Does anybody know if the strings are supposed to stay lit if one goes
out? I realize each LED has a huge life, but the contacts could fail.
Thanks. Before I make the investment I want to know what I am getting
into, because that it why I have never used mini-lights.
Frank

frank1492 wrote:

Does anybody know if the strings are supposed to stay lit if one goes
out? I realize each LED has a huge life, but the contacts could fail.
Thanks. Before I make the investment I want to know what I am getting
into, because that it why I have never used mini-lights.
Frank

I have been using them for a couple of years, but I do not know since
none of them have failed.
--
Jim Rusling
More or Less Retired
Mustang, OK
http://www.rusling.org

On Wed, 25 Nov 2009 13:52:15 -0500, frank1492
wrote:

Does anybody know if the strings are supposed to stay lit if one goes
out? I realize each LED has a huge life, but the contacts could fail.
Thanks. Before I make the investment I want to know what I am getting
into, because that it why I have never used mini-lights.
Frank

On most I've used, they all go out. However, I've got an exception
here. It's one of the 70-LED strings from Lowe's. About 10 LEDs have
gone out (some in each half of the string). The others are just as
bright.
--
30 days until the winter solstice celebration

Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us

"How could you ask me to believe in God when there's
absolutely no evidence that I can see?" -- Jodie Foster

On Wed, 25 Nov 2009 16:26:38 -0600, Jim Rusling
wrote:

frank1492 wrote:

Does anybody know if the strings are supposed to stay lit if one goes
out? I realize each LED has a huge life, but the contacts could fail.
Thanks. Before I make the investment I want to know what I am getting
into, because that it why I have never used mini-lights.
Frank

I have been using them for a couple of years, but I do not know since
none of them have failed.
Diodes aften fail shorted, so one "bulb" can fail without taking the
string down - but a bad connection will still kill a string (or part
of it)

frank1492 wrote:
Does anybody know if the strings are supposed to stay lit if one goes
out? I realize each LED has a huge life, but the contacts could fail.
Thanks. Before I make the investment I want to know what I am getting
into, because that it why I have never used mini-lights.
Frank
The ones I've used seem to have
resistors in the sockets, which would
carry the load if a diode quit. And, in
the multi color strings, the resistors
seem to vary in value depending on the
color; some colors require more
current than others to give the same
light output appearance. I don't think
every color has resistors, but I don't
remember as I checked several years
ago.

Also, because the strings which I have
blink, due to the half cycle on and
half cycle off (they are 1/2 wave
rectifiers), I've added a full wave
rectifier to the plug end. I know that
stresses the
individual diodes as there is twice as
much power dissipation, but no
problems after about 5 years. The full
wave rectifier also makes them a
little brighter.

On Nov 25, 12:52*pm, frank1492 wrote:
Does anybody know if the strings are supposed to stay lit if one goes
out? I realize each LED has a huge life, but the contacts could fail.
*Thanks. Before I make the investment I want to know what I am getting
into, because that it why I have never used mini-lights.
* * Frank

What I dont like about led, is the ugly gray color they put out.

ransley wrote:
On Nov 25, 12:52 pm, frank1492 wrote:
Does anybody know if the strings are supposed to stay lit if one goes
out? I realize each LED has a huge life, but the contacts could fail.
Thanks. Before I make the investment I want to know what I am getting
into, because that it why I have never used mini-lights.
Frank

What I dont like about led, is the ugly gray color they put out.
White LEDs have traditionally been blue
inside with a phosphor that, when
excited, glows cool white. What I don't
like about the white LEDs is that
they don't seem to hold up for a long
time; they turn dim and sort of, blue.
Now, this year I've noticed "warm white"
LEDs in the Christmas decorations.
To me they still don't look like
traditional clear lamps. They have a
sort of
greenish-yellow color. And different
strings seem to look different in color.
Maybe in a few years they will perfect
the warm white thing, or .... we will
learn to get used to it.

On Sun, 29 Nov 2009 17:10:25 -0500, Art Todesco
wrote:

[snip]

White LEDs have traditionally been blue
inside with a phosphor that, when
excited, glows cool white.

[snip]

I have a couple strings of "color changing" LED lights. They change
between blue, violet, white, and yellow. They bight be using blue and
yellow LEDs using opposite polarity.
--
26 days until the winter solstice celebration

Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us

"How could you ask me to believe in God when there's
absolutely no evidence that I can see?" -- Jodie Foster

On Sun, 29 Nov 2009 06:11:00 -0800, ransley wrote:

On Nov 25, 12:52Â*pm, frank1492 wrote:
Does anybody know if the strings are supposed to stay lit if one goes
out? I realize each LED has a huge life, but the contacts could fail.
Â*Thanks. Before I make the investment I want to know what I am getting
into, because that it why I have never used mini-lights.
Â* Â* Frank

What I dont like about led, is the ugly gray color they put out.

At least they aren't selling strings of CFLs

Know what you mean though, it's not quite the same. But then for Christmas
lights they're not for illuminating the entire room, so I don't think the
not-quite-what-we're-used-to light output is much of an issue. (I spent
about an hour last night making three good strings of incandescent lights
from four, so anything that's more reliable gets my vote)

cheers

Jules

On Nov 30, 8:52*am, Jules
wrote:
On Sun, 29 Nov 2009 06:11:00 -0800, ransley wrote:
On Nov 25, 12:52*pm, frank1492 wrote:
Does anybody know if the strings are supposed to stay lit if one goes
out? I realize each LED has a huge life, but the contacts could fail.
*Thanks. Before I make the investment I want to know what I am getting
into, because that it why I have never used mini-lights.
* * Frank

What I dont like about led, is the ugly gray color they put out.

At least they aren't selling strings of CFLs

Know what you mean though, it's not quite the same. But then for Christmas
lights they're not for illuminating the entire room, so I don't think the
not-quite-what-we're-used-to light output is much of an issue. (I spent
about an hour last night making three good strings of incandescent lights
from four, so anything that's more reliable gets my vote)

cheers

Jules

"Know what you mean though, it's not quite the same"

So true...

It's no fun stealing those little mini-bulbs. They just don't *pop*
when they hit the sidewalk like the old C7's (or better yet, the C9's)
used to.

On Mon, 30 Nov 2009 13:28:55 -0800, DerbyDad03 wrote:
"Know what you mean though, it's not quite the same"

So true...

It's no fun stealing those little mini-bulbs. They just don't *pop*
when they hit the sidewalk like the old C7's (or better yet, the C9's)
used to.

I don't know, I seem to remember a few decades ago connecting LEDs
directly across 9V batteries to see how far across the room I could get
the fragments to fly when they exploded. I think it's possible for folk to
amuse themselves in destroying pretty much anything :-)

(the bulb story's funny, though - triggered a memory of me aged ten
or so being allowed to wrap failed incandescents up in newspaper and
then smack them with a big hammer, just for the nice popping sound they
made as they broke!)

cheers

Jules