Extension Cord Routing?

[lightingnewb]

One more question, if I may interject - 

 

How do you wrap your cords all the way around your house to where your controllers are located? I'm using corrugated piping, if that's the right path to go, and I will use T-sections and elbow fittings to drop in more cords or out to my ground. Wanted to hear other ideas.

[eurbani]

 

 

I don't think most people do not put their extension cords in anything.  However, it is best to keep the connections off the ground to prevent your GFCIs from tripping.

Edited July 30, 2014 by eurbani

[Orville]

I don't think most people do not put their extension cords in anything.  However, it is best to keep the connections off the ground to prevent your GFCIs from tripping.

 

I just let mine lay on the ground and like eurbani states, keep the connections off the ground.  I actually use those little green christmas light stakes to keep mine up out of water puddles, mud and dirt.    They're cheap enough and have worked fine for me for over 20 years, long before I ever got into LOR.    

 

Another item you might want to invest in are the plastic child proof outlet caps, I use these on all my strands that have open female ends, as well as the back {female side} of the male pass through.  

 

These have worked great for over 3 years now keeping water and debris out of those.   And using the child proof outlet caps I also don't have to worry about which end the female end is pointing either!  I also use them on multi-tap extension cords on the receptacles that won't be in use.

 

BTW: I buy my extension cords at Wal-Mart or Big Lots and they've usually been the cheapest place I've found for "retail" pricing on them.

[lightingnewb]

Orville and eurbani,

 

Thanks! I'll be running my extension cords (they are orange so I don't want them to be visible during the show) across my roofline so that the garage is clear - our cars can pull in and out without running over cords or anything. i think the best thing I can think of that would keep these cords "weather-proof" or "weather-resistant" would be using the corrugated tubing. Thank you for your help though.

[Orville]

I've ran my orange cords, as I use them as well as green, brown and white ones, yes, we all do it{well quite a few us, maybe not all}, we use indoor extension cords outside too , but back to running them.   I've never used mine in any type of tubing, I use screw down plastic cable clamps, the look like a little "c" with a screw hole in the upper and lower portion of the open C, they go around the cord and then get screwed down about every 2 feet or less depending on the cord.   I have assorted sizes for securing different sized extension cords, light strands and the cords coming from blow molds {it helps keep them in place and from walking off}.

 

I run my extension cords along the baseline of the house, don't have an overhang/soffett on my particular mobile home I'm in now, but when I was in a regular house, I secured my extension cords BEHIND my light strands and they were never visible in the way I ran them except where they had to come down to meet the controller, but I fixed that by zip tying lights down the cords as well.    Sometimes I hid them by zip typing my lights to them and then running them along the top of the house, along with using some garland to "hide/camouflage" the extension cords that would be visible.   Did the same with lights that were connected to wooden stakes, garland, zip ties and those c type plastic cable clamps can be your best friend or your worst enemy.

 

Sure it was a little more work in setting things up, but too me, it was worth it.

 

Just another perspective on how I run my cords and hide them.   The ones on the ground in NON-Walking areas and NON-Driving areas of the display just lay on the ground with any connections raised with the green light stakes, which during the day could be seen, but at night, they virtually disappeared into the display.

 

But everyone has different methods, and some work for others, some don't.   Just know this is what works for me, again, others mileage may vary,

 

BTW: if you use GFCI outlets {and you definitely should be!}, those childproof caps work great for keeping your show running {especially in wet conditions like rain} and not tripping your GFCI, before I started using them, now going on 4 years, my GFCI every time it rained or a sprinkler system would come on, my GFCI would trip and close down the show.   

 

In a hard rainstorm I try not to run my show, but if I'm not home, shows running and a hard rain may start, my show has continued to operate using them.    

 

But if you do use them, they are a white plastic and light reflects off them, so I painted mine all flat black, took me about 15 minutes to paint over 2,000 of these child-proof outlet caps.   And they have been one of the best investment I made for my display.

 

 Again, your experience may not be the same as mine, but I know there are quite a few of us here that do use these child-proof outlet caps, and they have worked very well for many of us here, keeping our GFCI's from tripping and the show operating as it should. 

Edited August 3, 2014 by Orville

[Don]

Thread split from original.