SPT1 wire. But, I didn't have a choice, as it was crunch time and I couldn't buy SPT2 locally and didn't have enough time to order it so, I suffered through a couple extra hours of troubleshooting figuring out which ends of the cords weren't working on about 10 of my display elements. That was year 1. This past year, I replaced all those cords with SPT2. When doing SPT2 cord and SPT2 plugs, I've only had 2 issues with plugs that didn't work. 1 was a bad plug. 1 was user error. And I have about 300 individual extension cords that I've made. Not a bad success ratio. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
holidaylightexpress Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 Who are some of the vendors that sell the wire. I see WLC Ventures sells SPT2 wire.We have SPT-1 on our pre season sale. www.holiday-light-express.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wbottomley Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 We have SPT-1 on our pre season sale.www.holiday-light-express.comAnd that's the only size to use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plasmadrive Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 (edited) We have SPT-1 on our pre season sale.www.holiday-light-express.comWhere? I can't find it on your site Never mind.. I found it.. $79 for 500'.... is that the sale price???? Edited January 5, 2013 by plasmadrive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plasmadrive Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 I use SPT-1 wire and I have some from two different vendors. I noticed the stuff that is newer got stiff after just one season and we don't have snow. The stuff I got 2 years ago is still flexable. This of course means different jacket material. The stuff I got in 1000' donuts is the good stuff. The 250' reels is the stuff that got stiff. I don't have the manufacturer of either written down.. Doh! So Holiday Lights Express.. how does yours do after being outside in the water and weather? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
columbus27 Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 I use SPT-1 wire and I have some from two different vendors. I noticed the stuff that is newer got stiff after just one season and we don't have snow. The stuff I got 2 years ago is still flexable. This of course means different jacket material. The stuff I got in 1000' donuts is the good stuff. The 250' reels is the stuff that got stiff. I don't have the manufacturer of either written down.. Doh!So Holiday Lights Express.. how does yours do after being outside in the water and weather? Does the good stuff have different UL writing on it. On some wire there is a low and a high degree on them like 105C Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duckman Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 WLC Ventures has a 1000 foot roll of SPT2 for $99 and 50 vampire plugs for $17.75 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shan-Man Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 I would like to stick with SPT-1 because it's what I'm already using, plus I can pick it up locally (HD & Lowes both). Is there any place to get a good deal on it in 500' to 1000' rolls? I'm sorry HLE, $80 plus shipping is just not sweet enough since I get 250 spools locally for $40 and I'm sure the shipping is more than tax. BTW - nobody mentioned the UV advantages of SPT-2. And yes, though it is possible to force SPT-2 vampires to work with SPT-1 wire, the reverse is not true unless you whittle down the jacket on SPT-2 wire to force it into an SPT-1 vampire (probably a bad idea!). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plasmadrive Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 I would like to stick with SPT-1 because it's what I'm already using, plus I can pick it up locally (HD & Lowes both). Is there any place to get a good deal on it in 500' to 1000' rolls? I'm sorry HLE, $80 plus shipping is just not sweet enough since I get 250 spools locally for $40 and I'm sure the shipping is more than tax.BTW - nobody mentioned the UV advantages of SPT-2. And yes, though it is possible to force SPT-2 vampires to work with SPT-1 wire, the reverse is not true unless you whittle down the jacket on SPT-2 wire to force it into an SPT-1 vampire (probably a bad idea!).I have used only SPT-1 up till now.. but with WLC having a killer sale on SPT-2 I have bitten the bullet and ordered enough plugs and wire for the next two years. Copper ain't getting any cheaper.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duckman Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 Another thing I have found that works good as an extension cord is old sets of incandescent lights. Just pull a light out of the socket so the lights don't light up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TitusCarnathan Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 I would not recommend using spt2 plugs with spt1 wire because there is that chance that it will not make a good connection.For the Spt1 Wire and plugs CDI creativedisplays.com has Male Female and Female inline (middle of wire) gilbert (vampire) plugs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Cockroft Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 I think WLC is also going to have spt-1 this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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