As many of us know, if you take the bulb out of a string of mini Christmas lights,
that section of the string goes out. Sometimes a section will go out even with all
bulbs in. Then you have to search for a bad bulb, a loose bulb or worse yet,
a bad socket.

Do LED strings act the same way? Is the construction the same and it's just the
bulbs that are different?

DerbyDad03 wrote:
As many of us know, if you take the bulb out of a string of mini Christmas lights,
that section of the string goes out. Sometimes a section will go out even with all
bulbs in. Then you have to search for a bad bulb, a loose bulb or worse yet,
a bad socket.

Do LED strings act the same way? Is the construction the same and it's just the
bulbs that are different?

LED strings do that too but not as much as bulbs. I got rid of all the
old bulb strings. Seems newer LEDs are even more reliable. I like dark
blue colored sparkling tiny LED ones outdoor.

On Sun, 6 Dec 2015 21:22:22 -0700, Tony Hwang
wrote:
As many of us know, if you take the bulb out of a
string of mini Christmas lights, that section of the
string goes out. Sometimes a section will go out
even with all bulbs in. Then you have to search for
a bad bulb, a loose bulb or worse yet, a bad socket.
Do LED strings act the same way? Is the
construction the same and it's just the bulbs that
are different?

LED strings do that too but not as much as bulbs. I
got rid of all the old bulb strings. Seems newer LEDs
are even more reliable. I like dark blue colored
sparkling tiny LED ones outdoor.

I just bought some LED light sets to replace old ones that don't all
work. I guess I'm fixing to find out how well they hold up.

--
Maggie

On Sun, 6 Dec 2015 20:01:24 -0800 (PST), DerbyDad03
wrote:

As many of us know, if you take the bulb out of a string of mini Christmas lights,
that section of the string goes out. Sometimes a section will go out even with all
bulbs in. Then you have to search for a bad bulb, a loose bulb or worse yet,
a bad socket.

Do LED strings act the same way? Is the construction the same and it's just the
bulbs that are different?

On plug in AC sets, 'YES'.

On battery operated sets, they may be wired individually.

On 12/06/2015 10:01 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
As many of us know, if you take the bulb out of a string of mini Christmas lights,
that section of the string goes out. Sometimes a section will go out even with all
bulbs in. Then you have to search for a bad bulb, a loose bulb or worse yet,
a bad socket.

Do LED strings act the same way? Is the construction the same and it's just the
bulbs that are different?


Except on small battery-powered strings, the LEDs are wired in series
(similar to mini lights). On most of the ones I have a series is 25, 30,
or 35 LEDs. Many strings have 2 (or even 4) series.

If a LED series fails, it is usually not a bad LED but a bad connection
somewhere (maybe in the series resistor). I have one line that right
now. It will light, but only if someone stands there and keeps pushing
the wires into the lump with the resistor.

--
18 days until the winter celebration (Friday December 25, 2015 12:00:00
AM for 1 day).

Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"[The Bible] has noble poetry in it... and some good morals and a wealth
of obscenity, and upwards of a thousand lies." -Mark Twain

On 12/06/2015 10:22 PM, Tony Hwang wrote:

[snip]

LED strings do that too but not as much as bulbs. I got rid of all the
old bulb strings. Seems newer LEDs are even more reliable. I like dark
blue colored sparkling tiny LED ones outdoor.

One of the advantages of LEDs is the colors are more intense and don't
fade with use like incandescents do.

--
18 days until the winter celebration (Friday December 25, 2015 12:00:00
AM for 1 day).

Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"[The Bible] has noble poetry in it... and some good morals and a wealth
of obscenity, and upwards of a thousand lies." -Mark Twain

On Sun, 6 Dec 2015 20:01:24 -0800 (PST), DerbyDad03
wrote:

As many of us know, if you take the bulb out of a string of mini Christmas lights,
that section of the string goes out. Sometimes a section will go out even with all
bulbs in. Then you have to search for a bad bulb, a loose bulb or worse yet,
a bad socket.

Do LED strings act the same way? Is the construction the same and it's just the
bulbs that are different?

The sets I have state they do not go out as a string, just the
individual.

On Monday, December 7, 2015 at 5:47:28 AM UTC-5, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On Sun, 6 Dec 2015 20:01:24 -0800 (PST), DerbyDad03
wrote:

As many of us know, if you take the bulb out of a string of mini Christmas lights,
that section of the string goes out. Sometimes a section will go out even with all
bulbs in. Then you have to search for a bad bulb, a loose bulb or worse yet,
a bad socket.

Do LED strings act the same way? Is the construction the same and it's just the
bulbs that are different?

The sets I have state they do not go out as a string, just the
individual.

My question did not relate to "going out as string" but "going out in sections".
For example, the icicles light I use are about 20' long. They are wired as five
4' sections. If you pull a bulb, that 4' section will go out. That also happens
when a bulb is loose or cracked, etc. Sometimes even checking/changing
all the bulbs in a section doesn't help

This weekend I combined 3 strings into 2 by cutting out sections that I couldn't get
to work and soldering in good sections from the other strings. I was hoping to
avoid "sectional outages" with LED strings, but I guess they are wired the same
way.

On 12/6/2015 11:01 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
As many of us know, if you take the bulb out of a string of mini Christmas lights,
that section of the string goes out. Sometimes a section will go out even with all
bulbs in. Then you have to search for a bad bulb, a loose bulb or worse yet,
a bad socket.

Do LED strings act the same way? Is the construction the same and it's just the
bulbs that are different?

Most of the LED strings are wired in series, which means, breaking the
path anywhere, will cause the string the not work. I just bought a
string of 60 LED lamps with C9 size/shape covers. There are actually 2
series circuits, so if one LED is removed, 30 LED will go out and the
other 30 will remain on. I don't know the predominant failure mode of
these LEDs, however, if an LED fails as a short circuit, the other LEDs
should remain on. If it fails open, where back to tracing bulb by bulb.
This brings me to the most irritating problem. Running the LEDs at 60Hz
produces an annoying flicker because they are on for one half cycle and
off for the other. Why can't they design them with full wave rectifiers?
It would only require adjusting the series resistor or whatever they
use, to not over power the LEDs from lighting them on both half cycles.
BTW, I have added external full wave bridges and yes they produce less
flicker and yes they are brighter and yes I have not had them go bad due
to over powering the LEDs.

On Sunday, December 6, 2015 at 11:40:00 PM UTC-5, Muggles wrote:
On Sun, 6 Dec 2015 21:22:22 -0700, Tony Hwang
wrote:
As many of us know, if you take the bulb out of a
string of mini Christmas lights, that section of the
string goes out. Sometimes a section will go out
even with all bulbs in. Then you have to search for
a bad bulb, a loose bulb or worse yet, a bad socket.
Do LED strings act the same way? Is the
construction the same and it's just the bulbs that
are different?

LED strings do that too but not as much as bulbs. I
got rid of all the old bulb strings. Seems newer LEDs
are even more reliable. I like dark blue colored
sparkling tiny LED ones outdoor.

I just bought some LED light sets to replace old ones that don't all
work. I guess I'm fixing to find out how well they hold up.

--
Maggie

Since my house basically looks like this building anyway, maybe I'll
just go with the Christmas Spotlight option next year.

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/SnFl5p0ZqEM/maxresdefault.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnFl5p0ZqEM

On 12/07/2015 04:47 AM, Ed Pawlowski wrote:

[snip]

The sets I have state they do not go out as a string, just the
individual.


Mine say that too, and sometimes that happens (I don't know how it
bypasses the bad LED). Still, the most common failure is a whole series
goes out.

When I put out lights, it is common to find a (50-70 LED) string where
only half of it lights.

--
18 days until the winter celebration (Friday December 25, 2015 12:00:00
AM for 1 day).

Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"[The Bible] has noble poetry in it... and some good morals and a wealth
of obscenity, and upwards of a thousand lies." -Mark Twain

On 12/07/2015 06:44 AM, DerbyDad03 wrote:

[snip]

My question did not relate to "going out as string" but "going out in sections".
For example, the icicles light I use are about 20' long. They are wired as five
4' sections. If you pull a bulb, that 4' section will go out.

That's what happens wit series wiring.

That also happens
when a bulb is loose or cracked, etc. Sometimes even checking/changing
all the bulbs in a section doesn't help


I've found it usually doesn't. The problem is elsewhere, likely a poor
connection.

This weekend I combined 3 strings into 2 by cutting out sections that I couldn't get
to work and soldering in good sections from the other strings. I was hoping to
avoid "sectional outages" with LED strings, but I guess they are wired the same
way.


A LED requires a low voltage (I just measured on a white one and got
2.9V). Running it on 120V would require creating a voltage drop of about
117V. This takes a big resistor that wastes a lot of power. A series of
25 of these LEDs takes 72.5V and the resistor has less voltage to drop.
This design wastes a lot less power than 25 separate resistors, one for
each LED.

BTW, some LED strings will use a full-wave rectifier and some don't but
put different series of different polarities. If you connect it to DC
only some LEDs light. Change polarity and the others come on. An
electronic controller could use that for a 2-way flasher.

--
18 days until the winter celebration (Friday December 25, 2015 12:00:00
AM for 1 day).

Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"[The Bible] has noble poetry in it... and some good morals and a wealth
of obscenity, and upwards of a thousand lies." -Mark Twain

On 12/07/2015 07:34 AM, Art Todesco wrote:

[snip]

Most of the LED strings are wired in series, which means, breaking the
path anywhere, will cause the string the not work. I just bought a
string of 60 LED lamps with C9 size/shape covers. There are actually 2
series circuits, so if one LED is removed, 30 LED will go out and the
other 30 will remain on. I don't know the predominant failure mode of
these LEDs, however, if an LED fails as a short circuit, the other LEDs
should remain on. If it fails open, where back to tracing bulb by bulb.
This brings me to the most irritating problem. Running the LEDs at 60Hz
produces an annoying flicker because they are on for one half cycle and
off for the other. Why can't they design them with full wave rectifiers?
It would only require adjusting the series resistor or whatever they
use, to not over power the LEDs from lighting them on both half cycles.
BTW, I have added external full wave bridges and yes they produce less
flicker and yes they are brighter and yes I have not had them go bad due
to over powering the LEDs.

Some strings do have full-wave rectifiers. You could find out which by
wiring a diode (1N4004) to a 120V outlet and seeing if both series still
light, or only one. For testing purposes, I have 2 of these, one for
each polarity.

You might TRY using a full-wave rectifier to feed the strings with
120VDC. This probably won't work because the 2 series require opposite
polarity.

The series resistor will need to be a little less, since the rectifier
adds a 1.4V voltage drop (two diode drops).

--
18 days until the winter celebration (Friday December 25, 2015 12:00:00
AM for 1 day).

Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"[The Bible] has noble poetry in it... and some good morals and a wealth
of obscenity, and upwards of a thousand lies." -Mark Twain

On Mon, 7 Dec 2015 12:52:29 -0600, Mark Lloyd wrote:

A LED requires a low voltage (I just measured on a white one and got
2.9V). Running it on 120V would require creating a voltage drop of about
117V. This takes a big resistor that wastes a lot of power. A series of
25 of these LEDs takes 72.5V and the resistor has less voltage to drop.
This design wastes a lot less power than 25 separate resistors, one for
each LED.

BTW, some LED strings will use a full-wave rectifier and some don't but
put different series of different polarities. If you connect it to DC
only some LEDs light. Change polarity and the others come on. An
electronic controller could use that for a 2-way flasher.

Ideally, a power supply would exist that would create 2 or 3 volts DC,
and each LED would be wired in parallel (individually). This power
supply would have capacitors to eliminate flicker. But these mass
produced light strings are made cheap, to sell cheaply, so they use the
series wiring....

On 12/7/2015 8:41 AM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Sunday, December 6, 2015 at 11:40:00 PM UTC-5, Muggles wrote:
On Sun, 6 Dec 2015 21:22:22 -0700, Tony Hwang
wrote:
As many of us know, if you take the bulb out of a
string of mini Christmas lights, that section of the
string goes out. Sometimes a section will go out
even with all bulbs in. Then you have to search for
a bad bulb, a loose bulb or worse yet, a bad socket.
Do LED strings act the same way? Is the
construction the same and it's just the bulbs that
are different?

LED strings do that too but not as much as bulbs. I
got rid of all the old bulb strings. Seems newer LEDs
are even more reliable. I like dark blue colored
sparkling tiny LED ones outdoor.

I just bought some LED light sets to replace old ones that don't all
work. I guess I'm fixing to find out how well they hold up.

--
Maggie

Since my house basically looks like this building anyway, maybe I'll
just go with the Christmas Spotlight option next year.

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/SnFl5p0ZqEM/maxresdefault.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnFl5p0ZqEM


I've seen those and can't decide if they are cool or cheezy.

--
Maggie

On Monday, December 7, 2015 at 1:34:52 PM UTC-5, Mark Lloyd wrote:
On 12/07/2015 04:47 AM, Ed Pawlowski wrote:

[snip]

The sets I have state they do not go out as a string, just the
individual.


Mine say that too, and sometimes that happens (I don't know how it
bypasses the bad LED). Still, the most common failure is a whole series
goes out.

When I put out lights, it is common to find a (50-70 LED) string where
only half of it lights.


"Half" would be OK, if the half were at the beginning or end of the string
That's easy to work around. In my case, it's usually a section (or 2)
somewhere in the middle of the string that's out. Rarely are the 2 sections
contiguous.

That's what I was dealing with this weekend. I'd mark the first and last socket of a bad section, cut it out, and solder in a good section from
another partially bad string in its place. I wanted to keep the strings
the same length as the originals because I know how many strings I
need to do my house and where I want the plugs to end up.

After I got them all repaired and hung on the house (with the one new
string I needed because of the repairs) I looked up to find one 4'
section that was out. It wasn't out while on the ground, and it wasn't
a "step ladder reachable" section either. So, time to reposition the
extension ladder and climb back up. Luckily, it only took about 10
bulbs for me to find the iffy one. I pulled the bulb, straightened
the wires around the base and put it back in.

It's all good...for now.

wrote in message
news

Ideally, a power supply would exist that would create 2 or 3 volts DC,
and each LED would be wired in parallel (individually). This power
supply would have capacitors to eliminate flicker. But these mass
produced light strings are made cheap, to sell cheaply, so they use the
series wiring....


As LEDs are mainly a current device instead of voltage devices they operate
beter in series even if it means a real pain to find the bad one if it
opens.

On Mon, 7 Dec 2015 15:13:11 -0500, "Ralph Mowery"
wrote:


wrote in message
news

Ideally, a power supply would exist that would create 2 or 3 volts DC,
and each LED would be wired in parallel (individually). This power
supply would have capacitors to eliminate flicker. But these mass
produced light strings are made cheap, to sell cheaply, so they use the
series wiring....


As LEDs are mainly a current device instead of voltage devices they operate
beter in series even if it means a real pain to find the bad one if it
opens.


If this is true, then do the LED "home bulbs" with multiple LEDs have
series wiring? (meaning the ones you screw in place of a regular
lightbulb on your ceiling).

I know this is not the case for battery operated LEDs. I have a 72 LED
stick type flashlight, and it's very bright, (but eats batteries). For
some reason, one of the LEDs burned out. The others work fine.

On Monday, December 7, 2015 at 2:50:34 PM UTC-5, Muggles wrote:
On 12/7/2015 8:41 AM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Sunday, December 6, 2015 at 11:40:00 PM UTC-5, Muggles wrote:
On Sun, 6 Dec 2015 21:22:22 -0700, Tony Hwang
wrote:
As many of us know, if you take the bulb out of a
string of mini Christmas lights, that section of the
string goes out. Sometimes a section will go out
even with all bulbs in. Then you have to search for
a bad bulb, a loose bulb or worse yet, a bad socket.
Do LED strings act the same way? Is the
construction the same and it's just the bulbs that
are different?

LED strings do that too but not as much as bulbs. I
got rid of all the old bulb strings. Seems newer LEDs
are even more reliable. I like dark blue colored
sparkling tiny LED ones outdoor.

I just bought some LED light sets to replace old ones that don't all
work. I guess I'm fixing to find out how well they hold up.

--
Maggie

Since my house basically looks like this building anyway, maybe I'll
just go with the Christmas Spotlight option next year.

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/SnFl5p0ZqEM/maxresdefault.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnFl5p0ZqEM


I've seen those and can't decide if they are cool or cheezy.

--
Maggie

No comment on the size of my house? ;-)

wrote in message
...

As LEDs are mainly a current device instead of voltage devices they
operate
beter in series even if it means a real pain to find the bad one if it
opens.


If this is true, then do the LED "home bulbs" with multiple LEDs have
series wiring? (meaning the ones you screw in place of a regular
lightbulb on your ceiling).

I know this is not the case for battery operated LEDs. I have a 72 LED
stick type flashlight, and it's very bright, (but eats batteries). For
some reason, one of the LEDs burned out. The others work fine.


I don't know how the 'home bulbs' are made. I was staying with the
Christmas string types.

The flashlights have to be in parallel as they require a volt or two to
light up. If they were in series it would take a lot more voltage that the
batteries could put out.

On 12/7/2015 3:55 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Monday, December 7, 2015 at 2:50:34 PM UTC-5, Muggles wrote:
On 12/7/2015 8:41 AM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Sunday, December 6, 2015 at 11:40:00 PM UTC-5, Muggles wrote:
On Sun, 6 Dec 2015 21:22:22 -0700, Tony Hwang
wrote:
As many of us know, if you take the bulb out of a
string of mini Christmas lights, that section of the
string goes out. Sometimes a section will go out
even with all bulbs in. Then you have to search for
a bad bulb, a loose bulb or worse yet, a bad socket.
Do LED strings act the same way? Is the
construction the same and it's just the bulbs that
are different?

LED strings do that too but not as much as bulbs. I
got rid of all the old bulb strings. Seems newer LEDs
are even more reliable. I like dark blue colored
sparkling tiny LED ones outdoor.

I just bought some LED light sets to replace old ones that don't all
work. I guess I'm fixing to find out how well they hold up.

--
Maggie

Since my house basically looks like this building anyway, maybe I'll
just go with the Christmas Spotlight option next year.

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/SnFl5p0ZqEM/maxresdefault.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnFl5p0ZqEM


I've seen those and can't decide if they are cool or cheezy.

--
Maggie

No comment on the size of my house? ;-)


It's tall? LOL

--
Maggie

On 12/7/2015 7:44 AM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Monday, December 7, 2015 at 5:47:28 AM UTC-5, Ed Pawlowski wrote:

The sets I have state they do not go out as a string, just the
individual.

My question did not relate to "going out as string" but "going out in sections".
For example, the icicles light I use are about 20' long. They are wired as five
4' sections. If you pull a bulb, that 4' section will go out. That also happens
when a bulb is loose or cracked, etc. Sometimes even checking/changing
all the bulbs in a section doesn't help

As I stated, they go out "individual" One bulb only.

On 12/7/2015 2:02 PM, Mark Lloyd wrote:
On 12/07/2015 07:34 AM, Art Todesco wrote:

[snip]

Most of the LED strings are wired in series, which means, breaking the
path anywhere, will cause the string the not work. I just bought a
string of 60 LED lamps with C9 size/shape covers. There are actually 2
series circuits, so if one LED is removed, 30 LED will go out and the
other 30 will remain on. I don't know the predominant failure mode of
these LEDs, however, if an LED fails as a short circuit, the other LEDs
should remain on. If it fails open, where back to tracing bulb by bulb.
This brings me to the most irritating problem. Running the LEDs at 60Hz
produces an annoying flicker because they are on for one half cycle and
off for the other. Why can't they design them with full wave rectifiers?
It would only require adjusting the series resistor or whatever they
use, to not over power the LEDs from lighting them on both half cycles.
BTW, I have added external full wave bridges and yes they produce less
flicker and yes they are brighter and yes I have not had them go bad due
to over powering the LEDs.

Some strings do have full-wave rectifiers. You could find out which by
wiring a diode (1N4004) to a 120V outlet and seeing if both series still
light, or only one. For testing purposes, I have 2 of these, one for
each polarity.

You might TRY using a full-wave rectifier to feed the strings with
120VDC. This probably won't work because the 2 series require opposite
polarity.

The series resistor will need to be a little less, since the rectifier
adds a 1.4V voltage drop (two diode drops).

Actually, adding a 1.4 volt drop will probably not perceptively change
the brightness. Also, I just bought a string of 60 LED lights, which are
2 30 LED series circuits. Luckily, adding a full wave bridge externally
still lights both strings. I put a cheap dimmer before the full wave
bridge, and even at full, it reduces the power to almost where it was
before using the bridge and makes the flickering tolerable.

Muggles brought next idea :
On 12/7/2015 8:41 AM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Sunday, December 6, 2015 at 11:40:00 PM UTC-5, Muggles wrote:
On Sun, 6 Dec 2015 21:22:22 -0700, Tony Hwang
wrote:
As many of us know, if you take the bulb out of a
string of mini Christmas lights, that section of the
string goes out. Sometimes a section will go out
even with all bulbs in. Then you have to search for
a bad bulb, a loose bulb or worse yet, a bad socket.
Do LED strings act the same way? Is the
construction the same and it's just the bulbs that
are different?

LED strings do that too but not as much as bulbs. I
got rid of all the old bulb strings. Seems newer LEDs
are even more reliable. I like dark blue colored
sparkling tiny LED ones outdoor.

I just bought some LED light sets to replace old ones that don't all
work. I guess I'm fixing to find out how well they hold up.

--
Maggie

Since my house basically looks like this building anyway, maybe I'll
just go with the Christmas Spotlight option next year.

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/SnFl5p0ZqEM/maxresdefault.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnFl5p0ZqEM


I've seen those and can't decide if they are cool or cheezy.

Does this mean I have tp chuck My 117 volt icicle light strings that I
have had for 6 years and never put up?

On 12/8/2015 11:29 AM, Eagle wrote:
Muggles brought next idea :
On 12/7/2015 8:41 AM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Sunday, December 6, 2015 at 11:40:00 PM UTC-5, Muggles wrote:
On Sun, 6 Dec 2015 21:22:22 -0700, Tony Hwang wrote:
As many of us know, if you take the bulb out of a
string of mini Christmas lights, that section of the
string goes out. Sometimes a section will go out
even with all bulbs in. Then you have to search for
a bad bulb, a loose bulb or worse yet, a bad socket.
Do LED strings act the same way? Is the
construction the same and it's just the bulbs that
are different?

LED strings do that too but not as much as bulbs. I
got rid of all the old bulb strings. Seems newer LEDs
are even more reliable. I like dark blue colored
sparkling tiny LED ones outdoor.

I just bought some LED light sets to replace old ones that don't all
work. I guess I'm fixing to find out how well they hold up.

--
Maggie

Since my house basically looks like this building anyway, maybe I'll
just go with the Christmas Spotlight option next year.
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/SnFl5p0ZqEM/maxresdefault.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnFl5p0ZqEM


I've seen those and can't decide if they are cool or cheezy.

Does this mean I have tp chuck My 117 volt icicle light strings that I
have had for 6 years and never put up?

Only if you WANT to!

--
Maggie

Muggles has brought this to us :
On 12/8/2015 11:29 AM, Eagle wrote:
Muggles brought next idea :
On 12/7/2015 8:41 AM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Sunday, December 6, 2015 at 11:40:00 PM UTC-5, Muggles wrote:
On Sun, 6 Dec 2015 21:22:22 -0700, Tony Hwang wrote:
As many of us know, if you take the bulb out of a
string of mini Christmas lights, that section of the
string goes out. Sometimes a section will go out
even with all bulbs in. Then you have to search for
a bad bulb, a loose bulb or worse yet, a bad socket.
Do LED strings act the same way? Is the
construction the same and it's just the bulbs that
are different?

LED strings do that too but not as much as bulbs. I
got rid of all the old bulb strings. Seems newer LEDs
are even more reliable. I like dark blue colored
sparkling tiny LED ones outdoor.

I just bought some LED light sets to replace old ones that don't all
work. I guess I'm fixing to find out how well they hold up.

--
Maggie

Since my house basically looks like this building anyway, maybe I'll
just go with the Christmas Spotlight option next year.
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/SnFl5p0ZqEM/maxresdefault.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnFl5p0ZqEM


I've seen those and can't decide if they are cool or cheezy.

Does this mean I have tp chuck My 117 volt icicle light strings that I
have had for 6 years and never put up?

Only if you WANT to!

Meh...We'l just cruze around the 'hoods and check out the houses with
all that fancy lighting and wonder what their electric bill will be
after the holidays. lol

Muggles wrote on 12/7/2015 :
On 12/7/2015 3:55 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Monday, December 7, 2015 at 2:50:34 PM UTC-5, Muggles wrote:
On 12/7/2015 8:41 AM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Sunday, December 6, 2015 at 11:40:00 PM UTC-5, Muggles wrote:
On Sun, 6 Dec 2015 21:22:22 -0700, Tony Hwang
wrote:
As many of us know, if you take the bulb out of a
string of mini Christmas lights, that section of the
string goes out. Sometimes a section will go out
even with all bulbs in. Then you have to search for
a bad bulb, a loose bulb or worse yet, a bad socket.
Do LED strings act the same way? Is the
construction the same and it's just the bulbs that
are different?

LED strings do that too but not as much as bulbs. I
got rid of all the old bulb strings. Seems newer LEDs
are even more reliable. I like dark blue colored
sparkling tiny LED ones outdoor.

I just bought some LED light sets to replace old ones that don't all
work. I guess I'm fixing to find out how well they hold up.

--
Maggie

Since my house basically looks like this building anyway, maybe I'll
just go with the Christmas Spotlight option next year.

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/SnFl5p0ZqEM/maxresdefault.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnFl5p0ZqEM


I've seen those and can't decide if they are cool or cheezy.

--
Maggie

No comment on the size of my house? ;-)


It's tall? LOL

Me thinks there is a few spare rooms he wants to rent...

On 12/8/2015 1:00 PM, Eagle wrote:
Muggles has brought this to us :
On 12/8/2015 11:29 AM, Eagle wrote:
Muggles brought next idea :
On 12/7/2015 8:41 AM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Sunday, December 6, 2015 at 11:40:00 PM UTC-5, Muggles wrote:
On Sun, 6 Dec 2015 21:22:22 -0700, Tony Hwang
wrote:
As many of us know, if you take the bulb out of a
string of mini Christmas lights, that section of the
string goes out. Sometimes a section will go out
even with all bulbs in. Then you have to search for
a bad bulb, a loose bulb or worse yet, a bad socket.
Do LED strings act the same way? Is the
construction the same and it's just the bulbs that
are different?

LED strings do that too but not as much as bulbs. I
got rid of all the old bulb strings. Seems newer LEDs
are even more reliable. I like dark blue colored
sparkling tiny LED ones outdoor.

I just bought some LED light sets to replace old ones that don't all
work. I guess I'm fixing to find out how well they hold up.

--
Maggie

Since my house basically looks like this building anyway, maybe I'll
just go with the Christmas Spotlight option next year.
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/SnFl5p0ZqEM/maxresdefault.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnFl5p0ZqEM


I've seen those and can't decide if they are cool or cheezy.

Does this mean I have tp chuck My 117 volt icicle light strings that I
have had for 6 years and never put up?

Only if you WANT to!

Meh...We'l just cruze around the 'hoods and check out the houses with
all that fancy lighting and wonder what their electric bill will be
after the holidays. lol

I bought some LED lights for my old fake tabletop tree. The lights that
came on it were bad, so instead of just buying another tree I spent
about an hour unwrapping the lights that came on it so I could replace
them. There wasn't anything wrong with the tree except the lights. I
counted them and there were about 150 lights on it, so I ended up buying
a strand of 225 LED colored lights and put them on the tree last night.
It looks like a brand new tree now, plus the little LEDS are might
brighter and the colors are more intense, in addition, to them using
about 1/10 of the electricity.

I also bought 1 strands of 50 LEDS and put them outside. One strand went
on my potted baby Frazier Fir, and the other I wound up my porch
support. I had to put my live tree on top of a 5 gallon bucket because
it's pretty short, so I raised it up so it could be seen above the
bushed in front of the porch. It's so cute. It's all on a timer, so
it's good to go. I can't really climb to put lights to hang off the
roof, and neither can the husband, but I have a little Christmas color
on the porch AND in the house.

--
Maggie

Muggles formulated the question :
On 12/8/2015 1:00 PM, Eagle wrote:
Muggles has brought this to us :
On 12/8/2015 11:29 AM, Eagle wrote:
Muggles brought next idea :
On 12/7/2015 8:41 AM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Sunday, December 6, 2015 at 11:40:00 PM UTC-5, Muggles wrote:
On Sun, 6 Dec 2015 21:22:22 -0700, Tony Hwang
wrote:
As many of us know, if you take the bulb out of a
string of mini Christmas lights, that section of the
string goes out. Sometimes a section will go out
even with all bulbs in. Then you have to search for
a bad bulb, a loose bulb or worse yet, a bad socket.
Do LED strings act the same way? Is the
construction the same and it's just the bulbs that
are different?

LED strings do that too but not as much as bulbs. I
got rid of all the old bulb strings. Seems newer LEDs
are even more reliable. I like dark blue colored
sparkling tiny LED ones outdoor.

I just bought some LED light sets to replace old ones that don't all
work. I guess I'm fixing to find out how well they hold up.

--
Maggie

Since my house basically looks like this building anyway, maybe I'll
just go with the Christmas Spotlight option next year.
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/SnFl5p0ZqEM/maxresdefault.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnFl5p0ZqEM


I've seen those and can't decide if they are cool or cheezy.

Does this mean I have tp chuck My 117 volt icicle light strings that I
have had for 6 years and never put up?

Only if you WANT to!

Meh...We'l just cruze around the 'hoods and check out the houses with
all that fancy lighting and wonder what their electric bill will be
after the holidays. lol

I bought some LED lights for my old fake tabletop tree. The lights that
came on it were bad, so instead of just buying another tree I spent
about an hour unwrapping the lights that came on it so I could replace
them. There wasn't anything wrong with the tree except the lights. I
counted them and there were about 150 lights on it, so I ended up buying
a strand of 225 LED colored lights and put them on the tree last night.
It looks like a brand new tree now, plus the little LEDS are might
brighter and the colors are more intense, in addition, to them using
about 1/10 of the electricity.

I also bought 1 strands of 50 LEDS and put them outside. One strand went
on my potted baby Frazier Fir, and the other I wound up my porch
support. I had to put my live tree on top of a 5 gallon bucket because
it's pretty short, so I raised it up so it could be seen above the
bushed in front of the porch. It's so cute. It's all on a timer, so
it's good to go. I can't really climb to put lights to hang off the
roof, and neither can the husband, but I have a little Christmas color
on the porch AND in the house.

You are a very inovative Lady Maggie...

[snip]

Ideally, a power supply would exist that would create 2 or 3 volts DC,
and each LED would be wired in parallel (individually). This power
supply would have capacitors to eliminate flicker. But these mass
produced light strings are made cheap, to sell cheaply, so they use the
series wiring....



The LEDs still won't work unless current is limited.

A LED is a voltage regulator. It needs at least the proper forward
voltage (2-3V) and will regulate it to that. Current draw will be
"infinite" (until the LED is destroyed) unless the circuit limits
current. This is often accomplished by a resistor, effectively giving
the power supply a high impedance (voltage drops to LED voltage before
LED maximum current is exceeded).

BTW, by mistake I connected a LED without a resistor once. I never saw
any light. There was a POP and half the plastic around the LED disappeared.

Note that a CR2032 coin cell makes an ideal power supply for a single
LED. No resistor needed as the internal resistance of the cell is high
enough that the LED drops the voltage as necessary, and limits current
appropriately.

--
17 days until the winter celebration (Friday December 25, 2015 12:00:00
AM for 1 day).

Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"There's no more proof for the existence of God than there is for the
existence of the Easter Bunny. That's right. The Easter ****ing Bunny."
[Stryder, on alt.atheism]

On 12/8/2015 1:33 PM, Eagle wrote:
Muggles formulated the question :
On 12/8/2015 1:00 PM, Eagle wrote:
Muggles has brought this to us :
On 12/8/2015 11:29 AM, Eagle wrote:
[...]
Does this mean I have tp chuck My 117 volt icicle light strings
that I
have had for 6 years and never put up?

Only if you WANT to!

Meh...We'l just cruze around the 'hoods and check out the houses with
all that fancy lighting and wonder what their electric bill will be
after the holidays. lol

I bought some LED lights for my old fake tabletop tree. The lights that
came on it were bad, so instead of just buying another tree I spent
about an hour unwrapping the lights that came on it so I could replace
them. There wasn't anything wrong with the tree except the lights. I
counted them and there were about 150 lights on it, so I ended up buying
a strand of 225 LED colored lights and put them on the tree last night.
It looks like a brand new tree now, plus the little LEDS are might
brighter and the colors are more intense, in addition, to them using
about 1/10 of the electricity.

I also bought 1 strands of 50 LEDS and put them outside. One strand went
on my potted baby Frazier Fir, and the other I wound up my porch
support. I had to put my live tree on top of a 5 gallon bucket because
it's pretty short, so I raised it up so it could be seen above the
bushed in front of the porch. It's so cute. It's all on a timer, so
it's good to go. I can't really climb to put lights to hang off the
roof, and neither can the husband, but I have a little Christmas color
on the porch AND in the house.


You are a very inovative Lady Maggie...

Thanks! I like doing things outside of the box if the box just won't
fit! lol

--
Maggie

On 12/07/2015 02:13 PM, Ralph Mowery wrote:
wrote in message
news

Ideally, a power supply would exist that would create 2 or 3 volts DC,
and each LED would be wired in parallel (individually). This power
supply would have capacitors to eliminate flicker. But these mass
produced light strings are made cheap, to sell cheaply, so they use the
series wiring....


As LEDs are mainly a current device instead of voltage devices they operate
better in series even if it means a real pain to find the bad one if it
opens.


They maintain a constant voltage, usually 2-3 volts per LED. An excess
supply voltage causes the LED to draw more current, to drop the voltage
to the proper value. To protect the LEDs, the circuit needs to be able
to supply no more than about 30mA before voltage drops too low.

It is better to have several in series when using them with a high
supply voltage (like 120V). Then less power has to be wasted in the
current limiting resistor.

BTW, That's very different from why small incandescents are better in
series.

--
17 days until the winter celebration (Friday December 25, 2015 12:00:00
AM for 1 day).

Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"There's no more proof for the existence of God than there is for the
existence of the Easter Bunny. That's right. The Easter ****ing Bunny."
[Stryder, on alt.atheism]

On 12/07/2015 03:19 PM, wrote:

[snip]

If this is true, then do the LED "home bulbs" with multiple LEDs have
series wiring? (meaning the ones you screw in place of a regular
lightbulb on your ceiling).

I know this is not the case for battery operated LEDs. I have a 72 LED
stick type flashlight, and it's very bright, (but eats batteries). For
some reason, one of the LEDs burned out. The others work fine.


As I said earlier, a LED is a voltage regulator. Multiple LEDs in series
regulate to a higher voltage. The series string on 120V requires less
power to be wasted (to maintain LED current).

Almost the same thing would apply to incandescents if you only had 3V bulbs.

BTW, a series of 25 (or more) LEDs need the same amount of current as
one LED, just at a higher voltage.

--
17 days until the winter celebration (Friday December 25, 2015 12:00:00
AM for 1 day).

Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"There's no more proof for the existence of God than there is for the
existence of the Easter Bunny. That's right. The Easter ****ing Bunny."
[Stryder, on alt.atheism]

On 12/07/2015 03:57 PM, Ralph Mowery wrote:

[snip]

The flashlights have to be in parallel as they require a volt or two to
light up. If they were in series it would take a lot more voltage that the
batteries could put out.



There's DC to DC converters. One thing that uses them is a camera with
electronic flash. Those flash tubes require around 300V and the camera
can get than from one AA cell. DC/DC converters could be used for
flashlights too, but that'd be more expensive.

An LEDs "forward voltage" (what makes it light) is usually 2-3 volts,
and it requires EXACTLY that. This explains the need for a series resistor.

Reverse voltage (where it conducts but doesn't light) will be a little
higher than that.

Forward current is often 30mA (in either direction, but only forward
lights it). There are high-output LEDs that take more.

BTW, I have a battery-powered LED flasher I use for holidays. It has 2
LEDs connected in opposite polarity so they flash out of phase.

BTW2, I now have my light pictures online at
http://notstupid.us/winter.php . There's a video at the bottom of the page.

--
17 days until the winter celebration (Friday December 25, 2015 12:00:00
AM for 1 day).

Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"There's no more proof for the existence of God than there is for the
existence of the Easter Bunny. That's right. The Easter ****ing Bunny."
[Stryder, on alt.atheism]

[snip]

As I stated, they go out "individual" One bulb only.


It just one goes out, it's probably a bad LED and easy to fix.

--
17 days until the winter celebration (Friday December 25, 2015 12:00:00
AM for 1 day).

Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"There's no more proof for the existence of God than there is for the
existence of the Easter Bunny. That's right. The Easter ****ing Bunny."
[Stryder, on alt.atheism]

On Tuesday, December 8, 2015 at 2:25:41 PM UTC-5, Muggles wrote:
On 12/8/2015 1:00 PM, Eagle wrote:
Muggles has brought this to us :
On 12/8/2015 11:29 AM, Eagle wrote:
Muggles brought next idea :
On 12/7/2015 8:41 AM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Sunday, December 6, 2015 at 11:40:00 PM UTC-5, Muggles wrote:
On Sun, 6 Dec 2015 21:22:22 -0700, Tony Hwang
wrote:
As many of us know, if you take the bulb out of a
string of mini Christmas lights, that section of the
string goes out. Sometimes a section will go out
even with all bulbs in. Then you have to search for
a bad bulb, a loose bulb or worse yet, a bad socket.
Do LED strings act the same way? Is the
construction the same and it's just the bulbs that
are different?

LED strings do that too but not as much as bulbs. I
got rid of all the old bulb strings. Seems newer LEDs
are even more reliable. I like dark blue colored
sparkling tiny LED ones outdoor.

I just bought some LED light sets to replace old ones that don't all
work. I guess I'm fixing to find out how well they hold up.

--
Maggie

Since my house basically looks like this building anyway, maybe I'll
just go with the Christmas Spotlight option next year.
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/SnFl5p0ZqEM/maxresdefault.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnFl5p0ZqEM


I've seen those and can't decide if they are cool or cheezy.

Does this mean I have tp chuck My 117 volt icicle light strings that I
have had for 6 years and never put up?

Only if you WANT to!

Meh...We'l just cruze around the 'hoods and check out the houses with
all that fancy lighting and wonder what their electric bill will be
after the holidays. lol

I bought some LED lights for my old fake tabletop tree. The lights that
came on it were bad, so instead of just buying another tree I spent
about an hour unwrapping the lights that came on it so I could replace
them. There wasn't anything wrong with the tree except the lights. I
counted them and there were about 150 lights on it, so I ended up buying
a strand of 225 LED colored lights and put them on the tree last night.
It looks like a brand new tree now, plus the little LEDS are might
brighter and the colors are more intense, in addition, to them using
about 1/10 of the electricity.

I also bought 1 strands of 50 LEDS and put them outside. One strand went
on my potted baby Frazier Fir, and the other I wound up my porch
support. I had to put my live tree on top of a 5 gallon bucket because
it's pretty short, so I raised it up so it could be seen above the
bushed in front of the porch. It's so cute. It's all on a timer, so
it's good to go. I can't really climb to put lights to hang off the
roof, and neither can the husband, but I have a little Christmas color
on the porch AND in the house.

--
Maggie

Get out the tissues...

A long time friend of mine recently got married. (late 50's, 2nd
marriage for both). My wife and I gave them a couple of gift
certificates to a local garden center so they can buy some stuff for
their house. His new wife is into landscaping, so we figured it would
be a good gift.

I saw him last week and he told me that they bought a potted evergreen
to use as a Christmas tree. When Christmas is over, they are going
to plant it in their yard. He said that as long as the tree lasts,
they will be able to look at it and know that it came from us.

On Monday, December 7, 2015 at 8:35:08 PM UTC-5, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On 12/7/2015 7:44 AM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Monday, December 7, 2015 at 5:47:28 AM UTC-5, Ed Pawlowski wrote:

The sets I have state they do not go out as a string, just the
individual.

My question did not relate to "going out as string" but "going out in sections".
For example, the icicles light I use are about 20' long. They are wired as five
4' sections. If you pull a bulb, that 4' section will go out. That also happens
when a bulb is loose or cracked, etc. Sometimes even checking/changing
all the bulbs in a section doesn't help

As I stated, they go out "individual" One bulb only.

What happens if you *pull* a bulb (good or bad) out of the string?

Do any other lights go out?

On 12/8/2015 3:03 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Tuesday, December 8, 2015 at 2:25:41 PM UTC-5, Muggles wrote:
On 12/8/2015 1:00 PM, Eagle wrote:
Muggles has brought this to us :
On 12/8/2015 11:29 AM, Eagle wrote:
Muggles brought next idea :
On 12/7/2015 8:41 AM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Sunday, December 6, 2015 at 11:40:00 PM UTC-5, Muggles wrote:
On Sun, 6 Dec 2015 21:22:22 -0700, Tony Hwang
wrote:
As many of us know, if you take the bulb out of a
string of mini Christmas lights, that section of the
string goes out. Sometimes a section will go out
even with all bulbs in. Then you have to search for
a bad bulb, a loose bulb or worse yet, a bad socket.
Do LED strings act the same way? Is the
construction the same and it's just the bulbs that
are different?

LED strings do that too but not as much as bulbs. I
got rid of all the old bulb strings. Seems newer LEDs
are even more reliable. I like dark blue colored
sparkling tiny LED ones outdoor.

I just bought some LED light sets to replace old ones that don't all
work. I guess I'm fixing to find out how well they hold up.

--
Maggie

Since my house basically looks like this building anyway, maybe I'll
just go with the Christmas Spotlight option next year.
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/SnFl5p0ZqEM/maxresdefault.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnFl5p0ZqEM


I've seen those and can't decide if they are cool or cheezy.

Does this mean I have tp chuck My 117 volt icicle light strings that I
have had for 6 years and never put up?

Only if you WANT to!

Meh...We'l just cruze around the 'hoods and check out the houses with
all that fancy lighting and wonder what their electric bill will be
after the holidays. lol

I bought some LED lights for my old fake tabletop tree. The lights that
came on it were bad, so instead of just buying another tree I spent
about an hour unwrapping the lights that came on it so I could replace
them. There wasn't anything wrong with the tree except the lights. I
counted them and there were about 150 lights on it, so I ended up buying
a strand of 225 LED colored lights and put them on the tree last night.
It looks like a brand new tree now, plus the little LEDS are might
brighter and the colors are more intense, in addition, to them using
about 1/10 of the electricity.

I also bought 1 strands of 50 LEDS and put them outside. One strand went
on my potted baby Frazier Fir, and the other I wound up my porch
support. I had to put my live tree on top of a 5 gallon bucket because
it's pretty short, so I raised it up so it could be seen above the
bushed in front of the porch. It's so cute. It's all on a timer, so
it's good to go. I can't really climb to put lights to hang off the
roof, and neither can the husband, but I have a little Christmas color
on the porch AND in the house.

--
Maggie

Get out the tissues...

A long time friend of mine recently got married. (late 50's, 2nd
marriage for both). My wife and I gave them a couple of gift
certificates to a local garden center so they can buy some stuff for
their house. His new wife is into landscaping, so we figured it would
be a good gift.

I saw him last week and he told me that they bought a potted evergreen
to use as a Christmas tree. When Christmas is over, they are going
to plant it in their yard. He said that as long as the tree lasts,
they will be able to look at it and know that it came from us.


smile We bought a damaged potted blue spruce one late summer and it
sat on our front porch for about 3 years growing and healing. I'd put
lights on it every year while it was on the porch and then it healed up
enough, so we planted it in the front yard. That spruce ended up
growing into a healthy 20 foot tree, but after about 10 years in the
yard the weather got it - extreme summer heat followed by some extreme
winter temps 2 years in a row. We eventually had to cut it down, but it
was pretty while it was there.

--
Maggie