replying to Fredxxx, Mark wrote:
I just bought 4 packs of 80s tree lights from eBay a guy has tons of brand new
box's he found in a warehouse totally new, I got them because they are the
same design as most people here in the UK had back then had no idea about the
situation that they are illegal to sell they are 4647 ones too. I am going to
just use them for my little fake tree at Christmas, so I could still use them?
As noone will be going near them to split the wires and the tree is on a table

I presume the safety issue would be if the wire were split.

BUT I was wondering I have seen rubber long flexible tubing that would easily
go around the lights cables and it's alot thicker so would this also be a
solution for someone who wanted to use the lights to stop any damage?

--
for full context, visit https://www.homeownershub.com/uk-diy...s-1181996-.htm

On Thursday, 10 August 2017 16:14:07 UTC+1, Mark wrote:
replying to Fredxxx, Mark wrote:
I just bought 4 packs of 80s tree lights from eBay a guy has tons of brand new
box's he found in a warehouse totally new, I got them because they are the
same design as most people here in the UK had back then had no idea about the
situation that they are illegal to sell they are 4647 ones too. I am going to
just use them for my little fake tree at Christmas, so I could still use them?
As noone will be going near them to split the wires and the tree is on a table

I presume the safety issue would be if the wire were split.

BUT I was wondering I have seen rubber long flexible tubing that would easily
go around the lights cables and it's alot thicker so would this also be a
solution for someone who wanted to use the lights to stop any damage?

The downside is that the mains voltage flex is single insulated not double, so more easily damaged than modern mains ones (which could expose a live wire). If you're concerned about mitigating this slight risk factor you could plug it into an RCD. Or if your house is one of the 50% or so with RCDed socket circuits the lights will be fine, even if not to the latest standard..


NT

In article ,
wrote:
On Thursday, 10 August 2017 16:14:07 UTC+1, Mark wrote:
replying to Fredxxx, Mark wrote: I just bought 4 packs of 80s tree
lights from eBay a guy has tons of brand new box's he found in a
warehouse totally new, I got them because they are the same design as
most people here in the UK had back then had no idea about the
situation that they are illegal to sell they are 4647 ones too. I am
going to just use them for my little fake tree at Christmas, so I could
still use them? As noone will be going near them to split the wires and
the tree is on a table

I presume the safety issue would be if the wire were split.

BUT I was wondering I have seen rubber long flexible tubing that would
easily go around the lights cables and it's alot thicker so would this
also be a solution for someone who wanted to use the lights to stop any
damage?

The downside is that the mains voltage flex is single insulated not
double, so more easily damaged than modern mains ones (which could expose
a live wire). If you're concerned about mitigating this slight risk
factor you could plug it into an RCD. Or if your house is one of the 50%
or so with RCDed socket circuits the lights will be fine, even if not to
the latest standard.

but don't do what a friend of mine did, put the RCD after a time switch.

--
from KT24 in Surrey, England

OOer. Many questions.
Therese are filament bulbs then in series with a fuse bulb?
The snag, ignoring the double insulation etc, is that they tend to blow
short and eventually blow the fuse bulb. Nothing to stop you putting in a
normal bulb and then if you are really careless, leave them on you could
start a fire if the wrong fuse was in use.
What I actually did was to put two pairs in series. Dimmer yes, but hardly
ever likely to blow a bulb. also you still had the challenge of finding the
loose bulb every year by laying them on the floor and twisting each one.
Great task for a wet weekend.
:-)

Mind you I'd imagine you time might be better spent accessing Usenet
properly rather than through this home shower club nonsense.
Brian

--
----- -
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please!
"Mark" m wrote in message
...
replying to Fredxxx, Mark wrote:
I just bought 4 packs of 80s tree lights from eBay a guy has tons of brand
new
box's he found in a warehouse totally new, I got them because they are the
same design as most people here in the UK had back then had no idea about
the
situation that they are illegal to sell they are 4647 ones too. I am going
to
just use them for my little fake tree at Christmas, so I could still use
them?
As noone will be going near them to split the wires and the tree is on a
table

I presume the safety issue would be if the wire were split.

BUT I was wondering I have seen rubber long flexible tubing that would
easily
go around the lights cables and it's alot thicker so would this also be a
solution for someone who wanted to use the lights to stop any damage?

--
for full context, visit
https://www.homeownershub.com/uk-diy...s-1181996-.htm

In article , Brian Gaff
writes
OOer. Many questions.
Therese are filament bulbs then in series with a fuse bulb?
The snag, ignoring the double insulation etc, is that they tend to blow
short and eventually blow the fuse bulb.

Never had this problem in years of using such lights. They have *always*
blown open circuit - in fact that his how my little light tester works.
Nothing to stop you putting in a
normal bulb and then if you are really careless, leave them on you could
start a fire if the wrong fuse was in use.
What I actually did was to put two pairs in series. Dimmer yes, but hardly
ever likely to blow a bulb. also you still had the challenge of finding the
loose bulb every year by laying them on the floor and twisting each one.
Great task for a wet weekend.
:-)

Mind you I'd imagine you time might be better spent accessing Usenet
properly rather than through this home shower club nonsense.
Brian


--
bert

On Friday, 11 August 2017 21:26:24 UTC+1, bert wrote:
In article , Brian Gaff
writes
OOer. Many questions.
Therese are filament bulbs then in series with a fuse bulb?
The snag, ignoring the double insulation etc, is that they tend to blow
short and eventually blow the fuse bulb.

Never had this problem in years of using such lights. They have *always*
blown open circuit - in fact that his how my little light tester works.

all bulbs bar one are designed to short when they blow. That's fine as long as someone doesn't replace the fuse bulb with a shorting type. There is no barrier to doing so, it's down to user knowledge.


NT

On 11/08/2017 21:22, bert wrote:
In article , Brian Gaff
writes
OOer. Many questions.
Therese are filament bulbs then in series with a fuse bulb?
The snag, ignoring the double insulation etc, is that they tend to blow
short and eventually blow the fuse bulb.

Never had this problem in years of using such lights. They have *always*
blown open circuit - in fact that his how my little light tester works.

I have seen some sets of bulbs do this. Others have a resistor kick in
when a filament blows.

Personally, I wouldn't now consider incandescent bulb style tree lights.
LEDs run colder, far more reliable and are much safer.