bhays Posted December 13, 2009 Share Posted December 13, 2009 Ok, I am a complete newbie when it comes to the LED scene. I am thinking I may make the big leap and convert over 500 strings from incandescent to LED for 2010.I have always used 100ct minis. What do most people switch to M5's? I notice the the 70ct C6 strings seem to be about the same length as my current 100ct minis.What is the most logical replacement for minis? I will be using these on the house, shrubs, z-tree, etc. as well as some leaping arches, fireworks poles, etc. What makes sense? The 5mm seem really cool to me and really seem bright, but I notice virtually no one uses them. Why is that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Simmons Posted December 13, 2009 Share Posted December 13, 2009 The answers to your questions almost all boil down to your own personal preference. I've used LED "minis" pretty much as a direct replacement for places I had previously used incandescents. Full wave LED's are sometimes quite a bit brighter than half wave sets. Other times you can't easily tell the difference. I personally use quite a few half wave types closer to the street where I don't want as much brightness. LED's are heavier than incandescents - more wires. Something to consider when using them for arches and other wrap jobs. For outlining things I use 'mini' LEDs. For shrubs and trees, I use a lot of C6. With full wave C6 I don't need nearly as many lights for the same brightness as with incandescents. I personally like the bright, stark color of LED's. Other people don't. Again, it boils down to what YOU like. Do some experimenting - get some before the stores all run out and then you'll have a better idea what to buy from the vendors who have their pre-season sales in the spring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bhays Posted December 13, 2009 Author Share Posted December 13, 2009 George Simmons wrote: I've used LED "minis" pretty much as a direct replacement for places I had previously used incandescents. I've noticed a lot of people tend to use the 70ct led strings in place of 100ct minis. Have you found that a 70ct (M5 Mini) string of led's pretty much takes the place of a 100ct incandescent string? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Simmons Posted December 13, 2009 Share Posted December 13, 2009 In terms of brightness the full-wave strings do. Most LED's have 4" spacing so in many places where length matters more than thickness (sorry - couldn't resist) the 70 LED's are a pretty direct replacement for 100 minis. Of course, your mileage may vary. If my house was set back farther from the street I'd no-doubt view it differently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rgardner518 Posted December 15, 2009 Share Posted December 15, 2009 I was wonder if you all can tell me the best place to buy cheap dimmable LED C9 & C7 Replacement bulbs? I need a couple hundred and want to see what everyone thinks. Also I bought a couple to test against some incandescence. I I was Very happy with the Green & Blue, as they were by far brighter than the incandescent. The Red I can deal with. It was about the same brightness. BUT the yellow sucks! Any ideas? believe it or not the incandescent was brighter by far!I'm also think about putting in strobes & two aches for next year. How do you sequence them in a sequence, the best way. And wheres the best strobes on the market. Oh Do you have to do the shooting star with the strobes? Because I don't have one. Or can you do strobes by themselves and still look good?I plan on buying two controllers every year until I hit 10 I only have 2 now. How many channels do must people use for strobes? And how many do people use on each channel. I know theirs strobes that flash once every sec, and ones that flash two or three times per sec. I know its a preference, but what do you you think on this?Sorry the so many questions. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Simmons Posted December 15, 2009 Share Posted December 15, 2009 I don't use C7 or C9 anything, so maybe I'm not the best source. But everything I've read points to Paul at CDI for dimmable LED's.As far as strobes go, you have a choice - either LED models or Xenon tube models. The Xenon jobbers that fire 2-3 times per second look the best in my opinion, but they're frighteningly fragile, are susceptible to moisture problems and have an alarmingly high DOA rate. The LED models are FAR more reliable and nowhere near as fragile, but they have issues with directionality and if you use more than one, they all fire in synchronization for the first 8-10 seconds before the firing patterns diverge. A question of naming your poison. If you do a search you'll find a plethora of opinions and ideas regarding strobes.I'm using 4 channels for strobes this year but that's more a convenience than anything else. I've got about 30 strobes deployed and would have had three times that many if it were not for the issue with the LED's all firing as one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rgardner518 Posted December 15, 2009 Share Posted December 15, 2009 Your not the first person who told me about CDI, Whats the web site to CDI? I can not find it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimswinder Posted December 15, 2009 Share Posted December 15, 2009 ny_yankee_25 wrote: Your not the first person who told me about CDI, Whats the web site to CDI? I can not find it?http://www.creativedisplays.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blainedead Posted December 15, 2009 Share Posted December 15, 2009 http://www.creativedisplays.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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