Reccomendation

[DownTown]

steve synek wrote:

At less than $1 per ten feet, pvc conduit has really cleaned up my look. I have four strings stuffed, and I mean stuffed into conduit. I cut a 1/4" slot with a router and it holds the lights nice and straight. It took a lot of work, but saves a lot of install time. (and the highjack continues). The picture is a few super strings sitting on my work bench. (red,green,blue,yellow) I use the same method for all my lights-mega tree, window frames.

Steve

Steve... that looks great! Can you show/tell us more?

D.T.

[Surfing4Dough]

DownTown wrote:

steve synek wrote:

At less than $1 per ten feet, pvc conduit has really cleaned up my look. I have four strings stuffed, and I mean stuffed into conduit. I cut a 1/4" slot with a router and it holds the lights nice and straight. It took a lot of work, but saves a lot of install time. (and the highjack continues). The picture is a few super strings sitting on my work bench. (red,green,blue,yellow) I use the same method for all my lights-mega tree, window frames.

Steve

Steve... that looks great! Can you show/tell us more?

D.T.

I agree. I would be interested in more on this too, including some close up pics. How do you then mount the conduit to your house (especially the near the roof edge)? These have held up well in our fun NE Ohio weather? Have you had to replace any strings since doing this, and if so, how easy was it to do so? Had you installed lights on the roof any other way before this, and if so do you think that the investment of time in doing this has already been made up in time saved during installation? Or has it just cleaned up your lines, and you are still in debt on build time so far? Anything more that you can offer on this might be helpful.

[steve synek]

I made these for 2008. I have to admit I never took the lights off of the house or roof last year because I didn't make time to build the shelves to store them in my garage. They are still on the house now. I had no failed light strings to date. I hope you can see from the picture that I only used 2 tie wraps per window frame to hold them in place. I did have to restring the windows this summer because the lights were returned as defective to a certian vendor. For the lights on the roof, I used a one hole electrical strap every five feet along the gable ends. The pvc is laying on the roof. Along the ridge, I used tie wraps and fastened the pvc to holes in the ridge vents. Under the gutters, I used a one hole strap every 4-5 feet. The bad part of installing my LED's on the roof is that they get covered in snow, as you might have seen in one of the videos. They don't melt snow. I am very pleased how everything has held up after 2 seasons. I did paint the pvc to make it match the windows and a brown to match the house.
Previously, I only put lights along the gutter lines. I did a one light per clip on mini lights. This saves a lot of time on the install.
The pvc used on the mega tree are 15 ft. long. The joints do not seperate. I think this might be the longest piece one person could handle. On the long runs on the house, I left a light or so not in the conduit at joints so the conduit can be folded 180 degrees for storage.

I modified a nut driver to use a a tool to spread open the pvc to insert the light strings. The process of spreading the conduit is very slow. I was only able to insert 2 light sockets and than move the spreader. Insert 2, move the spreader, ............. I would say it took me a little more than 1 hour to insert lights in the window frames - aprox size 50" x30".

Did I miss any questions?

Steve



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[steve synek]

Here is a picture of inserting the 4 color light strings. I used 3/4" conduit for the house and window frames. When I did the mega tree this year, I found I could get the wires in 1/2" pvc.

Steve


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[RaceMedic]

steve synek wrote:

Here is a picture of inserting the 4 color light strings. I used 3/4" conduit for the house and window frames. When I did the mega tree this year, I found I could get the wires in 1/2" pvc.

Steve

That looks like it will work well with smaller size bulbs but larger bulbs like C9s would be more of a challenge.



Dave

[RaceMedic]

Hi Everyone;

I took advantage of the warm weather today to experiment with the idea of using a downspout for my lights.

Lessons learned but over all it went very good, in my newbie opinion.

I will post a few of the photos of the project.

It took over just over an hour to do this. Other than screwing the two parts together and adding the plugs to the ends of the two strands of lights, it was complete.

Dave

[RaceMedic]

Picture #1

2" x 2" x 10' plastic downspout


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[RaceMedic]

Picture #2

With the plastic still in 1 piece 3/4" holes were drilled every 3".

I found my drill may have been too powerful as a few of the holes did not cut clean, or I have to let up on the trigger a bit. Lesson #1 learned.


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[RaceMedic]

Picture #3

Then the entire length of plastic was cut on a table saw on both sides .. shown in two pieces.


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[RaceMedic]

Picture #4

Two strands of C9 lights attached. Lesson #2 ( maybe ) Offset the two strands slightly as the second strand had to overlap the first strand the bulbs are perfectly square. OPEN TO SUGGESTIONS ON THIS.


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[RaceMedic]

Picture #5

Just showing the full length of C9 bulbs.


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[RaceMedic]

Picture #6

The two pieces now joined together. The bottom piece fitting inside the top piece to give a nice finished look.


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[RaceMedic]

Picture #7

Last photo ... simply trying to show that the whole piece is still VERY light in weight and easy to handle.


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[Guest Don Gillespie]

That is a great idea can't believe I didn't think of that brilliant on your part sure makes hanging lights easy. must try this before the snow hits wait I will send you pictures bracing for major snow storm tonight could get 2 feet yes thats right 2 feet golf is going to have wait still can't get over the PVC down pipe opens up all kinds of ideas

[PaulXmas]

Ya I like the idea(s).
Going to work on something like that this summer.

Winter Storm Warning in April....ONLY in Alberta!
Gotta Love it LOL

[Darryl Lambert]

Looking good Dave!

If your using a spade bit to drill the holes you will sometimes get those torn edges. You could try to cut your downspout first and then use a 2x4 on its edge, inside the piece you are drilling. This should help prevent the spade from wandering and breaking through. Another suggestion would be to use a twist bit.

Darryl

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