On Monday, December 5, 2016 at 3:36:22 PM UTC-5, Moe DeLoughan wrote:
On 12/5/2016 8:03 AM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
I've been looking at buying some LED Christmas lights but I'm curious about
the wiring harnesses.

I know the bulbs are brighter, last longer, etc. However, I'm curious as to
whether the wiring harnesses are any different/better than traditional
mini-light strings. Do LED's strings go bad in sections just like
traditional strings or are they wired such that each individual socket is
a stand alone entity?
Replacing all my strings with LED's would be a huge up-front expense, but
if I knew that I could pull them out every year and they would work, it
would be worth it.


You may want to look into commercial-grade Christmas light strings. A
lot more expensive, but they have much beefier wiring, since they're
intended to last over many seasons. Around here you can find
name-brand (GE, Nova, etc) commercial light sets in the upper-end
landscape and lawn and garden stores. And yes, they're available in
LED. On the other hand, if you have a problem with critters chewing
the wiring, there's no point buying more expensive light sets, since
they'll just chew through those, too.

Thanks for the suggestion on commercial quality lights. It is something
I've considered but never followed through on. I always wait too long to
check the lights and then I'm running out on that day to pick up a few new
strings or repairing old ones so I can get them on the house.

So far, critters aren't the issue, at least not as far as the lights are
concerned. We do have to bring the cat food in from the garage every night
lest the raccoons eat most of it - after washing their paws in the water
bowl. I can usually tell when they've come snooping because they'll wash
their paws even if there is no food available.

I've got some nice videos of them in action. My cat is pretty tough but
she's smart enough to skedaddle as soon as the raccoons clear the cat door.