lowepg Posted September 9, 2013 Share Posted September 9, 2013 So i finally found the rope light i wanted (3/8, warm white LED from christmas-leds.com) also ordered a ton of spt-2 to make custom ext. cords... So, my next NOOB question is on attaching the rope lights to the frame.... zip ties? what kind? Also, any tricks for navigating some of the sharp turns around the mouth? lastly, anyone have a vid of actually cutting and making up the custom rope lengths? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Batzdorf Posted September 9, 2013 Share Posted September 9, 2013 (edited) I always use a zip tie gun, saves on the fingers. For sharp turns use a hair drier to heat it up, but not too hot.. For cutting tips, search here and over at PC. Here is one YouTube vid. Just search around until you find what your looking for. Edited September 9, 2013 by Dave Batzdorf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sax Posted September 10, 2013 Share Posted September 10, 2013 Sorry lowepg. I haven't taken that pic yet. I used zip ties. I had a bag of 1000 neon yellows laying around I bought from frys some years ago. It wasn't 1000 left but I used those up. I also had some from home depot...plain white ones. I use the 8 or 9 inch ones. Maybe some 6 but I was afraid of getting them too thin and cutting into the rope. Yes, the yellows show up in the day but once the lights go out you can't see them. When putting the zip ties on the rope I noticed if you place them at the cut point and tighten them you have a good chance of killing a section. So I stayed away from those areas when placing the zip ties. I applied power and put my zip ties where the LED lights aren't. I used the power cord that came with the rope for this part. I then used a hand held zip tie tightner...a $5 tool at harbor freight...to tighten and clip off the ends. I also took the time to heat shrink the ends with some silicone in them to prevent water causing any issues. I put the silicone in some heat shrink where I put the spt wire as well. I live in Oregon. It will be raining and wet. So I have to take extra care. I used an awl to insert the spt wire into my rope. I had a hard time finding this tool. Did get one at harbor freight finally. Home depot only had massive metal ones. I have to say this was the hardest step. You must take care to get in the center of the wire AND then go deep enough so the spt wire stays in the rope...but not too deep as to split the rope from the tool. My biggest problem was the wires pulling out later because I didn't go deep enough. Once you figure this step out it goes pretty fast. I didn't heat my rope to get it around the frame. The 3/8 went around easy enough. I didn't make any real tight turns though. And I have frames from Doug too. So we do have the same frames. I will shoot a pic and post so you can see. Hopefully I will have time tomorrow. But maybe you can get started at least with this info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowepg Posted September 10, 2013 Author Share Posted September 10, 2013 Sax- thank you for the detailed explanation- that helps a LOT. Id love to see a few pictures if you don't mind- Im trying to get my head around how it will look- especially the channels where 2 rope lights follow the same piece of "mouth" Also- what size/type of heat shrink tube did you use? I need to order some of that as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caniac Posted September 10, 2013 Share Posted September 10, 2013 I got my zip ties from monoprice.com and Amazon has a great collection of zip tie guns, they work great and make fast work of this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sax Posted September 10, 2013 Share Posted September 10, 2013 Here are a couple of photos. I use 3/8 inch heat shrink. I bought mine from mouser electronics. 3m brand 2:1 shrink ratio. Be aware that they have many colors. My house is mostly white and i tried to use the white but the lights shine through it. So to dark it out you must use black. I ran out and had to go to frys to get some more (thats the fry's version in the photo). I would suggest getting plenty of extra. I also ordered electrical tape from mouser. The tape wears out but it can be used in an emergency. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DougP Posted September 10, 2013 Share Posted September 10, 2013 Here are a couple of photos. I use 3/8 inch heat shrink. I bought mine from mouser electronics. 3m brand 2:1 shrink ratio. Be aware that they have many colors. My house is mostly white and i tried to use the white but the lights shine through it. So to dark it out you must use black. I ran out and had to go to frys to get some more (thats the fry's version in the photo). I would suggest getting plenty of extra. I also ordered electrical tape from mouser. The tape wears out but it can be used in an emergency. 2013-09-10 10.07.37.jpg Looks Great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowepg Posted September 10, 2013 Author Share Posted September 10, 2013 Thanks for the photos! They help a lot! I think I have one extra mouth channel on my frames... so i would just need to "overlap" the oval mouth channel i think.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DougP Posted September 10, 2013 Share Posted September 10, 2013 Thanks for the photos! They help a lot! I think I have one extra mouth channel on my frames... so i would just need to "overlap" the oval mouth channel i think.... Yes, that one has five mouths on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowepg Posted September 11, 2013 Author Share Posted September 11, 2013 Here are a couple of photos. I use 3/8 inch heat shrink. I bought mine from mouser electronics. 3m brand 2:1 shrink ratio. Be aware that they have many colors. My house is mostly white and i tried to use the white but the lights shine through it. So to dark it out you must use black. I ran out and had to go to frys to get some more (thats the fry's version in the photo). I would suggest getting plenty of extra. I also ordered electrical tape from mouser. The tape wears out but it can be used in an emergency. 2013-09-10 10.07.37.jpg So black heat shrink to "black-out" the excess- sounds alot better than black tape i was planning... But did you use the same black heat shrtink (same size?) to seal the power connection to the rope light? Thats the part I'm unsure about... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sax Posted September 11, 2013 Share Posted September 11, 2013 Yeah, same size and color heat shrink for both sides. In my photo my power is on the right. You can see it more clearly in the close up of the o. For my 5 channel mouth I just didn't use the curve part...the 2 circles on the sides of the mouth. I just used the hard angles. So making it a 4 channel.In my programming of the mouths I just open half, full or o. It seems more realistic looking to me and it allows me to move the programming around easier since all my pumpkins only have 4 channels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sax Posted September 11, 2013 Share Posted September 11, 2013 Thanks Doug. The pumpkins came out nice. Jack looks great as well. He is so huge. Getting ready to hang them and put them to work!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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