Recommendations on Rope lights

[Robocrash]

Hoping to add singing faces to my Halloween and Christmas displays this year, but I have questions and hoping some experienced users can chime in:

 

LED or Incandescent?  Icans are much cheaper, but what do you do if a single bulb in the middle of a run burns out?

 

How bendable is 3/8" Rope light?  Is there a general difference in bendability of LED vs. Icans?

 

Cutting interval:  20" cutting intervals are harder to find and much more expensive.  What's the best source for 20" for either LED or Icans?

 

Thanks guys

 

dave

 

[caniac]

I use ican for one reason and one reason only, it is cuttable at 18inches.  LED is 30.  can't speak to the bend ability of LED but with ican you need to plug it in and let it "warm" up before using.  when warm it works just fine.

[radioguy1007]

I built a talking face for my Halloween display over 8 years ago.  Had my first bulb (segment) failure last fall.  Just took a good segment and zip tied it to the bad one and you could not tell from viewing it in the dark.  One bulb failing is difficult to spot from a distance - you have to be within 25 feet to see it.  I have to agree 18 inch and 3/8 diameter is easiest to work with.  Some I bought recently that was 24 inch spacing so watch out.  Have not tried LED - do not like the directionality of the light source compared to a bulb filament. 

[mpageler]

I used 120v incandescent 3/8 pearl white colored rope from 1000bulbs. The 3/8 was pretty easy to bend once they were on for a few minutes.

I went this rought because of the 20" cut lengths.  I did have one 20" section go out during the  first season of use. Obviously a section going out is much more dramatic than if one bulb goes out.

1000bulbs carries a wide variety of rope styles.

[Darryl Lambert]

I use 120v 1/2" ican rope light. Harder to bend for sure. It's been my experience with the stuff I've used that you rarely get 1 bulb burnt out. It's usually a whole section. You can replace a section fairly easily with a few 1" finishing nails, some hot melt glue & clear heartstrink. Maybe not CSA approved but does work quite well.

I agree with the earlier posts. Work with it plugged in. It will be much more pliable & if you've bent it too much & break the connection you will see it immediately.

There's nothing worse than plugging your prop in after assembly only to discover a section is dead.

Been there done that.

[jeffl]

I have used red LED from Val at Christmas-LED.com and it has been great.  I have also used cheap LED rope light of eBay and it made it two years.  The LED's failed as well as the jacket turned yellow.  What a waste of money and recycling.  

 

The rope light that has been the workhorse of my display has been this.  It's incandescent but it looks good and weathers good.  Also as other have stated is has small cut lengths so it works well for props.  I like 3/8 but it comes in 1/2 as well.

 

http://www.actionlighting.com/150-roll-2-wire-3-8-crown-rope-light-206m/?page_context=category&faceted_search=0