GriswoldStyle Posted May 10, 2018 Share Posted May 10, 2018 (edited) Hello brainiacs of the lighting world. I am considering building an led rope light singing snowman about 7-8 feet tall. I am doing this from scratch like I did for my 5x8 singing pumpkin. My plan is to use hardware cloth/metal garden fence then zip tie the rope lights to it. I will be using rope lighting as I did with the pumpkin. My question is with the led power supply cords with the inline box that come with the led rope lights when buying 150', Are these safe to use or will I need a different set up? My pumpkin was incans but I am wanting to go led on the snowman in cool white. Has anyone used the led rope light for faces? What power wires would you suggest that can handle fast changing mouth movements without burning out the inline box? I have never ventured into this so before I buy the wire I figured I would ask you all about it. I'm about maxed out on safe power usage for christmas lights (not popping breakers) So incans are out of the question. Just wondering what power cords work best for led rope light for fast movements and an occasional shimmer. Don't really want to go rgb nodes as I would need an additional controller for those. If I have to, then so be it but just wondering if standard led rope light power cords will work. I have had good luck so far with ebay led rope light around the house but those are on steady for backyard lighting. Just wondering if they will work for a snowman. Specially what type led power cords have you used? Are they ebay specials or from an lor vendor? Would like some input on this idea I am tossing around. These are the ones I was thinking of but maybe you guys have a different suggestion? https://www.1000bulbs.com/product/113893/FT2-L120NA125PC-2W.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI3cmg7JH72gIVgiaGCh3vyAPHEAQYASABEgKATPD_BwE Edited May 10, 2018 by GriswoldStyle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caniac Posted May 10, 2018 Share Posted May 10, 2018 I would recommend Novelty Lights on the LED rope light, they have the stuff that can be cut every 30inches and they sell the end connectors too. 1000bulbs may or may not have those markings, have had mixed results buying from them. Personally I would stay with ican for one reason only, you can cut those every 18inches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GriswoldStyle Posted May 11, 2018 Author Share Posted May 11, 2018 17 hours ago, caniac said: I would recommend Novelty Lights on the LED rope light, they have the stuff that can be cut every 30inches and they sell the end connectors too. 1000bulbs may or may not have those markings, have had mixed results buying from them. Personally I would stay with ican for one reason only, you can cut those every 18inches. Thanks for the info. I'm not able to do incan as this is for Christmas and I am maxed out of power usage outlets so I have to go led. (thanks to 50,000 lights and a 35 year old wiring job lol) We eliminated all incan from our christmas display due to breakers maxing out. Had to go all led to make the display work. Will take a look at novelty. I also found commercial christmas decorations in AZ. Used them for the power cords on incan. So I am also considering theirs as well. Has anyone else done these singing snowmen before? Just thinking an 8 foot or so snowman with rope light and use him for a singing face set up for christmas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caniac Posted May 11, 2018 Share Posted May 11, 2018 21 minutes ago, GriswoldStyle said: Thanks for the info. I'm not able to do incan as this is for Christmas and I am maxed out of power usage outlets so I have to go led. (thanks to 50,000 lights and a 35 year old wiring job lol) We eliminated all incan from our christmas display due to breakers maxing out. Had to go all led to make the display work. Will take a look at novelty. I also found commercial christmas decorations in AZ. Used them for the power cords on incan. So I am also considering theirs as well. Has anyone else done these singing snowmen before? Just thinking an 8 foot or so snowman with rope light and use him for a singing face set up for christmas. I had the same problem but reduced the intensity on the elements that had ican. The problem you run into on LED rope light is the 30inch cut mark (no way around it). Now having said that if you got your singing snowman from Doug at WireFram D'Lites than ChristmasLEDLights has his templates and can custom make your LED light strands (M5 and MM6). Don't know the cost, waiting on a reply. Now if you are interested in boldly going where no one has gone before then there is an outfit in China that makes a super thin (1/4 inch or less) rope light than can be cut every inch. Haven't personally worked with it but have seen props made with it, bright and pretty slick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDucks Posted May 11, 2018 Share Posted May 11, 2018 A WAG only Looking at that cord, I guess that is a just rectifier in the bulge to feed the polarized (offset) connection. IMHO simple ON/OFF should not pose any more problem than any other string type. SPT wire will handle the load with ease Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mpageler Posted May 11, 2018 Share Posted May 11, 2018 I bought my 120v 3/8 rope light from 1000bulbs in 150ft spools. They also carry 120v LED rope but cut lengths are about 40 inches while 120v incand's were 20 inches or so. Theuy carry power cords that attach to the rope via pins and compression nuts. The cords are specifics for the rope light you buy (incand verus LED 120v.) Accessories like cords are listed with the specific rope lights. Cords are $5 or so. For 120v, you don't want to try and diy something (2 nails with attach cord). Using LOR AC controller and this rope, my faces preform perfectly. BTW, black "wire loom" is good to covering the excess rope that that you don't want visible because of the cut length. It's so much easier than using black tape. 4 seasons on 225 ft of rope and have only add to replace one segment of the 27 segments in 4 faces. And that 1 segment was midway through the first season. Instead of pulling the frams down, just zipped tie another segment over the burnt out one and switched out the power cord. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GriswoldStyle Posted May 11, 2018 Author Share Posted May 11, 2018 Thanks for the replies everyone. I'm definitely set on building one I just have to look into which led light rope I'm going to go with. Will keep everyone posted. The on-and-off shouldn't be an issue at all the only thing I was concerned about is fading in and out so I think I will just delete that part of any of the songs. Thank you for the suggestion on the black wire loom. It's fairly cheap as well. I was just using black sign vinyl to cover the pumpkin that I did but I noticed some sections it still bleeds through slightly so I might just use the black wire loom instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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