RGB Lights Exposed to Weather 365 4 Seasons

[dibblejr]

The recent first time ever hurricane that made it to central Alabama cause damage to my Halloween props and house outline.

While making repairs 40’ high I discovered that the coating on top of the pixels has deteriorated to the point that the RGBs and chips were exposed.

Also the case had been broke off but that may have been from the branch that was wedged in the cable.

I consider 4 seasons of 365 day per year exposure to all elements to be a positive note.

This was the only bad string and when I replaced with the new string there was absolutely no color matching problem.

JR
 

 

Edited November 6, 2020 by dibblejr

[Mr. P]

One thing you can try is a product called Sunguard. It is a UV protectant clear spray that goes on like spray paint, dries to the touch in 15 minutes and protects against yellowing.. I usually spray 2-3 coats and it has doubled the time my lights and signs stay outside before needing replacing.

Edited November 6, 2020 by Mr. P

[dibblejr]

2 hours ago, Mr. P said:

One thing you can try is a product called Sunguard. It is a UV protectant clear spray that goes on like spray paint, dries to the touch in 15 minutes and protects against yellowing.. I usually spray 2-3 coats and it has doubled the time my lights and signs stay outside before needing replacing.

Thanks for that.

I do think 4 years is good though . It’s not the yellowing it is the melting of the material

The yellow doesn’t bother the colors that I can tell.

When you watch my videos there is absolutely no color degradation.

But I will try that when I have to replace any again.

The damages lights were closest to the woods and had the branch not hit them they would have been good. They did work pre hurricane.

With no power for a few days o couldn’t test them.

JR

[Orville]

14 hours ago, dibblejr said:

The recent first time ever hurricane that made it to central Alabama cause damage to my Halloween props and house outline.

While making repairs 40’ high I discovered that the coating on top of the pixels has deteriorated to the point that the RGBs and chips were exposed.

Also the case had been broke off but that may have been from the branch that was wedged in the cable.

I consider 4 seasons of 365 day per year exposure to all elements to be a positive note.

This was the only bad string and when I replaced with the new string there was absolutely no color matching problem.

JR
 

 

I was hoping to start getting my display up this weekend, but T.S. Eta has changed that for the moment.  So looks like next weekend {I hope} I can start getting things up along the roof line, along with the singing trees.   Will depend on what Eta does and where it decides to go.

Didn't want to have just put stuff up, then have a severe T.S. or possibly even a hurricane and damage things.   So hopefully next Saturday, November 14 I'll be able to get started.  I'd start sooner, but currently looks like won't be clear of what Eta is going to do until late Wednesday or early Thursday some time.   Ugh.

P.S. I really like Mr. P's Sunguard idea.   May do that to all my CCB's and Bullets too.

 

[dibblejr]

I posted this because a lot of people have asked how the weather affects lights that are up year round.

I was thinking of renting the 100' boom to go up and change all of them out before Christmas however since there was no color differences noticed I am going to try to leave them up until I have more issues.

I need the boom because this time I want to drill some holes and mount junction boxes to run cables through in hopes of making changing problematic light easier to change. instead of solder unscrew from the controller , pull the bale out replace the lights and be done. I did not like soldering 40+ foot up standing on my tiptoes and over my head. I kept waiting for solder to drip in my eye.

But I had to get teh Halloween show 100% and would have had to repair them before christmas

JR

[Orville]

9 hours ago, dibblejr said:

I posted this because a lot of people have asked how the weather affects lights that are up year round.

I was thinking of renting the 100' boom to go up and change all of them out before Christmas however since there was no color differences noticed I am going to try to leave them up until I have more issues.

I need the boom because this time I want to drill some holes and mount junction boxes to run cables through in hopes of making changing problematic light easier to change. instead of solder unscrew from the controller , pull the bale out replace the lights and be done. I did not like soldering 40+ foot up standing on my tiptoes and over my head. I kept waiting for solder to drip in my eye.

But I had to get teh Halloween show 100% and would have had to repair them before christmas

JR

And weren't you wearing protective goggles when doing that?  Soldering above your head like that?   Anytime I ever had to solder anything I always had goggles or safety glasses on with side shields to prevent something like that from happening!  Always made sure I had tight fitting goggles that fit over my eyeglasses and sealed around my eyes entirely.   Now legally blind, but soldering didn't have anything to do with that, just old age and a couple of medical issues {no diabetes, never had it} did. 

But I always protected my eyes and face when working on anything like soldering, spraying things like paint or other stuff or anything that could drip or be blown back into my face, never wanted to take any unsafe practices that could have made my vision or health issues worse than what they've become due to age constraints and medical conditions.

Always be safe and never sorry because you didn't use some safety guidelines or equipment, even at home!

[jfuller8400]

On 11/6/2020 at 11:21 AM, Mr. P said:

One thing you can try is a product called Sunguard. It is a UV protectant clear spray that goes on like spray paint, dries to the touch in 15 minutes and protects against yellowing.. I usually spray 2-3 coats and it has doubled the time my lights and signs stay outside before needing replacing.

I hadn't heard of this before.  I'll have to check it out and get some of it.

[dibblejr]

13 hours ago, Orville said:

And weren't you wearing protective goggles when doing that?  Soldering above your head like that?   Anytime I ever had to solder anything I always had goggles or safety glasses on with side shields to prevent something like that from happening!  Always made sure I had tight fitting goggles that fit over my eyeglasses and sealed around my eyes entirely.   Now legally blind, but soldering didn't have anything to do with that, just old age and a couple of medical issues {no diabetes, never had it} did. 

But I always protected my eyes and face when working on anything like soldering, spraying things like paint or other stuff or anything that could drip or be blown back into my face, never wanted to take any unsafe practices that could have made my vision or health issues worse than what they've become due to age constraints and medical conditions.

Always be safe and never sorry because you didn't use some safety guidelines or equipment, even at home!

Yes, I wear safety glasses, however you still never know and that solder is hot. Still was worried about the eyes but you know us lightsters - the show must go on. For covid show I had my mini circles hanging outside my bedroom window. When one pixel went bad i had to hang outside the window repair. I had no worries of solder then but I did worry about falling out and landing in the holly bushes I had just pruned before the covid show. They resembles spears sticking up. LOL

I always practice safety. You should see what I do when going up a ladder over 20'. Its tied off so it cant fall sideways. The feet are stabbed it the ground. I also put 6- rebar 4' in the ground behind it so it cant slide out. That was much safer than putting a ladder in the 45' lift bucket to reach. LOL

JR

[Mr. P]

Four years ago I was putting my icicle lights up on my second floor gutters 30' up. My ladder started sliding down the gutter so I had to jump into the Magnolia tree to keep from falling to the ground. My ladder now has a stabilizer at the top and leveler legs attached to the bottom. The stupid things we do for these shows. 😁

[Orville]

17 hours ago, dibblejr said:

Yes, I wear safety glasses, however you still never know and that solder is hot. Still was worried about the eyes but you know us lightsters - the show must go on. For covid show I had my mini circles hanging outside my bedroom window. When one pixel went bad i had to hang outside the window repair. I had no worries of solder then but I did worry about falling out and landing in the holly bushes I had just pruned before the covid show. They resembles spears sticking up. LOL

I always practice safety. You should see what I do when going up a ladder over 20'. Its tied off so it cant fall sideways. The feet are stabbed it the ground. I also put 6- rebar 4' in the ground behind it so it cant slide out. That was much safer than putting a ladder in the 45' lift bucket to reach. LOL

JR

To date, and this has been well over 50+ years of soldering stuff together, I've never had hot solder melt or come through a good, stout pair of safety goggles!   And since I also wear Rx glasses, I'm double protected, so even if a hot, molten piece of solder did make it through, it wouldn't get past the eye glasses {which I always got them in the Safety Glass type working with electronics and hot solder}.   But no hot solder ever made it through my exterior goggles in all those years of soldering.  

But my soldering days are done with my current vision issues, just can't focus on it.  So if it's not pre-built, I don't mess with it.    Tried to a year ago to repair a bad strand of RGB Cosmic Color Bulbs {5V} and even though I managed to get the wiring correct, and even managed to get it soldered together, it didn't work.     So I just won't mess with doing that any more.  My soldering skills, and days of doing that kind of thing are definitely over.

 

 

[dibblejr]

3 minutes ago, Orville said:

To date, and this has been well over 50+ years of soldering stuff together, I've never had hot solder melt or come through a good, stout pair of safety goggles!   And since I also wear Rx glasses, I'm double protected, so even if a hot, molten piece of solder did make it through, it wouldn't get past the eye glasses {which I always got them in the Safety Glass type working with electronics and hot solder}.   But no hot solder ever made it through my exterior goggles in all those years of soldering.  

But my soldering days are done with my current vision issues, just can't focus on it.  So if it's not pre-built, I don't mess with it.    Tried to a year ago to repair a bad strand of RGB Cosmic Color Bulbs {5V} and even though I managed to get the wiring correct, and even managed to get it soldered together, it didn't work.     So I just won't mess with doing that any more.  My soldering skills, and days of doing that kind of thing are definitely over.

 

 

While welding I have had slag (just like solder but hotter) go around the goggles, so it it possible. With that being said with the heat and the sweat goggles were useless while making my light repair hence I had to opt with the glasses or they would be to fogged up to see what I was doing. In the end all went well which is a good day in anyone's books.

JR