Well going to throw my two cents out here about Christmas lights. LED’s are coming and that’s just a fact. And the manufactures I do believe know they have a ways to go to really sell us on them. Each year they get cheaper and a little better but they have a ways to go. I am buying a few doing some testing and looking at how I will be able to use them. Yes the LED’s use less power but a LED bulb on the outside of a house isn’t going to shine like a C-9 will. The GREEN people can scream all they want I don’t care as a rule the ones I know like that are the ones who keep their heat cranked to 78 and use space heaters all winter or the air conditioner set at 68in the summer which is a huge waste of energy.
Now let’s look at the overall picture here. Every time you turn your hairdryer on you could be supplying power to app 150 C-9 bulbs or 210 C-7 bulbs. Using the stove for cooking a average dinner for an average family use’s enough power to light up 710 C-9 bulbs or 1000 C-7 bulbs. Now the number of bulbs depends on how far your extension cords run the size of the cords and the supply area you are plugging them into.
Now my house for one If I do an outline of the roof on three sides I will use app 175 C-9 bulbs. The outline of the windows, doors, handrails, and house edge I use app 225 C-7 bulbs. That all adds up to app 3.300 watts or 27 amps. So be about the same usage as say the clothes dryer being on or the air conditioner. Now these figures are app I have no idea the exact number I use and not going out there to count them. All my runs are custom made to length for where they are so I am guessing by length and am probably a little high. I have dual power feeds going out for the lights of 30 amps each so I have way more power than I need. All my feeder extension cords are heavy 12 gauge wire and the sub feeders where I need them are 14 gauge. The larger the wire the cheaper it is to power your lights, heat robs watts, and small gauge along with to long an extension cord heat up. By this I mean using a 100 foot extension cord when a 25 foot would work. Use as close as possible the right length of extension cord, or make your own as I do when I need to. The extension cords I use for holiday lighting are rolled up tagged and put up with the rest of the items till next time. Each cord and light string is rolled wire tied with a number tag that matches a sheet that tells me not only where it goes but maybe a brief how, as in starts from right side of door 2 inches from concrete and so forth. This way if you want to change or repair something later you can add a note to the sheet and come back later and fix or fix before putting out the next year. I have the information on the computer so just print off new one each year.
Sure I’d save some power by using LEDS and as well give up the tradition look which I happen to like. To me it isn’t all about seeing if you can plaster 10.000 plus lights on your house and a high dollar controller. Sorry I don’t like that look the first few were cute dancing to music but now everyone thinks that’s what has to be done and I don’t agree with that. There is a neighborhood close to me where all the houses built in it are million dollar plus houses and all are pre 1900 design. Everyone is lite up for Christmas and all in a traditional way. I am waiting for some snow on the ground to retake pictures of it all again I really screwed up last time I tried, had camera settings all wrong so pictures I have not very good. But the point is these people could afford anything they wanted and this is the look they have and it says Merry Christmas very well.
If you set things in the yard to be spot lighted as I do then you might if not already look at using low voltage lighting. Malibu has some awesome metal mini spots that really focus your lighting. I have other low voltage lighting I use all year long so I just installed a larger transformer and have my system set up to just tap into it for Christmas and Halloween use.
If anyone has any questions about wiring and so forth I am happy to answer or help you with. So please feel very free to ask away.
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