Christmas tree lights / LED decorations - Recommendations?

Ilumenati · 2019-12-01T20:43:50.000Z

We just cut our tree yesterday and the wife says, “I’m going to get some LED tree lights this year.”

So I thought, wait a minute, why buy something quick and easy when I’m sure with my skill set I can ridiculously over complicate things and probably irritate everyone one else involved.

So…

Recommendations please

Any off the shelf Christmas tree LED light strings

Any off the shelf type of other LED Christmas tree decorations

Any tree light Mod that is not too time consuming (Please consider safety, practicality and the future of my marriage when suggesting)

Lightbringer · 2019-12-01T21:17:35.000Z

I go all-out retro with candles…

The only time I got LED lights was to scrounge them for the LEDs themselves (60 or whatever for 8bux on sale).

On a tree, they have an annoying 120Hz flicker at maybe a 20%-or-less duty-cycle. You thought taillights and daytime lights on cars were annoying? Try seeing a dotted Christmas tree in your peripheral vision every time you move your eyes.

Technically, being that they’re 2 separate strings wired in anti-parallel, each string pulses alternately at 60Hz at a teenytiny duty-cycle, only near the peak of each AC cycle. They’re like 2 sets of mini-strobes.

Stick with hotwire bulbs. You’ll thank me later.

spinynorman · 2019-12-01T22:15:34.000Z

Incandescent still rules for holiday lighting.

Ilumenati · 2019-12-01T23:09:52.000Z

That was my thought in the past, to stick with incandescent but thought there might be something out there now with a good tint, lower color temp, maybe even high CRI and no PWM or 60-120 hz flicker.

After just playing “find the bad bulb on the light string” for an hour I was becoming more susceptible to quick and dirty LEDs from the store. Can’t do it though now after being exposed to the good stuff.

If anyone has encountered eye pleasing LED Christmas tree lights still pass them on.

Thanks,

Lightbringer · 2019-12-02T00:58:14.000Z

Nah, they’re just LEDs and distributed resistance (the little “cans” in-between).

Cheap is the name of the game.

Vegas_LED_Fan · 2019-12-02T01:12:18.000Z

The best place I know for asking questions about Christmas lights is https://www.planetchristmas.com/. There was a discussion recently about the quality of lights from Home Depot and Walmart. I don’t remember which were best. Both places have sales this weekend on Christmas decorations. Most of the LED lights I own were scavenged from thrift stores. They last for years. I have a couple of strings of C9 bulbs that have a 2008 manufacturing date on the tag that comes with the lights. They work flawlessly and haven’t faded as some incandescent lights do.

There are people on Planet Christmas who’s displays use over 20,000 lights. When you compare a string of incandescent lights that consume 70W versus a similar LED string that uses 4.8W you can see a good reason for using LEDs. I have a couple of strings that use RGB lights and change colors without using a controller.

Terrence_Baldwin · 2019-12-02T03:43:05.000Z

To make it simple, apart from hanging the string lights on the Christmas tree, we can just put the color-changing flood lights under the tree, so the colored lights will give a wonderful wall washing effect. It is quite simple to use and install as all we need to do is to connect the RGB lights to the outlet and then we can sit back to enjoy the colored lighting effect. It saves your time and effort.

goshdogit · 2019-12-02T04:36:34.000Z

I’ve ordered several different LED strings from Holiday Light Express and am pleased with them.

Their stuff is ‘full wave rectified,’ which eliminates the terrible flickering encountered with most LED holiday lighting.

I’m very sensitive to PWM and flicker, and I can still detect a bit from these LED strings, but it’s no where near as noticeable as the strings sold in stores.

Ilumenati · 2019-12-02T06:33:12.000Z

Vegas LED Fan - Wow, that planetchristmas.com is a whole new rabbit hole, I quickly searched a few posts about LED strings with incandescent qualities, some low color temp lights that use capacitors to smooth out flicker. I may drop a line in their forum.

Terrence Baldwin - I like the color changing floods, quick easy, new for the kids. I will look into it and price some.

goshdogit - Holiday Light Express is interesting, rectified low flicker lights with the claim that the color temp is similar to incandescents. I also appreciate the full waterproof aspect and may get a few for outside as a test. We leave a few strings up all year for occasional peripheral light around the house and that might work great,

Thanks,

pennzy · 2019-12-02T14:41:23.000Z

For outdoor lighting, LEDs rock. String together many feet. No more melting fuse holders or plugs. No more replacing bulbs. Electric bill doesn’t shoot up. Always buy right before or after Christmas for the best price, usually half or less.