Lights on the roofline

[oilmoney]

What I tried to do this year is have 4 200ct strings ( r,g,b,w ) zip tied together in a bundle along my roofline. To keep a long story short they don't want to stay there and after almost falling off my roof numerous times I'm ready to throw in the towel on the roofline lights this year. Is that sacrilege to do this? Am I going to anger the xmas light gods? Do any of you skip the roofline? How is it recieved???

[Box on Rails]

I always say "Have fun with it." If you are not having fun, skip it. There are no rules to this hobby and I believe that a good show can be done any way a person chooses. I set up a small show at my parents house one year that only had 4 singing trees faces no house lights at all. people loved it and asked why my dad stopped doing it. Sorry dad I needed those trees in my display. Remember the old adage, sometimes less is more. Just remember to Have fun with it.

 

Kenny Jure

[crackchecker]

What are you using to fasten them up? 

 

For my superstring roofline I use the plastic shingle clips sold at any store during the season and It has worked for years now.

[Vince4xmas]

I use 3" stainless steel "c" hooks. Screw them thru the singles to the roof deck. Seal with black tar and they stay there for years.

[oilmoney]

What are you using to fasten them up? 

 

For my superstring roofline I use the plastic shingle clips sold at any store during the season and It has worked for years now.

I was using the broom handle clips, worked well last year but this year with 4 200ct C7 strings it became too heavy for them....

[Vince4xmas]

I have 36 (50 count M5 LED's) total 1,800 lights on roof with NO issues.

[lightingnewb]

Does it have to be on the roofline? I'm doing lights that /follow/ the roofline, but hang just below it, from the eaves. 

[Old Sarge]

I did mine just under the roof line on the eve. at night it looks good and doesn't interfere with any rain or snow run off.

 

It took some time during the year but just went around where I was putting my lights and drilled small starter holes and then installed coated white cup hooks, I put 4 rows about 34 inch apart for my three color rope lights that I leave up year round red, white, blue and green and can still use the same just for a party, 4th of july etc.

 

I can still put string lights on the hooks if II want to, saves a lot of work even if I take lights down as the hooks blend right in t=with the eves and are not noticed there.

 

I found out it is much easier for a roof line/eves to use rope lights when possible then it is to use string lights.

 

oh I forgot to mention to that I have clay tile roof to and not the flat shingles.

Edited November 13, 2014 by Old Sarge

[Brian Dietrich]

Just a thought.  Saw a video on YouTube where a person zip tied their lights to some 1/2" conduit.  Since you already have broom handle clips, which i suppose are spring loaded, tie your lights to the conduit and let the clips hold the rest.  GOOD LUCK.

[LORisAwesome]

I zip tied lights to conduit.  It is not my u-tube video.

 

The reason I decided to do the conduit was that it took too long to attach the individual bulbs to the roof line.  I also got extremely sore doing it.  With the Conduit, you can attach a 6-10' section in under a minute.  One of the criteria was that I didn't want to do any damage to the roof.  I didn't want to put any holes in it.

 

It took quite a bit of work to get this ready.  I had to measure the roof, cut the conduit, then make sure that everything fit right before I ever thought about hooking lights to it.  I did that over the summer and early fall.  I did four colors using C9 Led retro bulbs, each section of conduit has four male and four female vampire plugs.  I bought a roll of C9 sockets from CDI.

 

Jerry

[Mega Arch]

These are pretty good for ridge runs:

https://www.christmas-light-source.com/mobile/Ridge-Row-Roof-Clips-500-_p_2291.html

[dknahoolewa]

I was using the broom handle clips, worked well last year but this year with 4 200ct C7 strings it became too heavy for them....

that sucks...

I have W,R,G C9 mounted that way. mine are underneath the eve facing down. I put zip ties in the hole just in case. I have had a storm pop one out. my clips are every 3-4 feet.

[GregT]

I have seen guys make a V shape out of pvc and fittings which sits over the top of the ridge and the lights along the top section, with some sandbags paced on the backside to secure it.  Seemed like a pretty easy design, as long as your roofline is fairly simple.

[SuperMatt]

LORisAwesome: Did you take any photos of your conduit install? It sounds like a great idea, but I'm having a hard time visualizing in my head how I could apply it to my place. Thanks!

[Comopr2]

So I bought all new LED Icicle lights this year to replace my very old and well used incandescent icicle lights.  I'm pretty happy with the overall construction of these new Icicle lights and they seem much sturdier then my old icicle lights.  These new icicle lights are GE brand 100 LED Energy Smart M5 Warm White bulbs that I purchased from Lowes.  Here's where my issue starts and I hope someone has a fix or solution to my problem.  These lights do not dim very well.  I have several situations where my light show will have slow dimming on and slow dimming off and they dim more like in stages then anything else.  When they are suppose to dim on and off at a faster rate they merely come on and off instead or when they should be flickering they pretty much just stay on. 

Is there something that can be done because it really make my show not function like it should look like.

[lightingnewb]

So I bought all new LED Icicle lights this year to replace my very old and well used incandescent icicle lights.  I'm pretty happy with the overall construction of these new Icicle lights and they seem much sturdier then my old icicle lights.  These new icicle lights are GE brand 100 LED Energy Smart M5 Warm White bulbs that I purchased from Lowes.  Here's where my issue starts and I hope someone has a fix or solution to my problem.  These lights do not dim very well.  I have several situations where my light show will have slow dimming on and slow dimming off and they dim more like in stages then anything else.  When they are suppose to dim on and off at a faster rate they merely come on and off instead or when they should be flickering they pretty much just stay on. 

Is there something that can be done because it really make my show not function like it should look like.

Do you still have the box or object the lights came in? It might not hurt to look at fully-rectified vs. half/wave (I think that's the term?) rectified. This may be a solution. I'm no lighting expert (just look at my username! ), but I've read that fully-rectified helps with fades in other threads, but maybe this isn't the problem. Worth a shot, though. Good luck!

[Comopr2]

Thanks for the reply.  I actually posted this thread originally in the wrong spot before I realized it.  But yes I did look at the box to see if anywhere it stated whether it could or shouldn't be dimmed but nowhere did it say anything regarding this issue.  So these will definitely not be used next year and I'll be shopping for new icicle lights again for next year.  So if you know anyone in the market for semi to non dimming icicle lights, used only one season...lol.  I have 14 strands available. 

[Ebuechner]

did you change the dimming curve on your controller? For LED lights you want to change from the standard dimming curve to dimming curve 01

[lightingnewb]

did you change the dimming curve on your controller? For LED lights you want to change from the standard dimming curve to dimming curve 01

Funny you should mention that. Being a 1st year myself, I have an all LED rope light display and have yet to change the dimming curve. The dimming is just fine as it is. Like I said, look for fully-rectified lights. This'll definitely help.