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Christmas Light using LED
By JYL, Section Light Posted on Mon Nov 15, 2004 at 07:06:03 PM MST
String of LED Christmas light operating on 120 Volts AC

In Canada, several store has started the sale of Christmas light that use LED.
I have a string of 50 LED (wired in series (may be 2 series))

Blue
Yellow (amber)
Red
Green

Actually, a string of red, yellow or mix color is pretty cheap at about 8.50$CDN. The blue only double the price at 15.00$CDN. Finally, you can get a string of 50 WHITE LED for about 33.00$CDN.
Comparing to the real Christmas minilight:

consume little -- 2W for 50 lights
Not very bright ( a plastic diffuser is put on top of the LED. Therefore the light get diffuse)
Not all LED are exactly the same intensity. The green LED offer little output when the blue are very bright. The Yellow and Red has similar brightness(in middle of the pack).
Unbelievable 200,000 Hrs replacement on defective LED but the wiring is not covered. (should I keep the invoice for my great grand son?). Anyways, we can return them to the local store for one year (RONA in Quebec)

I will test drive a few set on "inverter" this year. I don't know if that will work has advertised.

Christmas Light using LED | 9 comments (9 topical)

Re: Christmas Light using LED (3.00 / 0) (#1)
by juiced on Mon Nov 15, 2004 at 10:48:13 PM MST

I will be picking a few strings up soon. If anything, i will break the plastic off or melt it in acetone.

So.. only 2 watts eh?! wow i didnt think it was that low.

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Re: Christmas Light using LED (3.00 / 0) (#2)
by iFred on Mon Nov 15, 2004 at 11:24:15 PM MST

Cool! Are the blue lights really blue or and offset, does it mention by any chance what the MCD output is on the package. this is called the micro-candle-power. If they are 5,000 mcd it would be equvilent to like 5 candle power.

>> all energy used to produce this comment or post came from solar and wind energy! It works!

Re: Christmas Light using LED (3.00 / 0) (#3)
by JW on Tue Nov 16, 2004 at 10:42:50 AM MST

Ya, I just got some these, I think there great.

JW

[ Parent ]

Re: Christmas Light using LED (3.00 / 0) (#4)
by JYL on Tue Nov 16, 2004 at 03:50:49 PM MST

The blue seem the same color we often see on Car Alarm systems (usually a flashing blue light installed on the interior mirror).

No, there is no indication regarding the power output of the LED. What we found on the boxes is how much better they are for the environment (Claimed 90% saving in electricity)

Furthermore, I am told that their is several models in different store: At least, RONA l'Entrepot but not always the smaller RONA, Costco and Canadian Tire.

[ Parent ]

Re: Christmas Light using LED (3.00 / 0) (#5)
by JW on Tue Nov 16, 2004 at 06:56:52 PM MST

I am stunned by that 2w power rating Juiced,

So anyway I dug the box for the christmas lights out,("single string (is) of 100 multi colored led's"). Im thinking the whole time 2 watt's, that can't be right? Bytheway my string has five different colors, blue, red, amber(yellow), orange and green.

Here's what it says on the package-

It says, 6 strings of these(led christmas lights) costs only 45 cents 'per month' to run for 6hours per day, @12 cents per kilowatt hour...

I dont know what to suspect on the brightness rating of the leds in the string, but its interesting to note that some of the blue leds are dimmer than others.

Anyhow Ive had a single string pluged in 24/7 for almost a month now, all things considered, this claimed power usage could be true. It says they should last 20 years, im wondering if this is a continious usage rating. either way thats pretty damn good.

JW

[ Parent ]

Re: Christmas Light using LED (3.00 / 0) (#6)
by JYL on Tue Nov 16, 2004 at 07:57:36 PM MST

On my 50 LED string, the Watts rating is on a label attached to the power cord.

[ Parent ]

Re: Christmas Light using LED (3.00 / 0) (#7)
by JW on Tue Nov 16, 2004 at 08:58:14 PM MST

oooh, Just checked that. Mine is a 100 LED string. The label on the power cord says-
120V, 60Hz, 0.040A. None of my ohm's law formulea use rms (60hz) as a plug-in, so I cant calculate watts from that. Ahh let me dig around for a while i'll find it.

JW

[ Parent ]

Re: Christmas Light using LED (3.00 / 0) (#8)
by robotmaker on Wed Nov 17, 2004 at 07:23:57 AM MST

Watts: Voltage times current, in your case would be 120*.04 = 4.8 watts

[ Parent ]

Re: Christmas Light using LED (3.00 / 0) (#9)
by nothing to lose on Thu Nov 18, 2004 at 01:54:23 PM MST

Sounds like you just found something I bought about 4-5 yrs ago :)
If these are the same ones, I got a string at a K-mart in Texas (after christmas) cheap. I butchered mine for the leds :)
I haven't seen them for awhile, I was looking for more this year but haven't found them yet.

I connected a few together and ran them from batteries for somethings and even used them in toys and model cars for head lights and tail lights. Just kinda a normal LED but not real bright, not too dim either though. The light was all one piece, not a plastic difuser you could get off, more like led made into it.
I did try cutting the plastic ends off a few, I got a rough plastic with a colored fog type look. I sanded them with 600 and 1200 grit paper and polished them too. I was never very happy with them that way myself.

For some dumb reason instead of being round to fit a drilled hole nicely mine were kinda square flat sided and the reason I wanted to cut them. Also the plastic ends were a little long.

Over all I would say a nice Holiday lights, low power, long life, and a cheap source for colored LEDS for other uses too.

I nice side beneffit is you get the string with sockets, I cut it up and used it for my battery powered led stuff I made. Made wiring neat and easy, and bulbs can be replaced without soldering or other problems.
.
nothing to lose

Spelin and tpying are my strong points, not electronics.

Christmas Light using LED | 9 comments (9 topical)

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