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Waterproofing question


TheJackal

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Jackal,

I found a thread one time about someone asking about waterproofing the controllers for their CCR's so I now use that for all of my plug ends that will be on the ground. I use small tupperwear containers. Yes, it can be unsightly and No I won't win The Great Christmas Light Fight for neatness but it works. I spray paint them black so they are not noticed at all during the show and "kinda" blend in in the grassy area during the day. What I do is take a rotary tool (Dremel) and cut two small sections of the container bottom of each end if it is for connecting a power cord to a light string or one set of small cuts in a very small container if using on a light string end. The cuts are only about 1/2 inch in length. Then lay the cord or cords in these sections and snap the lid back on. This will leave the connection dangling a few inches above the bottom of the container. If some water/moisture gets in you'll be fine. This also helps in ventalation so moisture doesn't build up inside the container. The ones used for connecting the power cord to the light string are held down by pieces of wire hanger cut about 8-10" in length then bent in almost half to create a 'V' then pushed into the ground to secure each end of the wires to hold the container in place. You could also use plastic tent spikes grabbing the cords as you pound the stake in the ground. I have been doing this for the last two years and I am one of the tape users but everytime I tear down my display these containers never have water inside.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Al

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ok guys here is my thinking... I never tapped greased or made any attempt to waterproof my plugs. I think if it's raining hard enough or you have a foot of snow or ice in your yard ,and are tripping gfcis (with all of you should have) then you don't need to run your show anyway. This is my third season and I have lots several nights do to rain. So what next day it all dries out and I'm, up and running again

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We have had some issues with the GFI tripping, usually when it's raining.  I have covered ends with tape, elevated the plugs, put in plastic bags/wrap--which helps.   But, always that 1 weather gets around it all.  The interesting thing is that is it gets cold enough to change to snow (ice....still trying to figure out), the issue seems to resolve itself.  If only snow, never had a problem.

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  • 8 months later...

I have more of a problem with the female end of the led strings. Has anyone ever hot glued the male slots on the led strings? This last week we had pretty heavy rain and it lasted all day and most of the night. Had my GFI breakers trip. I went out and turned over all the female end and tried to get all the moisture out  of both ends of the leds connections, but that didn't help, breaker tripped again. Next day did the same thing and last night it only tripped once. Reset the breaker and it finished the show.

I would like to hot glue the female connector on the male plug and the female connector at the end of the plug. I don't use these in my setup anyway. Any thoughts?

 

Thanks

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  • 2 weeks later...

I tried reading through all of these responses but they looked like tallies for each side:

 

1 vote for tape, 1 against tape, 1 vote for, 1 against... blah, blah, blah.

 

This year I tried something new. I wrapped all my plugs BEFORE the storms approached with regular black electric tape. I then used some old bubble wrap and duct taped each set of cords. I used custom-cut LED rope light I cut and powered myself... I unscrewed the power caps and squirted some silicone into the thread and screwed the power shut. Following this, I went to each end cap and did the same - took it off, squirted some silicone in, replaced the cap. So far, no problems. I even water-sealed the door bringing the cords to the controllers. I took off the draft protector and fed all the cords leading inside - also leaving a gap for water or moisture to leak in. It took 2 plastic garbage bags and 2 rocks to keep it sealed, of course, with the fair amount of duct tape.

 

So, in short, to each, their own. If you feel comfortable without taping and are willing to accept the potential doom of bad weather, don't tape. Not willing to risk shorting out at a minimum ONE channel? TAPE IT UP! I used to clip some incandescents to the eaves and one end of the plug was exposed - duct taped that sucker one time and it has lasted more than 10 years.

 

Good luck!

LN

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I still use GFI's but I also use the baby safty plugs. And knock on wood all has been good. And we have gotten a lot of rain so far this season.

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