Will all christmaslights work in a lightshow? (Fading and Dimming)

[kerstman]

Thinking of buying a lot of lights after christmas for a new lightshow next year, but wondering if all work for fading and dimming?

Looked on boxes already, but whether or not they can fade/dim (for example in a LOR controlled show) is not indicated.

Thanks!

[bhunt240]

I know that some have said the Martha Stewart lifgts do not fade but i have had target Phillips brand and ge and some from Walmart and they all worked fine last year but this year i went to all sealed fullwave leds from holiday light express. Com

good luck & Merry Christmas!

[rainyoregonchristmas]

Martha Stewart lights will not fade. They will however catch on fire if you force it. Don't remember who found that out. But best avoid them while starting out.

[dgrant]

It wasn't me who they caught fire on, but I had bought some and sure enough, they don't work well at all with our controllers. They are still sitting in their boxes. I've been using lights from Target and BigLots without any problems at all...newer controllers help a lot with these. I've got some from Walmart and so far, they too seem to work.

[lightingnewb]

If I read the manual correctly, the residential series (which is what I use) has lighting curves - meaning that fades/dims/twinkles will work across multiple types of lights. That's IF I'm right. I used two lawn decorations that were meant for static displays and they dimmed quite well. I would think as long as you stay away from Martha Stewart's lights that you'd be fine.

[Darryl Lambert]

I believe that the dimming curves only apply to the gen3 controller. Gen 1 & 2 do not support that feature which all of mine are. Plus dimming curves only apply to Led. If your buying incandescent it doesn't matter what kind they are.

You can still dim /fade /twinkle /shimmer with all controllers just that with the gen3 you can have a better looking fade with LED

If unsure about a particular brand buy 1 string & test it before spending $ on more.

I've learned this first hand. Bought enough c9's to do my eaves 1 year only to discover when I got home that they didn't dim at all. It was on or off thats it nothing in between. Because they were bought on clearance I couldn't return them.

Edited January 24, 2015 by Darryl Lambert

[fairclb]

I had some issues with GE lights not fading properly last year... they were last minute purchases to finish off the porch. Oddly enough, people seemed to like the unintended affects... but it bothered me. I had a mix of LED and incandescent last year. This year should be all LED. I have since duplicated my setup in the "cave" to start sequencing for next year. The first thing I did was set the dimming curve for anything that was LED, virtually everything except the RGB stuff. Doing some testing, all the LED lights seem to work fine... it's a mix of GE and Phillips.

 

If you are using LED lights, I would definitely recommend setting the dimming curves on the LED channels.

[lightingnewb]

I believe that the dimming curves only apply to the gen3 controller. Gen 1 & 2 do not support that feature which all of mine are. Plus dimming curves only apply to Led. If your buying incandescent it doesn't matter what kind they are.

You can still dim /fade /twinkle /shimmer with all controllers just that with the gen3 you can have a better looking fade with LED

If unsure about a particular brand buy 1 string & test it before spending $ on more.

I've learned this first hand. Bought enough c9's to do my eaves 1 year only to discover when I got home that they didn't dim at all. It was on or off thats it nothing in between. Because they were bought on clearance I couldn't return them.

I do have the Gen 3 controller too.

 

Am I right in assuming your C9s are incandescent? Or were they LED? I'm thinking of buying C9 LEDs and if they didn't dim/fade I won't buy them. I notice there are "dimmable" and "twinkling" C9 LEDs on Novelty Lights (here) as well as "steady burn" C9s (also on the same link). If I want to be able to use fade/dim/shimmer/twinkle on my C9s, which style would I buy?

[dgrant]

I've noticed that even though we might see something not dimming quite correctly or something that's got alslight flicker, most of the people watching our shows will never notice. They are taking in the entire scope of the display so details don't show up. Now if you had tons of problems all over, then yes, it might start to look sloppy and people might notice.

[Darryl Lambert]

 I notice there are "dimmable" and "twinkling" C9 LEDs on Novelty Lights (here) as well as "steady burn" C9s (also on the same link). If I want to be able to use fade/dim/shimmer/twinkle on my C9s, which style would I buy?

Steady burn are non dimmable so I would stay away from them. As well as there twinkle lights , each bulb has a random effect to them, nice effect but not not really what most are looking for when using LOR to control their lights.

 

As to my earlier comment I sould of been more clear. The lights I bought were "C9 LED" as oposed to just C9 which might be misunderstood as incandescent.

C9 is just a reference to the size of the bulb as seen here

http://windycitylights.com/why-led/

Most sizes are available in LED & incandescent

[lightingnewb]

Steady burn are non dimmable so I would stay away from them. As well as there twinkle lights , each bulb has a random effect to them, nice effect but not not really what most are looking for when using LOR to control their lights.

 

As to my earlier comment I sould of been more clear. The lights I bought were "C9 LED" as oposed to just C9 which might be misunderstood as incandescent.

C9 is just a reference to the size of the bulb as seen here

http://windycitylights.com/why-led/

Most sizes are available in LED & incandescent

I knew that C9 referred to size of the bulb; I was just curious as to which of the three styles I mentioned would have been best to work with. I'm still doing tons of research so IDK yet if I'm going to do C9s or not.