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Just to keep up that Christmas spirit.. I was wondering what kind of lights (or other decor) ya'll have up this year.. white lights? color lights? nativities? etc.

I'll start, We have about 500 C9 ceramic multicolor lights (the big fat bulbs) outlining my house with candles in each window. Wreath, (with lights) and a nice 8' frazier fur tree with c7 ceramics. We also bought one of those giant snowglobes, haven't put it up yet though..

Merry Christmas everyone!!
Luke
Good thread !

I reenergised my permanent multicoured outside string of about 200 filament lights,(230 V) on the outer skirt of the house, only one light was faulty which was an easy locate with my pencil voltage finder.

Then hung my multicolour LED selfmade christmas star (12 V) as well as 300 blue icicle lights (12 V) at the door entrance.

Have to get a tree today and bought an 80 white led lights string with chaser (24 V) and the usual 230 series strings white and multicolour filament.

Merry Christmas to all ECN members and readers of this topic.

edited for typo's

[This message has been edited by RODALCO (edited 12-10-2006).]
And a Merry Christmas to everybody on the forums!

Please excuse me if I don't get in on the x-mas lights conversation - I've spent the last 2 weeks, and probably will be for the next 3, chasing down problems caused by fly-by-night holiday light installers at a bunch of the HOA communities arond here. Kinda takes the fun out of it!

However, I would love to see a photo thread where everyone could post pics of their displays. Maybe we can get the mods to open up a thread on the "photos submitted for discussion" section? Please please!
Went and cut down my tree yesterday. It helped having several inches of snow on the ground. Helps the mood and makes the tree easier to drag out [Linked Image] Its over 10 feet tall, a real beauty. Santa is bringing a Golden Retreiver puppy. Lost my female a few months ago and life hasn't been the same. Can't wait [Linked Image]
I used to put up 20 strings of those Noma "colourbright" C-9 bulbs ( all red) all through the small evergreens and on the eavestrough of the house. ( Also had to wire 4 split receptacles off one 20A circuit to operate all those lights).
I haven't put up anything as of yet as I have not had the time but I am considering going and getting a whole slew of those multi-colour LED lights and scrapping the old-school ones I have.. I am really starting to like the deep colour of the LED lights.

A.D
I have a mix of Green/Red Mini lights and clear icicle lights, with a multi-color wreath and clear star mounted on the tree. The icicle-lights span from the porch to the tree, with the wreath on the porch-post. Ahh, everytime I look at them I think, "More Lights! More Lights! More lights!" But then am immediately contradicted by "Electric Bill," and "The neighbor's lights were all vandalized beyond repair last night."

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However, I would love to see a photo thread where everyone could post pics of their displays. Maybe we can get the mods to open up a thread on the "photos submitted for discussion" section? Please please!

Scott/Electure was kind enough to post one already, about five posts down:
https://www.electrical-contractor.net/ubb/Forum1/HTML/007854.html

I'll send in some pics as soon as I can find my Camera's card reader!

Ian A.

[This message has been edited by electure (edited 12-10-2006).]
Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays to all
Most of all, may the season be safe for all.

Tree in sunroom area, mini-lights....rear deck rail has LED mini hanging (icecicle) lights, multicolor. Wreath on front entry, bows & Christmas decor inside.

John
At my old house in Boston, we have a tradition of mis-applying holiday lights, and leaving them up 365 days a year as porch lights.

Last year I went out during the 'after christmas' clearance sales and bought a bunch of the Phillips brand LED strings at 75% off.

These strings have been in use for nearly a year now, with no burned bulbs and no problems to speak of.

-Jon
I'm just an old Grinch. My Christmas tree is the top of an old artifical one that is still decorated from two years ago. I live alone so I just cover it with a garbage bag and put it in storage. My "decorating" takes about two minutes. Just pull the bag and "plug and play". Merry Christmas to all!!!
Ed
The Christmas Light.

[Linked Image from i108.photobucket.com]

A Very Merry Christmas, one and all!

Alan
Just a white (clear bulb) candle in each of the nine front windows of my house, pine roping with mini white lights along the front porch railings and wreaths in each window with a red bow. Tree is 7.5 feet (artificial) with all white mini lights. It sounds kind of boring, but it does look pretty nice.

We are pretty conservative, in fact I complained the whole time about putting up any decorations at all since we will be out of town for Christmas anyway.

We are trying to keep with the Williamsburg Colonial theme since my house is, well, a Williamsburg Colonial.

[This message has been edited by EV607797 (edited 12-11-2006).]
Firstly, Merry Christmas to all from Central Australia.

While it seems small fry than some others I have seen, all we have is a string of coloured lights around the gutter at the front of the house. There are about 250 lamps of about 1.5 watts each that burn steady throughout the night. Not too overbearing but enough to ne noticed by the neighbors.
Right now, just one set (35 "bulbs" of outdoor LED lights. I have the set of 25 C9s alon the eave, ready to go, If I wish, and a bunch of incanescent Minilites I could put up
I am all wired up for lights (dedicated GFCI 20 with a timer and some SSR "repeaters") but we never seem to get more than a few strings of lights out there. I am really getting a lot of "bah humbug" in my old age.
I certainly can't compete with some of my neighbors who go crazy.
I really hesitate to go look around and see how that stuff is plugged in
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I really hesitate to go look around and see how that stuff is plugged in.

speaking of that, reminds me of the movie, 'A Christmas Story' when Ralphie's dad had all of those cords plugged into that one outlet. What a site that was. [Linked Image]
One word: none!
Christmas decorations are pretty tame this year, at least around here.
So far I've seen one string of white lights on a balcony railing, a grid of white lights in another place and a big pine tree with white lights in a front yard.
Compared to the kitsch atrocities I've seen in previous years that's NOTHING.
Only shops have their usual decorations.
I hang 18 sets of icicle lights (300 bulbs) on my roof and gutters and put about 500 mini lights on 2 small evergreens in the front yard.I like the look of the icicle lights, but I'm getting a little tired of pulling them off of the roof after a good wind comes through.
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I really hesitate to go look around and see how that stuff is plugged in.

Speaking of that, reminds me of the movie, 'A Christmas Story' when Ralphie's dad had all of those cords plugged into that one outlet. What a site that was.

Last year (an probably this year) a house around the block had the end of the extension cord and 4 light strands wrapped with aluminum foil! [Linked Image] Under two feet of snow drift! I should take a ride over there today and look...

Ian A.

[This message has been edited by Theelectrikid (edited 12-14-2006).]
I bought an other 2 strings of 160 LED's for NZ$25 each US$18 with 8 step controller for different options.
Complete with 240 / 24 Volts transformer.
made in China but it runs perfect and the TX doesn't get very warm at all.
Also a small 24 LED string CW TX for the entrance and beautifull blue X mas stars.

As rewired already says, the deep colours from the LED's are great, especially the blue and UV colours.
I hope you don't mind me bringing this thread back up...

But for me, the answer is none, because I don't celebrate Christmas. (I don't mean to rain on the parade of those who do, just that I find it more of a nuisance than fun; certainly with all the commercialisation.)
"If you still have your Christmas lights up ... You might be a redneck"
If you use Christmas lights for mood lighting in your bedroom, you might be a redneck.
Anybody know of any areas/locales that require Christmas lighting to be removed??

I think it's a Zoning type issue, and not within the Building/Construction office domain.

How about within any of the 'gated communities' or from the dreaded Home Owners Associations??

Or, are the 'rednecks' just OK?
Hey, what's the accepted removal date....?

Sometimes I have been a bit slow on that...

smile
Our town AHJ calls them 'temporary' and enforces a 90-day limit on temporary wiring.
If they're still up when people are getting ready for baseball season I can see their point.
I have always thought of Christmas as the time when the NEC goes on vacation.
People who will make their own baby food to avoid preservatives, scour the reviews for the safest car seats and make sure their kid wears a helmet and pads on a bike will string Asian sourced, unlisted lights in a dead pine tree, right in the living room under their kid's bedroom and leave them on all night.
As Ghost said, some AHJs around here use the 'temp' 90 day thing. Me? I don't have the time to get into this. Personally, I take mine down in mid or late January. If they are frozen in place, they can hang until the spring thaw, but they are not lit.

In some ethnic enclaves, there are many, many versions of 'holiday lights'. These are the ones that create complaint calls, until I explain the unofficial (official) reasoning for 'allowing' this. (Think lawsuits)

Did you ever see them screwed to a (unbonded/grounded) trailer with tek screws? I had a situation where the propane tubing was arcing where it passed thru the trailer skirt. Someone thought the tank was leaking too - yikes!!

Bill
I like the guys tacking wires to the aluminum soffet with a T-50, then griping that the GFCI must be bad and running an orange cord through a window.
My GF laughed SO HARD when Clark put a staple through the Christmas lights in 'Christmas Vacation'.
I think it harkened back to the day that I did the exact same thing when securing my lights to the window trim one year.
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