2008 Holiday Lighting Finds (including pics!)

[PhantomPhoton]

I've just gotten back from a little trip to Target and low and behold it's not Haloween yet and there's already Christmas junk up (Bah Humbug I say!)
Anyway I found tucked off near the end of the lighting display a little box of battery powered LED lights! SCORE! I've been waiting for some of these for a couple years because I've failed at making a good set of my own.
So for the pricey sum of $6.99 plus tax I grabbed a set of multicolor. They also had a white only and a blue only set. Made by Phillips 18 3mm LEDs run off of 4 AA cells. Simple setup really and so far the construction seems decent. The Orange LEDs are noticeably more dim than the Red, Green, and Blue, especially from the side. But beyond that I have no complaints as of yet.



So without further ado... I present pictures form my brother's cheap little Casio Exlim.

The package to look for:


Out of the package:


Opened up with 4 Eneloops inserted, gives a view of the internal quality:


Another view including the 3mm LEDs:


Closer in to the 3mm LEDs, about as far as this little camera can get:


Okay close that thing up, put in the screw and flip the switch.


A slightly different exposure without a flash:


Another view:


And one last picture:


Runtime test in progress
I like these because they're AA based, which means I can run them off of abundant Eneloops. 4AA design means there's got to be some sort of minor intelligence put into the design I hope. So start scouting out your local stores to see what pops up. The standard plug in lights have more fancy LED based stuff this year but still have the standard LED strings like I've purchased the past couple years. So far I've had good results with teh phillips LEDs. Nothing overheated or burnt out yet... and I have family members who like to burn those things 24/7 when the season comes in. (at least the LEDs are using less power than those big bulbs we used to use.)

Anyway I hope this little corner of the forum gets views, but I think this is a good place to put this post.

[StephenMover]

I have recently hung the Sylvania LED C6 Teardrop Lights(yes before Thanksgiving) & strings #3 and #4 out of 5 are out.
I have changed the fuses in #3 and no luck.
All lights in the 3rd and 4th strand are out but #5 is working.
Any ideas???

[LightSward]

I bought a 36 bulb set of tri-color, (blue, green, red) computer controlled 20 different lighting sequences, (which give the illusion of more colors) set of LED 120 vac Christmas lights, 1.5 years ago from Home Depot for $6.95. These were rated on the box to only last 60 days. I have had them on constantly, as a night time, and day time, fill lighting, above the kitchen cabinets, since that first Christmas. No flickering noticed, some 120 vac LED's do flicker like 30 times a second...kind of like some of the half raster, old computer monitors.

At the same time and place, I also bought a set of all white LED 36 bulb set for the same price. Problem is they kinda flicker like 30 times a second or so they seem, (most people I asked don't seem to notice). These were also rated on the box to last only 60 days...two of the 36 have burned out, but the set has been on full brightness all the time, for the last 1.5 years.

At about the same time I bought a tri-color LED battery set at All A Dollar with 12 bulbs. 4 Regular AA alkaline batteries lasted maybe 36 hours. That's why they were at All-A-Dollar.

Overall, LED seem like a good way to go...soon they'll have all those colors figured out.

[EricB]

Tri-color meaning separate red, green & blue LED's, or were they rgb LED's that change color?
This past Christmas was a real bust as far as new RGB products, as had seemed to be promised. I hope they're getting some good stuff ready now for next Christmas; and consumer oriented (not hundreds and hundreds as the current RGB products).