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jjdurrant

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Hey guys.. couple questions.

 

1. I remember reading somewhere that incand floods should not be shimmered or faded. Is that true? If so, do they handle on/off ok?

2. When buying from big box stores, how are you supposed to know if the LEDs they sell support shimmer and fade?

 

Thx!

 

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All Icans be it mini or floods can be any effect you want. Its only some LEDs that should only be on or off. One example is an LED string that has its own controller box built into the string. Also some strings use a filter cap on its AC to DC rectifier. These to I would recommend that you do not use fades, twinkles or shimmers.

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I've not heard that about floods.  But then, shimmer is pretty much wasted on incandescent bulbs anyway.

 

When buying from big-box stores, you DON'T know, other than by trial and error.  Most of the errors have already been made and reported here over the years, so if you stay away from those stores/brands you should be okay.  I can't give you specifics because I don't buy from local stores and really don't pay any attention to what's good and bad. 

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I am like George. I buy from a vendor that I have gotten to know has great products. Although I try to remember what brands to stay clear of if I need one or two strings. Right now I remember people saying that the Martha Steward brand do not play well with LOR.

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I have used floods from ray wu, holiday coro and LOR. Now, they are all dc mind you. But I like the LOR for ease of install, the ray wu are the brightest. Holiday coro is a lot of work compared to the other two IMHO. All are said to be 10 watt floods.

The LOR are plug and play. I had to wire power to the ray wu, and had to build and wire the holiday coro.

I don't know of any AC led floods.

Look at the LOR floods. Good price and are easy to install. Comes with cable and connectors. And shipping is pretty fast. Unless you are doing a bigger order, shipping from Ray will eat you up.

I continue to use all those floods and would recommend any of them.

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Just so folks know, L.E.D. products in the big box stores are starting to get better about telling whether the L.E.D. bulb is dimmable or not.  

 

I was looking at some assorted L.E.D. household and flood lamps in Home Depot and Lowes the other day, too my surprise, stamped right on the package, was "This LED bulb is dimmable".     

 

I think the reason for this is because many folks also use dimmers in their homes to soften their lights down, and many original LED household bulbs when they came out could not be dimmed without doing damage to the LED bulbs internal circuitry.  But it seems the manufacturers have been listening to the home consumer market and now making dimmable LED bulbs of all types, including LED Spotlights and Floodlights.

 

I always go by: If it doesn't say it's dimmable anywhere on the packaging, I wouldn't even buy it to try and attempt it, or fate.  {Well except for Christmas LED strands, and even now I see there are some being stamped "This LED light string is dimmable".

 

So the Big Box Retail/Discount stores are getting there, just taking time..

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BTW: HD is selling LED Dimmable Spot and Flood lights, but they are pricey!  Won't state an actual price, but believe they were in the $30-$50 price range,

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I picked up a few of the Enchanted Forest C9 strings from Menards today.. going to test them tonight. doesn't say on the box though if they are dimmable so we will see. Also, I may give the WOW Dimmable Floods a shot.. but yeah at $35 each.. ouch.. luckily I only need three. :)

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Oh and strobes are also one of those things that need to be full on or full off. Nothing fancy.

 

Some people have had good luck with a 1 percent pre-charge on the strobes to get better randomization.

But that's more for the advanced users, I guess.

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Thanks guys.. is there a dimmable LED flood you recommend?

 

LOR has a 50 watt RGB floodlight in the works: http://forums.lightorama.com/index.php?/topic/28540-dimming-curves-how-to/?p=272202

 

I have had great success with their 10 watt RGB floods and will buy one of the new 50w ones when they are available.

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