Forum Index > Full Moon Saloon > Christmas Light Rant - a bit nerdy
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whitebark
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whitebark
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PostThu Nov 19, 2020 6:52 pm 
I'm done. I'm through. I am never buying a string of series-connected Christmas lights ever again. As the holiday season approached, I went through my collection of xmas lights, and sure enough, some of the light strings were dead. Yes, these bulbs had the fancy-ass bypass fuse that is supposed to keep the string working when a bulb fails. Yeah, right! And good luck finding the bad bulb if you try to repair the piece of junk. Our local Lowes sells miles of the SCAM strings of lights, both in LED and incandescent style, which will fail in no time at all, get thrown away, and end up in a landfill. Yes, the new fangled LED lamps fail like this, too. Or if they don't fail, they get so faded and dim after awhile you think they are dead. Lowes did have one lonely box of the old-style C9 incandescent parallel connected lights. You know, the ones where when a bulb burns out, the rest of the string stays on, and you simply screw in a new bulb, easy as pie. And they don't flicker like a failing neon sign next to a porn shop, like the LED lamps do. Yes, they could make parallel connected LED lights, but good luck finding such a thing. If they made those, that would end the series connected light bulb SCAM!!!!! And the Christmas-Industrial complex would not like that. Well, rant over. I've switched over to the old style light strings -C7 and C9 bulbs. Yes, they do use a lot of power, but then, manufacturing new sets of failed strings of the SCAM lights does, too. You can reduce the power usage (by 30% or so) by making a diode voltage dropper , and putting that in series with the light string. The lights are still plenty bright with the diode in series, and the lights will last longer. Even dimmed this way, the lights are still much brighter then those lousy LED Xmas lights. Of course nobody sells such a thing - you have to make it yourself. Are you listening AMAZON? Yours truly, Whitebark

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Damian
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PostThu Nov 19, 2020 7:59 pm 
Whoever invented series strung Christmas lights should be buried in a landfill with a steak of holly through his heart. But cheer up Bunky. Parallel circuit C7’s and C9’s are available in LED. And use 1/10th the power of similarly lumened incandescent tungsten filament sealed beam bulbs. Though a bit coiny.

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whitebark
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PostThu Nov 19, 2020 9:13 pm 
Those parallel-wired C7/C9 LED bulb strings are like the aliens in the X-files: they're out there -- somewhere. Good luck finding them at your local Home Despot.

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Ski
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PostThu Nov 19, 2020 9:14 pm 
hey, remind me again why I gave away all my Christmas lights on Craigslist. dizzy.gif

"I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each."
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Anne Elk
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PostThu Nov 19, 2020 9:36 pm 
It's like pretty much everything else these days, right? Planned obsolescence/bad manufacturing = future revenue. What really makes ya cry is when a good old standard American brand starts getting their stuff manufactured overseas. I have a made in USA Stanley thermos and a newer one made in China. Significant quality differences. DIY'ers also have notice the same junky quality in things as mundane as pipe fittings and faucet cartridges. And watch out for that Chinese drywall. huh.gif

"There are yahoos out there. It’s why we can’t have nice things." - Tom Mahood
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Slugman
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PostThu Nov 19, 2020 9:58 pm 
Clark W Griswold lives! cool.gif

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Malachai Constant
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Malachai Constant
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PostThu Nov 19, 2020 10:05 pm 
Still have some Canadian parallel LEDs that are durable. The outdoor GE ones are POS good for 1.5 years on average.

"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
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Pyrites
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PostFri Nov 20, 2020 1:45 am 
Malachai Constant wrote:
Still have some Canadian parallel LEDs that are durable. The outdoor GE ones are POS good for 1.5 years on average.
So I need to shop Canadian Tire and become a smuggler? If only the border wasn’t closed?

Keep Calm and Carry On? Heck No. Stay Excited and Get Outside!
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kite
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kite
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PostFri Nov 20, 2020 10:35 am 
Slugman wrote:
Clark W Griswold lives! cool.gif
Oh that made me smile

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Slugman
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PostFri Nov 20, 2020 10:54 am 
I have an official Griswold Moose Mug.

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treeswarper
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treeswarper
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PostFri Nov 20, 2020 1:22 pm 
Is this the first shot in the annual "War on Christmas"? Tell me it ain't so! smile.gif

What's especially fun about sock puppets is that you can make each one unique and individual, so that they each have special characters. And they don't have to be human––animals and aliens are great possibilities
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I'm Pysht
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PostFri Nov 20, 2020 7:46 pm 
McLendon Hardware (Woodinville, at least) has lots of good quality C7/C9 strings (including custom lengths) and both incandescent and LED C7/C9 bulbs available.

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zephyr
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PostFri Nov 20, 2020 11:17 pm 
Here's a blog devoted to Christmas lights and such. I found this page interesting that has a diagram of the C7 and C9 lights. Their home page has videos of changing bulbs, etc. ~z

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whitebark
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PostSat Nov 21, 2020 11:15 am 
I love it - this discussion thread is becoming a total Xmas light nerd fest nerd.gif

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Get Out and Go
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PostSat Nov 21, 2020 1:21 pm 
My rant is about those darn gremlins that mess around in my house! devilsmile.gif Every January, I neatly coil the strings of Christmas lights and store them away. By the following December, they are a tangled cluster. rant.gif What's up with that? Same thing happens with my earphones nightly. I keep threatening to buy wireless earbuds, but I'm certain one of those little creatures would just taunt me and hide one of them from me. doh.gif

"These are the places you will find me hiding'...These are the places I will always go." (Down in the Valley by The Head and The Heart) "Sometimes you're happy. Sometimes you cry. Half of me is ocean. Half of me is sky." (Thanks, Tom Petty)
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