Hello and thanks for looking in.

How do I get about 35 strings of Christmas lights to stay on and still
use my radial arm saw -- without popping the circuit breaker?

Here's the story. For the last 5 or so Christmas seasons, I've been
able to convince my wife that buying new strings of lights is better
than having to untangle all the old ones. I cleaned out the garage and
'discovered' all the old lights. In the quarter of the basement I use
for a wood shop I strung them all together all around the ceiling edges
of this little piece of heaven I have down there. It is COOL! No one
can look at those lights without a grin as big as if an upsidedow coat
hanger was stuck in their face. They're only on when I'm there, and
always off before I leave. There's never even a hint of ozone or
melting plastic, and all the cords remain cool to the touch. They are
NOT, however, so cool I want to burn the house down.

Everything appears to be happy and no problem with anything (sanders,
drill press, scroll saw, router - that kind of thing), until I start
the radial arm saw. Then pop, I'm in the dark. That's the problem. Once
again the question: What do I do to keep the lights and not pop a
circuit breaker?

Thank you,
Michael Day

I love christmas lights too.

If I were you, the first thing I'd do is get your lighting for your
little shop on a separate circuit. You really don't want to be in the
dark holding a radial arm saw, or most any other power tool, even for
the few seconds they take to power-off. The light circuit should power
basically nothing else in your shop, the way I see it.

Next you can figure out how many circuits you have -- it might just be
a matter of putting your radial arm saw on the same circuit as the
other tools (which presumably you won't be using simultaneously) rather
than with the christmas lights.

-Kevin

yeah add a circuit or two for the shop

myself with all those cristmas lights I would protect them with a arc
fault breaker, they trip when they detect sparking arcing conditions,
thats probably a good idea...